Pentacle said:

funkomatic said:

Well, what to say!?

[Edited 4/27/14 8:43am]

Let's use this double post to say Amen to Stymie! And to say no no no to those wishing to remove or replace anything! I love the 86 version of We can Funk too but it wouldn't fit here. I'm sure we'll see it on the soon to be released Roadhouse Garden (..... Well we can hope...) [Edited 4/27/14 11:44am]

I love it just as it is.

There are some excellent individual tracks, but the album doesn't take you on a journey like the ones before it. And it has too many weak spots.

Arms Of Orion is brilliantly written and produced, but it simply too cheesy, and Trust and Lemon Crush are b-side at best.

The outtakes (ie Dance With The Devil) and B side (I love U in Me) are far better.

3rdeyeboy said:

There are some excellent individual tracks, but the album doesn't take you on a journey like the ones before it. And it has too many weak spots.

Arms Of Orion is brilliantly written and produced, but it simply too cheesy, and Trust and Lemon Crush are b-side at best.

The outtakes (ie Dance With The Devil) and B side (I love U in Me) are far better.

I've tried, I've really tried, to understand why people hate this song so much. It's "brilliantly written and produced," you say, someone else points out that the singing is great--but (and this is nearly always the word used) it's "cheesy." What the heck does that mean? I don't understand what people mean--it's not lyrically cliche'd (although the lyrics mean through sound more than literal meaning--obviously one can't drown in the Sea of Tranquility, and it combines astronomical terms with little interest in their actual meaning but just the suggestiveness of names or sounds). It's got some keyboard sounds that annoy me (the same types of sounds that annoy me in Graffiti Bridge and Still Would Stand All Time, and The Grand Progression, actually)--they sound weak and cheap to me.

The song seems to me to be strong, the vocal arrangement is very nice, the singing is fine, the closing moments annoy me (largely because of the keyboard sound). It's a great track.

So sayeth I.

EddieC said:

3rdeyeboy said:

There are some excellent individual tracks, but the album doesn't take you on a journey like the ones before it. And it has too many weak spots.

Arms Of Orion is brilliantly written and produced, but it simply too cheesy, and Trust and Lemon Crush are b-side at best.

The outtakes (ie Dance With The Devil) and B side (I love U in Me) are far better.

I've tried, I've really tried, to understand why people hate this song so much. It's "brilliantly written and produced," you say, someone else points out that the singing is great--but (and this is nearly always the word used) it's "cheesy." What the heck does that mean? I don't understand what people mean--it's not lyrically cliche'd (although the lyrics mean through sound more than literal meaning--obviously one can't drown in the Sea of Tranquility, and it combines astronomical terms with little interest in their actual meaning but just the suggestiveness of names or sounds). It's got some keyboard sounds that annoy me (the same types of sounds that annoy me in Graffiti Bridge and Still Would Stand All Time, and The Grand Progression, actually)--they sound weak and cheap to me.

The song seems to me to be strong, the vocal arrangement is very nice, the singing is fine, the closing moments annoy me (largely because of the keyboard sound). It's a great track.

So sayeth I.

Yeah, having listened to the song recently I enjoyed it much more than its negative reputation would indicate. I do think it's "cheesy", but it's still a very enjoyable song for me to listen to. As for defining "cheesy", well that's hard, but to me it's rather reminiscent of the type of ballad that might appear in a Disney movie (there's a specific example I'm thinking of that I can't place, possibly from Aladdin), to me that's a pretty good example of "cheesy" right there.

I love the album, take off Batdance and stick on 200 Balloons or Rave and it'd be in my top 5 Prince albums

I Love BATDANCE! and the video is one of his best. Still cannot stomach Arms of Orion.......

this thread inspired me to make a playlist with only the songs from batman

that i truly love. and those were so few that i just added the ones from the

graffity bridge album tha ti truly love, which are also not too many:

.

.

and you know what, although i enjoyed this a lot, it also made me really

appreciate the original albums more, warts and all

[Edited 4/27/14 19:40pm]

I like "The Arms Of Orion" it's Prince's attempt at creating a dramatic "love theme" for the movie.It may be a little schmaltzy,but 80s love theme songs often were.

