James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein is a classic of its genre. Even though Elsa Lanchester has only a mere few minutes of screen time, the Bride is still considered by many to be among the classic Universal monsters – alongside Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, The Mummy, the Creature, the Invisible Man, and the Wolf Man.

The 1935 film was also the first sequel produced from among this group of characters – who would eventually spawn countless sequels and create an entire Universal Monsters franchise.

But would you believe me if I told you that The Bride of Frankenstein has never had an official soundtrack release – in any format – until now? I’m not sure why you’d doubt me, but yes, it’s true.

Franz Waxman’s music for the film was the first original score he composed in the United States. Prior to this, he had been working in Germany but was looking to leave because… well, you know… Nazis. The score was also entirely original – unlike Frankenstein, which had almost no music at all, except for stock music over the beginning and end credits.

And music and film score aficionados everywhere are now all the richer because Waxman’s score recently got the royal treatment by La-La Land Records and their Universal Pictures Film Music Heritage Collection label.

The story behind this release is almost as amazing as the music itself. Album producer Mike Matessino was granted access to Waxman’s original acetates, which were donated by his son and housed at the composer’s archives at Syracuse University.

Matessino and his team then… ahem… Frankensteined together 43 glorious minutes of music from those original recordings. Alas, the entire score wasn’t recovered, but what they’ve created here is nothing short of remarkable.

“The Bride of Frankenstein had, in some instances, up to 13 transfers of the same recording to evaluate,” Mattesino explains in the liner notes. “This meant listening to one element against the next against the next, etc., identifying the best quality for every phrase, bar by bar, for each surviving cue, and then ‘stitching’ it all together.”

The soundtrack includes 9 tracks that comprise a bulk of the original score, from the main title to the final explosion. Four bonus tracks include a few interesting alternate takes, on which you can hear conductor Constantine Bakaleinikoff as he works with the orchestra. (The score was recorded in a single nine-hour session.)

Interestingly, the score closes with a powerful dissonant chord, intended to convey the idea that the on-screen explosion was so powerful that the theater where the film was being screened was affected by it.

In-depth liner notes by writer Frank K. DeWald include a history of the film, Waxman’s involvement, a detailed analysis of the score, and plenty of vintage photos.

Franz Waxman was hand picked by director James Whale for The Bride of Frankenstein, but his score was so effective and popular that he was immediately hired to score other Universal films, including The Invisible Man.

I’ll be honest – The Bride of Frankenstein is not one of my favorite Universal Monster movies. But this music is just a flat-out joy to listen to. Please, La-La Land, use the Universal Pictures Film Music Heritage Collection label to do the lord’s work – release original soundtracks for ALL of the Universal Monsters.

Oh, how sweet the sound.