I consistently find myself agreeing with your posts although I do find something charming in Arms of Orion. Keep up the good work.

PurpleKnight said:

[Edited 1/9/09 15:26pm]

bleutuna said:

Batman is a great album. I always luved it.

gentlemen, let's broaden our minds.....

anyone think Prince would have been great as a villain (using his Gemini image)in a Batman film???

the good songs are really good and the bad songs(about 3) are really bad. its an interesting album because it doesnt quite sound like a lot of other prince albums yet it does in some strange way...it just has a different aura...a lot of people write off the album and say prince made the album just to make a buck...i dont know the real reason he made the album but either way it doesnt sound lazy, it sounds like he took it seriously like any other album. also "partyman" is still one of my favorite prince songs ever.

The Future
Vicki Waiting
Batdance


good tracks

its not great.. but its not bad

Arms of Orion is dull and uninspired, but I really love the rest of Batman -even Batdance. True, the last track is a little out of place sonicly, but I think it nicely ties together elements of the 60's tv series Prince grew up watching, and the 80's movie he'd grow up to do the soundtrack for.

But AoO aside, this album just kicks ass all over the place. Electric Chair, Vicki Waiting, and Lemon Crush are especially hot.


addendum If you've ever doubted the formative power media can have on children, look no farther than me for proof. Batman '89 was, at the tender age of 4, the first movie I ever saw in theatre. As an adult, I have a diehard love for all things Batsy and Princely. Go figure.
[Edited 1/10/09 1:07am]

Ya

I love Electric Chair!

It's his last great album.

Yes, it's shamelessly commercial, but that doesn't necessarily equate to being bad.

I think it's a good album but not great. Electric Chair, The Arms Of Orion, Partyman and Scandalous are all very good and Vicki Waiting slightly above average. The rest of the album is not above average.
[Edited 1/10/09 10:47am]

Even if you take away Batdance and all of the Batman samples and references, you still have a great album.

Actually, IMO it would be a better album.

peter430044 said:

This is why I love Prince fans.

You list Arms of Orion as a *very good* song off the album. Everyone else says it's one of the worst.

Very interesting.

i love it because the album and the movie are the most prophetic of any of the Batman movies IMO.
I like its cold blackness, its cold silence with lights like stars piercing the universe,
or like vastness of a large city at night.
[Edited 1/10/09 12:18pm]

Personally i think it isnt among his real classic albums, but it is overlooked and underappreciated in some ways. Why?

It was one of the first albums by a big 'mainstream artist' that was almost totally built up out of samples: Prince recorded this album in a matter of weeks, using guitar samples (no, the main riff of Electric Chair is no guitar riff, but a sample replayed on a keyboard), orchestral samples (like on The Future and Scandalous), and choir samples on several songs. Even the '17 horns blowing' on Partyman, are sampled horns.
In that sense it is a rather creative album, Prince in a real sample mood for the first time in his career.

Next to that: although the songs itself might not offer anything new in the Prince universe (apart from Batdance probably, again a creative attempt by Prince using samples and looped beats, inspired by the rising house-movement at that period) the cold, electronic sound and the use of black humor, perfectly fit with the characters of the movie, and the underlying blackness of it.

Prince wasnt really showing any new 'tricks' on this project, but (apart from the useless 'sapieness' of Arms of Orion, and the throwaway composition 'Lemon Crush'), this album is a damn fine, compact, electro funk outfit with an unsuspected depth in how he is dealing with the lyrical hemes.

Therefore it has an edge and quality, that for instance, the 'Come' album is missing.
[Edited 1/10/09 13:05pm]

I like "the Future","electric chair",Vicki witing, the rest of the album is were u could see him sliding... lemon crush, trust,partyman has always been tredful 2 me... the album is okay

Sophianestesia said:

I agree with this comment...I really like "Trust," as well.

DEFINITELY! It's what introduced me to Prince

Yep, and here are several reasons why:

1. Electric Chair contains some of the nastiest guitar playing Prince has ever recorded. Put on the headphones, turn the volume up to 11, and you will be in git-fiddle heaven.

2. Vicki Waiting is a top-ten all-time funk groove.

3. Batdance is the only song I have ever heard where a part isn't played forward or backward, but sideways.

On the other hand, Arms of Orion, Lemon Crush and Scandalous must have been written while Prince was OD'ing on lollipops.
[Edited 1/10/09 13:41pm]

Take out the awful Lemon Crush and the idiotic Batdance.

Graycap23 said:

200 Balloons was the best outtake, IMHO.

Replace those crap songs with Sex. Would then be a great album.

2freaky4church1 said:

I think Batdance is 100% genius. It's more powerful than any song by any artist on the radio today.

RodeoSchro said:

Powerful?

I wouldn't go that far, but I would definitely rather jam to Batdance than, say, Womanizer.

yep, I'm with you*

I enjoy everything but 'The Future' and 'Arms of Orion' although I will endure both. I've also added Dance w/ the Devil (which should have replaced 'The Future.') being the better of the two tracks.

Nah not a fan of it at all and I wouldnt call it great as I only like 2 songs (Partyman and Trust) and there not even "great" either

2freaky4church1 said:

Nope. Love'em both.

'Batdance' shamelessly apes M/A/R/R/S's 'Pump Up the Volume,' but keeps itself within the movie universe (and the soundtrack). It's disjointed and jerky but it works.

RodeoSchro said:

I've never felt '200 Balloons.'

But I just added 'Me Touch Myself' to Devil on the ITunes Batman Soundtrack.

The "Future" is a classic up their with among the Prince "cannon", poor thing just ended up here.

Electric Chair is also awesome, not in the league of the "Future" but bas ass just the same.
Vicki Waiting is ok, but is was foreshadowing the vibe we would be inundated with in the years to come.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE BATDANCE even I will admit that it is just ass shaking nonsence, but that guitar solo and the funky strutting chicken scratching forgives all.
IT is among my top all-time favorite Prince Tracks
Great CD

+ i love the hell out of those videos
[Edited 1/10/09 18:20pm]