The Arms of Orion was some straight up Fievel-wannabe bullshit.

I like the album. Thought the film was great too. Also like GB. Thought that movie sucked ass. But these albums do feel like a collection of songs to fit a movie rather than consice albums. Would really like to hear what the Rave album would have been if those movies didnt get in the way. Would the journey have continued or was the nosedive inevitable?

EddieC said:

poisonmouth said:

databank said:

Batdance was, by all means, not an easy track to sell to the masses, but its success precisely proves that the suckers will buy anything as long as it's highly promoted.

Yeah, I was one of those "suckers". Batdance was my first Prince record, and Batman was the first album I ever bought. I started off as a Batman fan and ended up a Prince fan.

If that makes u feel better my story is EXACTLY in the same as yours I wanted everything Batman related (I was 12) and I ended-up listening to that album in a loop for months so after a year I though I had to try another P album and it was Purple Rain and my fate was sealed forever

databank said:

poisonmouth said:

Yeah, I was one of those "suckers". Batdance was my first Prince record, and Batman was the first album I ever bought. I started off as a Batman fan and ended up a Prince fan.

If that makes u feel better my story is EXACTLY in the same as yours I wanted everything Batman related (I was 12) and I ended-up listening to that album in a loop for months so after a year I though I had to try another P album and it was Purple Rain and my fate was sealed forever

My second album was... Dirty Mind!

Can't wait till it gets remastered!!!!

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

I think "Batdance" is a genius mix of music and movie promo. I clearly remember the first time I heard the song on the radio in '89. I was waiting to turn left at a light and I was like, "What the eff?...this is awesome!"

poisonmouth said:

databank said:

Batdance was, by all means, not an easy track to sell to the masses, but its success precisely proves that the suckers will buy anything as long as it's highly promoted.

Yeah, I was one of those "suckers". Batdance was my first Prince record, and Batman was the first album I ever bought. I started off as a Batman fan and ended up a Prince fan.

Ditto

dadeepop said:

I think "Batdance" is a genius mix of music and movie promo. I clearly remember the first time I heard the song on the radio in '89. I was waiting to turn left at a light and I was like, "What the eff?...this is awesome!"

Its the best lead single from a soundtrack by any artist in history! Only beats "When Doves Cry".

ilo said:

Trouble is KCool is you're comparing it with movies featuring The Beatles. Also we have Saturday Night Fever, a gem of a soundtrack which had massive success due to the Bee Gees. Then there are modern classics like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. To compare rock n roll and pop to classical masterpieces is like comparing a boy racer's Peugeot to a Ferrari. Just my opinion of course as is yours.

But are all U named single artist like Prince? Eye'm afraid not...

errant said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Can't wait till it gets remastered!!!!

It might not. Warner Bros. Records and Warner Bros. are no longer part of the same company. Licensing the name, logo and sound clips could be prohibitively expensive. Even when they were part of the same company, those songs didn't make it to "The Hits" or "TVBOP".

Those songs couldn't be on the Hits or TVBOP because he didn't own the rights to the songs. The deal was big cash upfront and WB kept the rights to all songs. So, unless Prince was able to make this new WB deal work with the Batman album, we may not get a remaster.

Stymie said:

Pentacle said:

Yes, they were rushed. And songs like Partyman, Lemon Crush, Trust - they are throwaways.

Like the Vault book says: Graffiti Bridge is really a compilation album, going back to '81 with Tick, Tick Bang. I prefer the remake, I have to say; same with the remade You/U (with Prince vocals, not Paula Abdul's), I think the update is perfect. Shake! may be a throwaway too, but at least it makes me smile. GB is still my favorite album.

GB is my favorite album too.

We can no longer funk!

Pentacle said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I agree, even though many of the songs were created during the Lovesexy period, they have a very rushed feel to them. Well actually they were rushed. I believe most a Prince album no Sheila E no Dr Fink, no anyone,

.

