I remember when I buyed the cassette. I did not understand if it was a album or a soundtrack, who was singing, until I put it in the walkman. I was happy Prince was singing, but I considered it like a "minus opus" after Lovesexy.

fabriziovenerandi said:

abcd098 said:

Are their tracks on the album generally regarded as being better than others on the album?

What do you mean by THEIR tracks?

I loved it from the beginning.

I found it much more enjoyable than Lovesexy at the time.

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Of course it's a Prince album.

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Overall it is mid to low level album. But it does have three great songs. Three really great songs:

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"The Future"

"Electric Chair"

"Batdance"

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Doesn't matter that Prince tailored those songs for a movie, those three are classic Prince songs anyway you want to look at it.

Definitely on the B or even C list in my opinion. The project seemed to me as an attempt to generate money and raise his profile in order to get on WB's good side so they would back Grafitti Bridge. So much for that idea.

And it wasn't even a proper soundtrack per se since I think only two songs are even used in the movie and sparingly at that. It was all a big Hollywood blockbuster cross promotion.

On a positive note, 'The Future' is an excellent track. Try and track down the Mare Moore remix of it if you can. Very 90's big club vibe.

DesperatelySeekingSusan said:

Definitely on the B or even C list in my opinion. The project seemed to me as an attempt to generate money and raise his profile in order to get on WB's good side so they would back Grafitti Bridge. So much for that idea.

And it wasn't even a proper soundtrack per se since I think only two songs are even used in the movie and sparingly at that. It was all a big Hollywood blockbuster cross promotion.

On a positive note, 'The Future' is an excellent track. Try and track down the Mare Moore remix of it if you can. Very 90's big club vibe.

Electric Chair and Vicki Waiting were used in the movie as well.

I've always loved it...I've seen a lot of praise for the album here, although there is always a few tracks that don't get much love.

Cloreen said:

.

Of course it's a Prince album.

.

Overall it is mid to low level album. But it does have three great songs. Three really great songs:

.

"The Future"

"Electric Chair"

"Batdance"

.

Doesn't matter that Prince tailored those songs for a movie, those three are classic Prince songs anyway you want to look at it.

SCANDALOUS is one of his best ballads ever.

I was 14 when the 1989 Batman film came out. It was a HUGE event. There is a wonderful documentary on the DVD and Blu Ray of the movie that explains just how much the film impacted pop culture at the time. I highly recomend it. (it also talks about Prince) That being said, at the age of 14 being a Batman+Prince fan I was overjoyed when I heard he was doing the soundtrack. I rushed out and bought both soundtracks (Elfman and Prince) as soon as I could. Not knowing what to expect, I was caught very much off gaurd by the abstract/funky/edgy music Prince had made for the film. Since the soundtrack came out prior to the film, it had me wondering just how nuts the film might be. The album gave me months of pleasure as I absorbed it and wondered how it all fit in to the movie. I loved the movie when it finally hit cinemas, but a small part of me was let down, because most of the Prince music was simply in the background at low volume with the exception of Partyman. The Partyman scene was amazing and had me grinning from ear to ear. To this day when I play that song I have to flap around a bit like the Joker lol.

Personally, over the years the Batman album has aged like wine. I rediscover it about every 5 years in some new light. This time around I finally heard the remixes, which are awesome. I love the Batman/Prince project

Batman paved the way to have movie soundtracks "inspired" by movies (with many songs that didn't necessarily make the film - Madonna's Dick Tracy tie-in - I'm Breathless - for example).

That said, "Scandalous" does play over the second half of the end credits.

"Trust" and "Partyman" are featured somewhat prominently. "Electric Chair" is brief background music in one scene; not sure about others since I haven't seen the film in so long. I thought I heard a trace of "The Future" in one scene.

I read an interview with Tim Burton where he felt bad that he didn't know how to incorporate more of the music into the movie (it was more idea of the producers/WB to have a pop soundtrack than his). He initially passed on "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic" (replaced by "Partyman") and "200 Balloons" (replaced by "Trust").

It was initially reported that Prince produced this soundtrack in just a few weeks. But it turns out that some of the songs had been previously worked on for shelved album projects (e.g. "Electric Chair," "Anna (Vicki) Waiting," surely "Lemon Crush).

