A low hiss of tape noise crackles through your speakers before you hear a muffled voice-barely discernible-say, “Ray Parker Junior demo…Cloud Atlas…take one?” Then, without warning, a driving 80s synth bass line kicks in. The unmistakable warmth of analog tape saturates Ray Parker Jr.’s vocals as he croons about time-traveling souls and cosmic comets-delivered, of course, in that beloved “Ghostbusters”-style melody.
There are no visuals here, just pure, unfiltered eighties pop glory. You’ll hear Ray improvise lines like, “Who you gonna call? Cloud-At-Las!” followed by jubilant “Woo!” ad-libs straight out of his 1984 playbook. Every so often, the track warps slightly, as if the original cassette tape was stored in someone’s attic under dusty VHS boxes. When the chorus repeats, you can practically see Parker Jr. strutting around a neon-lit recording booth-even though all you’ve got is audio.
It’s so bizarrely catchy you’ll start to wonder: “How did this never see the light of day?” Then you remember it’s literally a theme song about multi-era reincarnation, set to a tune suspiciously close to “Ghostbusters.” By the time the song fades, you’re left in awestruck confusion-both relieved and disappointed that it never made the final Cloud Atlas soundtrack.
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