If you look at the majority of cuts from the Graffiti Bridge album even some of the Times music, they were already created ie the Purple Rain period:Chocolate (Prince Wendy & Lisa and whoever else) Tick Tick Bang(will always prefer the 1981 version) and many of the other cuts were created during the 1985/86 period. So I alway wonder what a straight out album of songs made in 1989/90 for the GB soundtrack would sound like

Yes, they were rushed. And songs like Partyman, Lemon Crush, Trust - they are throwaways.

Like the Vault book says: Graffiti Bridge is really a compilation album, going back to '81 with Tick, Tick Bang. I prefer the remake, I have to say; same with the remade You/U (with Prince vocals, not Paula Abdul's), I think the update is perfect. Shake! may be a throwaway too, but at least it makes me smile. GB is still my favorite album.

No they're not "throwaways"! That is a insult to Prince to call his kids throwaways. U people have no home training whatsoever. U go in a studio, see what U come up with, on a short notice 4 a multi million dollar motion picture.. It still sold over 3 million copies!

[Edited 4/28/14 19:39pm]

kewlschool said:

FunkyD said:

jaypotton said:

THAT is why it isn't a "classic" but it is (for 8 tracks) a very good album. The Arms of Orion is in the same folder (ie never play this for damaging my ears and Prince's reputation) as the songs Grafitti Bridge and that Fallinlove... crap he released last month!

"Temptation" dosen't stop "Around the world" in a day to be a classic to fans though. Most fans seem to hate on this song.

Temptation kicks ass. Prince at his best.

kewlschool said:

errant said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said: It might not. Warner Bros. Records and Warner Bros. are no longer part of the same company. Licensing the name, logo and sound clips could be prohibitively expensive. Even when they were part of the same company, those songs didn't make it to "The Hits" or "TVBOP".

Those songs couldn't be on the Hits or TVBOP because he didn't own the rights to the songs. The deal was big cash upfront and WB kept the rights to all songs. So, unless Prince was able to make this new WB deal work with the Batman album, we may not get a remaster.

But those 2 albums were put together by WB. If they kept the rights to the songs, then... um.... how is that a problem?

[Edited 4/28/14 19:27pm]

errant said:

kewlschool said:

Those songs couldn't be on the Hits or TVBOP because he didn't own the rights to the songs. The deal was big cash upfront and WB kept the rights to all songs. So, unless Prince was able to make this new WB deal work with the Batman album, we may not get a remaster.

But those 2 albums were put together by WB. If they kept the rights to the songs, then... um.... how is that a problem?

[Edited 4/28/14 19:27pm]

WB owns the publishing rights to the songs. Prince would have to pay to use them. They (All the songs on the Batman album) are the only songs Prince does not own the publishing rights too.

Prince has owned all his publishing rights to all other songs. Unless Prince worked some magic with the new contract he may or may not own the publishing rights.

Stymie said:

kewlschool said:

We can no longer funk!

kewlschool said:

errant said:

But those 2 albums were put together by WB. If they kept the rights to the songs, then... um.... how is that a problem?

[Edited 4/28/14 19:27pm]

WB owns the publishing rights to the songs. Prince would have to pay to use them. They (All the songs on the Batman album) are the only songs Prince does not own the publishing rights too.

Prince has owned all his publishing rights to all other songs. Unless Prince worked some magic with the new contract he may or may not own the publishing rights.

but that wouldn't preclude them from being on a Warner Bros. Records album.

which The Hits, The Very Best of Prince, Ultimate, and his upcoming remasters are.

what are you trying to say exactly? Warner Bros. and Prince can't put out the Batman songs from a Prince album because they are owned by Warner Bros. Records?

btw, I'm looking at the liner notes to the album and they are all copyrighted by Controversy Music.

that the songs might be owned by Warner Bros. Records is not any sort of reason for them to not be on remasters put out by Warner Bros. Records.

that the album contains the intellectual property of another corporation (AOL Time Warner) that is no longer tied to Warner Bros. Records - the title, the logo, the characters, film clips (the actors may also require approval) - would be the reason.