Even though the Batman soundtrack as an album had some weak songs, as a project, it was fantastic!

01) The Mark Moore / William Orbit remixes... They were intended as dance remixes and for once, they sounded like you could dance to them. From Purple Rain up until the Batman remixes you couldn't really call any B-Side or extended mix a "dance" version;

02) The Last Of The Great B-Sides... 200 Balloons; Feel U Up; I Love U In Me; Sex... Two brilliant songs and two not so brilliant... But at least they were non-album tracks, they weren't boring techno remixes or lazy alternate versions;

03) The Purple Party Mix! It was 1989 and the 80s were the time of the cheesey megamix but Prince held out until the last year of the decade to lay his first official megamix on us. It was cheesey as fuck but its great!!! If ever you have a house-party make a conga line and play this track!;

04) The Scandalous Sex Suite. Ooh yeah! Kim Basinger breathing and sounding dumb as pig-shit. Weird talking bits - Prince doesn't have a bed in his bedroom apparently... I'm sorry, but this is the most sexy thing he did since Do Me Baby. The guitar soars like a huge purple soaring thing and the saxophone sounds like its licking all over your body.

Does anybody else love all this stuff? You don't have to love the album but you gotta admit, nothing after this was ever as exciting.

BinaryJustin said:

MMM... that's cool and all. But the Definitive mega remix for Prince was "Gett OFF" followed by "The Most Beautiful Girl". Third, though, I would say is Scandalous Sex Suite. But I agree, in the sense that Batman was the last album to include seperate and distinct non-album track b-sides.

The SSS is just way too long for me - the album version will surfice for me - I really don't think he should have released it as a single.

Batdance = Amazing
Partyman = Great Camille Pop-Funk
Arms of Orion = First mistake, to schmaltzy, he should have left her alone - she was naff by now.
Scandalous = Way too un-radio friendly and too slow (as much as I love it, Prince can tend to get too lascivious and enter treacle-town.

2 good songs, 2 bad = OK
Singles should have been:
Batdance
Partyman
Electric Chair
Vicki Waiting
Trust

I think this album is his most pure pop - it's so of it's time, 89-92 has dated, the release of Rave Un2 in 1999 was proof of that.
It also sounds really unorganic, from the Camille esque vocals and to the clean sounding guitars, and light pop electro-beats.

MiaBocca said:

I agree that Batman is his most "pop" album, but I don't think it sounds as dated as the Graffiti Bridge album. When Prince does his own thing, it sounds timeless.

Batman was Prince doing pop his way. Diamonds & Pearls sounds like Prince doing pop the way that he thought people wanted it.

Although there is no real stand-out song on Batman (Electric Chair & Scandalous are close though), I don't think its as annoying or unfulfilling as the Come album.

Anyway - aside from the album, you gotta admit that all the other stuff I listed makes it his last big project.

Good analysis, Binary.

I like the whole project. For a commissioned work with a specific theme, I think Prince made a brilliant POP album. A fun exercise in throwaway little pop ditties.

And as for the rest of the project -- I like it quite well, thank u. The enormity of Batman allowed for a big commercial push, which gave us a tidal wave of product. Good stuff!

BinaryJustin said:

Interesting. Without too much thought, my gut says I agree!

what about "the future"?

Vicki waiting is one of my favourite P songs ever.

I really enjoyed batman and all the mixes from it. I would have never guessed Prince to do a soundtrack to something like Batman, but it worked out better than ever. Its rare that a movie soundtrack be given to one particular group or musician, usually they're a lousy compilation of 2nd rate songs that toss in a minute reference to the movie itself.

The scandalous sex suite is hypnotic. And I love Kim Bassinger so I didn't really mind her being on there. I think the house/club sound that was going on in the batman mixes was alot more sucessful than his dabble with house on Emancipation.

Most mega mixes suck because they are done by local DJs who barely know how to turn a knob let alone match beats. The batman megamixes were special because Prince did them himself and had complete access to all the raw tracks. A regular DJ could never pull that off with whats publicly available. I don't think Prince would ever hand over that much material to a well known DJ either.

"Vicki Waiting" is classic, if only for those lyrics about having kids that everbody loves.

SSS is waaay too long, but the guitar on the 2nd(?) track is sweet.


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[This message was edited Fri Feb 28 8:06:49 PST 2003 by Universaluv]

Isn't it amazing how time & time again the 'Batman' soundtrack creates this debate?? I don't know how many times I've read a thread like this; it certainly divides a lot of people.

For me, it's NOT his best album, but I still love it to bits. It's quirky, playful Prince delivering the goods. He knew what was expected of him (as if he's going to put a song like 'Sister' on a soundtrack like this! I can just IMAGINE Warner Bros' reaction!).

It's not meant to be any sort of 'statement'; just a fun, pop album to accompany a fun, popular film. nothimng more, nothing less.

What I DON'T understand, though, is why everyone seems to hate 'The Arms Of Orion'!! I think it's lovely. Surely I'm not the only person who likes it??!?

The album was very successful for it's time and that's the problem. Prince fams have been trying to work out where the greatness was/is? Like onenitealone suggests, perhaps it should just be taken as a fun, pop album that clearly was likely to sell because of the Batman connection.

No doubt, it has some classic moments. I think actually think those are the videos to Batdance and Partyman. I actually liked the Scandalous Sex Suite and still think Sex is a brilliant b-side.

Anji - I think you're right.
I think far too many fans get precious over this album, as if only WE can have him to ourself. After all, wasn't it the fastest-selling album EVER to get to #1, at that point??? We all want everyone to respect/admire/understand Prince as he deserves, but aren't too keen when everyone gets on the bandwagon. Hmmm..! A bit hypocritical.

Prince knew what he was doing and, for that, he was #1 at the bank. Who can blame him??!