OK, I know there was some unusual legal wrangling on the release of the Batman soundtrack, as it was issued through the WB label proper, and not through the Paisley Park imprint. I assume this is because the album was part of the WB film division and not just the record label itself. But purusing Prince's official myspace page, under influences, it displays all of his albums chronologically...except Batman. And his various greatest hits albums don't include any tracks from Batman. Which made me wonder why this project is always swept under the rug. I've heard the songs were left off the Hits because they weren't critically well-regarded, but that sounds pretty stupid. "Batdance" was a number one single in the US, and is probably just as well respected as "Diamonds & Pearls" or "Cream." And it stands to reason a Prince "Hits" album would sell better if one of his biggest hits was on there. I can't imagine WB would let critical opinion take precedence over sales.

So what's the deal with Batman? Why is it so oddly overlooked by both Prince and WB?

Prince owns the Masters to Batman so WB wouldn't want to use it on a greatest hits package.

lovemachine said:

huh?

I always wondered about this.

Back in '92 I bought a T-shirt from the concert and on the back all of his albums were assembled in the shape...but in place of "Batman" it read "Scandalous".

sosgemini said:

It was reported in one of the bios that as part of teh deal Prince received however much money and retained the masters to the album. I'm sure I read this.

Prince doesn't have an "official" myspace page.

Eleventeen said:

yeah, that's obviously a fake. good googly-moogly, you really thought ol' boy had a fuckin myspace page?

renfield said:

I believe it had to do with the samples in the song-- the voices of JAck Niclason, Kim Basinger and Michael Keton.

lovemachine said:

I have never heard anywhere that the Prince owns the masters to Batman. I really don't see how the previous album and album after would be business as usual and Batman an exception. If owning the masters was such a big deal to Prince back then, you would have expected him to make more fuss about ownership before signing the big deal after the Diamonds & Pearls album.

Remember, Prince gave 6 previously unavailable songs to The Hits/B-sides album, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't allow songs from Batman to be used if asked for. Saying all that, I think there must have been some legal reasons why Batman tracks couldn't be used - although b-sides 200 Balloons and I Love U In Me were allowed on the B-sides disc.

musicman said:

Exactly right. The reason the tracks were left off The Hits albums was due
to the licencing of the samples. Using the tracks on a new album would not
have been covered by the original agreement and therefore would have required
a new agreement.

BorisFishpaw said:

Ahh-!
I SEE said the blind man to his deaf friend...!

BSK3478 said:

Of course I don't think Prince sits around posting bulletins and leaving comments.

But of all the "Prince" pages on myspace, the one I'm talking about is the only one listed under the official myspace artist pages. It streams "Te Amo Corazon" and contains all of the recent press releases. It's simply a promotional page, set up perhaps by Universal or one of the NPGMC mods.

It's as "official" as Prince is gonna get.

BorisFishpaw said:

That makes sense Boris, thanks. But wouldn't the audio samples from the film need to be cleared by the WB film division? You'd think it wouldn't be difficult to set up a deal to license soundbytes from a Warner Bros. film for a Warner Bros. hits album released by a Warner Bros. artist. I dunno.

Or they could've just chopped the Jack Nicholson intro off of "Partyman" and included that.

renfield said:

Partyman wasnt really a hit though...was it? compared with the other songs on the album i actually agree with leaving Partyman off..

now Batdance is a whole other issue. You have three huge stars (keaton, nicholson and bassinger) who would have to agree to putting it on the album...that would take away sales from prince *and warners so all parties involved probably figured it would be more economically viable for them to just live the darn thing off.

Wasn't Mountains a single that did well?

I know it didnt' sell like Batdance, but I find it surprising that "If I was Your Girlfriend" was left on but Mountains left off.

AsianBomb777 said:

hey sexy..yeah..mountains charted higher then IIWYG....

happy mary hartman mary hartman!!!

sosgemini said:

I cant say for sure y Batdance was left off BUT the voice thing could be right, i will say however that i have both the UK collectors edition maxi-singles & they have the rest of the HITS on them which did not appear on the Hits album ,probably due to lack of space.

Peach Single (2 cd's)

1)Peach
2)Mountains
3)Partyman(edit)
4)Money dont matter 2nite

1)Peach
2)I wish U heaven
3)Girls & Boys(edit)
4)My name is Prince(edit)


Controversy (2 cd's)

1)Controversy
2)The Future (remix)
3)Glam Slam
4)DMSR

1)Controversy
2)Anotherloverholenyohead
3)Paisley Park
4)New power generation Part2

We have 2 Batman tracks on here, 1 is The Future (which is the Remix) & dosnt have the bit from the film at the start(micheal Keaton) & Partyamn (edit) which dont have JN's bit at the start ..... i think that clears that up ..... with out doubt the voices of the stars has something to do with it ,although it still hs the "I love purple" bit from basinger

Obviously though Batdance just has to many voice overs in it ,saying that it's a great track which should have been on the HITS regardless of that crap!