I listened to this cassette in my car a lot the summer it came out. It was definitely a comedown from the amazing streak from ATWIAD to Lovesexy. Lovesexy sounds like a "family" record with other singers and terrific horn players whereas Batman seems more minimal, a return to Prince as one-man-band (with strings and horns only sampled in a few places).

For me, "The Future" and "Electric Chair" are pretty cool, but never quite take off. "The Arms of Orion" is sappy but sweet, sounding like a natural movie love theme (not sure why it didn't make the movie). "Partyman" is an okay jam, but sounds kinda forced.

The poppy "Vicki Waiting" and "Trust" are personal favorites. The less said about the awkard electro-funk of "Lemon Crush," the better.

"Scandalous" is very cool musically (and inspired a piece of Danny Elfman's movie score), but I don't care for Prince's scratchy/creepy vocal delivery on this one.

"Batdance" is a hodgepodge sound collage of released and unreleased songs and movie dialogue. It's pretty fun, but hard to think of as a "song" really.

Apparently because of rights issues with Marvel, Prince and WB haven't been able to include these songs on hits compilations. But then again, I don't think of any of the hits as really important in the context of Prince's career (despite the fact that "Batdance" did hit #1 US).

positivity88 said:

Apparently because of rights issues with Marvel, Prince and WB haven't been able to include these songs on hits compilations. But then again, I don't think of any of the hits as really important in the context of Prince's career (despite the fact that "Batdance" did hit #1 US).

DC Comics.

Marvel couldn't tie their shoes until CGI was invented.

I don't know how anyone considers it not a real Prince album. There's spirituality, sex, love, fun, quirky shit - all the usual stuff in it. If anything, it's a very strong Prince album because, as I've stated before, Prince - when put to the test - can write great pop songs, and have a hit. When he's really challenged, and put in a corner, he can come out screaming, stomping in his heels, waving a track that climbs to the top of the charts. He can provide strong melodies, catchy hooks, and infectious rhythm sections that people will hum for 30 years down the line. The fact that it was inspired by a movie - who cares? If he didn't want to do it, he wouldn't have done it.

As someone else mentioned, I had no idea if The Joker, or Bruce Wayne were singing these tracks, when I first saw the liner notes. I thought - "did he sample dialog and make all these songs?" Then I realized he wrote them from the character's point of view. That's even more genius. It's not the first time Prince wrote based on a character, or for someone/something else.

Instead of asking which track is better, listen for yourself, and make your own decisions. That's the greatness of Prince music.

The beauty with Prince's music is that every album is different and every fan will love or dislike an ablum, however the end result is he still brings us all together through his music. I know many fans on this site have dissed this Batman album with the exception of some tracks. This album is still one of my favorite albums by Prince I'd surely put it in my top ten. I think the sound he created at the time was revolutionary and ahead of it's time, It's just a magnificent album. The videos were great as well. I loved his whole "gemini' character. I often revisit this album. Great peace of work, to me all songs on here were amazing.

It's a great album.

Arms of Orion is the only weak track on there. Even so it has a very nice melody. If it had been an instrumental track, I think it'd get much more love.

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't know how anyone considers it not a real Prince album. There's spirituality, sex, love, fun, quirky shit - all the usual stuff in it. If anything, it's a very strong Prince album because, as I've stated before, Prince - when put to the test - can write great pop songs, and have a hit. When he's really challenged, and put in a corner, he can come out screaming, stomping in his heels, waving a track that climbs to the top of the charts. He can provide strong melodies, catchy hooks, and infectious rhythm sections that people will hum for 30 years down the line. The fact that it was inspired by a movie - who cares? If he didn't want to do it, he wouldn't have done it.

As someone else mentioned, I had no idea if The Joker, or Bruce Wayne were singing these tracks, when I first saw the liner notes. I thought - "did he sample dialog and make all these songs?" Then I realized he wrote them from the character's point of view. That's even more genius. It's not the first time Prince wrote based on a character, or for someone/something else.

Instead of asking which track is better, listen for yourself, and make your own decisions. That's the greatness of Prince music.

Amen to that!