It's a good album and I love it since its a part of my childhood. However, I do think that if Prince had rejected the proposal for the Batman soundtrack and stayed focused on the original Rave album, he would have kept up the artistic streak that he started with Lovesexy. In other words, the original Rave album could have been for Lovesexy what Controversy was for Dirty Mind

rudeboy4711 said:

It's a good album and I love it since its a part of my childhood. However, I do think that if Prince had rejected the proposal for the Batman soundtrack and stayed focused on the original Rave album, he would have kept up the artistic streak that he started with Lovesexy. In other words, the original Rave album could have been for Lovesexy what Controversy was for Dirty Mind

Interesting...

It's just hard to think of it as a proper album in the end. I mean, the guy that had just done the greatest string of releases of the 1980s ended the decade with some sort of a hastily thrown concoction with repeated "BATMAN" chants.

The music on it has its merits (I'm partially fond of "Scandalous" and "Partyman" myself). The Lovesexy aftershows and the outtakes from the era hint at something that could have been very special. His use of keyboards and horns was quite interesting at the time. His sound then was sort of carnivalistic with a little bit of gospel thrown in, but there was something menacing going on there too. Yet he ended up squandering all that potential on a soundtrack of this sort.

funkomatic said:

BlackandRising said:

Not sure this logics stands up to scrutiny given that it was a soundtrack to what was definitely known to be a blockbuster movie. I loved the album from day one as this is how I listened to it; a companion soundtrack to a comic that I read since childhood. There is no way in Hell that Prince could have released an album as sonically disparte and diverse as SOTT or LoveSexy to an audience that was going to watch Batman. That would have been commercial suicide for the album. For those of you that saw this as a failure because it didn't highlight his "genius", I think the genius in this album was straddling the line between what could pass for commercially viable and still being Prince.

Compare that to SOTT or LoveSexy; I had been a P fan since "For You", and I know it took me a good long while to digest the genius of both albums. Definitely not the path for a movie like Batman where fans want to immediately "get it".

I'm tired of the theories making you believe Prince had to do it this way, as if there was no other way out. Prince has to do nothing. There's always a choice!

[Edited 8/18/13 23:30pm]

comes down to simple logic. They knew Batman was going to be a hit. They wanted a "different" soundtrack that would still appeal to the target audience. I think Prince delivered. Had he gone the route of being very experimental to the point of people not being able to digest it, then what would have been the point?

novabrkr said:

Exactly my point, had he not dropped the Rave project, he would have expanded on the sound he came up with during Lovesexy. Just looking at the tracks considered to be on the first track lists for Rave gives a sense of where he was heading:

Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic (the original version with string section)
Electric Chair (the uncut version)
Pink Cashmere
Elephants & Flowers (original 1988 version)
Melody Cool
The voice Inside
God Is Alive!
If I Had a Harem
Big House (we've only heard the 30sec sample)
We Got the Power
Still Would Stand All Time
Stimulation (not in circulation)
Good Judy Girlfriend (original Prince version)
Am I without U? (Not in circulation)
Moonbeam Levels

I think even he knew that he was onto something, I mean how many songs contain either the chant or melody from Rave?
[Edited 8/19/13 16:11pm]

rudeboy4711 said:

novabrkr said:

The Lovesexy aftershows and the outtakes from the era hint at something that could have been very special. His use of keyboards and horns was quite interesting at the time. His sound then was sort of carnivalistic with a little bit of gospel thrown in, but there was something menacing going on there too. Yet he ended up squandering all that potential on a soundtrack of this sort.

Exactly my point, had he not dropped the Rave project, he would have expanded on the sound he came up with during Lovesexy. Just looking at the tracks considered to be on the first track lists for Rave gives a sense of where he was heading: Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic (the original version with string section) Electric Chair (the uncut version) Pink Cashmere Elephants & Flowers (original 1988 version) Melody Cool The voice Inside God Is Alive! If I Had a Harem Big House (we've only heard the 30sec sample) We Got the Power Still Would Stand All Time Stimulation (not in circulation) Good Judy Girlfriend (original Prince version) Am I without U? (Not in circulation) Moonbeam Levels I think even he knew that he was onto something, I mean how many songs contain either the chant or melody from Rave? [Edited 8/19/13 16:11pm]

I've never heard of half of those songs...but I can only imagine how amazing that album would've been.