I loved the film soundtrack to Batman and still do (Partyman etc...).

I was reading a review of Daredevil and the reviewer mentions Batman and says that Batman just doesn't stand the test of time with one of the reason's being the Prince soundtrack.

Link www.joblo.com/daredevil.htm

I was wondering if other people still like the Batman soundtrack or if they find it dated.

One of his most under rated albums. Great B-Sides too.

first off, the movie is classic. there hasn't been a better film about a comicbook hero thus far. secondly, about the album: well, i still love it. mainly because it was my first prince album. come to think of it, i played it for years not knowing it was all prince. lol. you can understand my surprise afterwards. but having bought most of prince's backcatalogue since, i must say i sometimes think of what prince would have released if it wasn't for this soundtrack-offer he got. he was definitely on some next level shit with 'sign o' the times' and 'lovesexy'.

The problem with new movies is that they seldom have a score - they have songs - and those songs date the movie instantly IMO. The musical acts fade away (usually just a few years after the soundtrack) and never give the movie a "timeless" feel.

The John Williams music score for Superman, for example, stands the test of time. "Classical" type music doesn't belong to any decade, so watching the movie 20 years from now it's still fresh.

Some things that date movies:

• Clothing that is obviously from a certain era (the 80's were notorious for this)
• Cars (movies from the 70's especially)
• Guest cameos (Macy Gray in Spiderman was a mistake)
• Compilation soundtracks

So I agree/disagree with the Batman reference -- the movie is 14 years old this summer, and still has enough "personality" to be enjoyable. About Daredevil -- I saw it last night, and it has no personality and will not be remembered in a few years (not fondly, anyway).
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 9:20:20 PST 2003 by Se7en]

I like most of the songs on Batman, especially Partyman - veeerrry funky. I really like the single remix of The Future. But I think the album would have been better with 200 Balloons included. And Scandalous makes me yawn.

& I mean absolutely adore the :Batman: soundtrack! Vicki Waiting is my favorite jam as well as PartyMan.
BATDAAANCE Lemmme go & put it on...

The Batman soundtrack is one of those albums that if you're in the right mood for it, it blows you away! It's dark, subtle in it's brilliance and, considering that it's Prince doing the one-man-band thing, a work of true genius.

_____
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 13:22:23 PST 2003 by Haystack]

Vicky Waiting is cool.

The movie was shit and the soundtrack was lousy. That album signalled the end of brilliant run of Prince albums and i think thats why i see it with such contempt. There are several good songs on it but i'd be kidding myself if i said it was a good album.

Is this reviewer and the rest of you all kidding??? Someone needs to do a Billboard search and find out where the Batman soundtrack was rated. I know it made it to number 1. And furthermore, to suggest that the reason Batman has not been able to stand the test of time is because of the movies soundtrack is just ridiculous. The movie has what... 2 sequals??? What is this guy talking about. And why must Prince be the blame anyway???

Stupid people just irk my nerves!!!
"Follow a stupid kid home and see if a stupid person don't answer the door!"

I loved the album myself. It was, and to me still is, a fun album to listen to. Minneapolisgenius I agree with you, Vicky Waiting is one of my favorites.

double posts. sorry.
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 18:19:44 PST 2003 by NovaAngel]

purpleone said:

Kneel before Zod!

Actually Superman II is the best in my opinion. Although I like the Batman Soundtrack I agree that it dates the movie-- but in a good way. It's not always bad to belong to a particular era. The only reason "Classical" music scores don't date a movie is because they are ubiquitous and have little personality to distinguish them. Again my opinion. When was the last time somebody watched a movie and came away impressed with the score? "2001"? "She's Gotta Have It"?

Batman was a good movie, judging whether or not somethings 'aged well' or not is just obnoxious critical bull

I don't get how the Prince soundtrack dates the entire movie. There is one very small snippet of The Future playing from a passing car, basically just the beat of a song playing in the background during the casino party, half a verse and a bit of chorus of Partyman and some of Trust during the parade. All told, maybe 5 minutes of Prince music out of a 90 minute movie.

Any popular music from that time would have carried an 80's vibe to it.

Whodknee:

For me, the last really impressive musical scores were Gladiator (Zimmer/Gerrard) and Planet Of The Apes (Danny Elfman).

But I disagree that classical music doesn't have personality. Take, for example, the Star Wars scores - the music is excellent and a perfect complement to the movies.

I agree that Superman II was the best!! I especially appreciate the forethought that went into Superman I -- the very beginning when they show Zod and his 2 partners being banished into the Phantom Zone. It wasn't something they just "added" later . . .

Futureshock:

Batman had THREE sequels: Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin. The last one (with George Clooney) is the one that killed the franchise. It's also an example of why Daredevil was a failure -- too much "star power" and too little story coupled with poor acting.

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[This message was edited Sun Feb 16 10:29:40 PST 2003 by Se7en]

I agree that Prince was definitely on a higher level of creativity before Batman. It also seemed that his band then was the best ever, in terms of creative input.

Just listen to the music and lyrics from Sign O The Times, Lovesexy, and the outtakes from that era. His music then was very spiritually-charged, positive and political (note that I said "spiritually" and not "religiously").