Interrestingly, couple weeks ago I listened to the Future in the same way....like it was that first time I heard it in 89. I was taking me back to those early days.

With Batdance scorching through the radio waves, with its blaring guitar solo intermingled with the raw funk of the Vicki Vale section, etc. With its colorful comic book clips and Batman singing chorus....so much colorful excitement in it....

Then the album, and it's "The Future" many first hear next (albeit yes 200 Balloons was exciting too like Batdance).

I remembered how my impressions were that Prince was wanting to get things straight and serious with the message of the song/whole album. I associated it at the time with SIGN O THE TIMES, with its stripped down beat. His imagery, his tone of voice, his simple couplet rhyming scheme.... it was the Prince of Sign o the times when it's him saying yes I rock out and funk hard, but there's a serious message I've got got to say.

So I accepted it for those means, although I remembered again how I was taken aback and not 100% agreeing with the spooky chorus swelling and running throughout. Although, I also grew to like it because it seems to fit the tone of the Batman movie with it's cold dark feel.

I didn't like the imagergy of razor blades in a paper cup for sure but again, it grew on me.

I loved / love the hypnotic beat.

I imagine an awesome video for this. I'm picturing a dark chemist lab with Prince making 'experiments' on and evaluating a society for what it is, and he's got all his equipment surrounding him, like a continuation of the Batdance video where he's in his studio lab surround situation.

Very very intriguing song. The Future. How I miss Prince. Think about the future. Love

First 2 tracks were dynamite. Amongst his best openers on ANY album and proboably the 2 best tracks on the record.

I remember wondering mainly how Prince's style would FIT Batman (and I still don't really think it does).

I think it is all very good... I recorded the album (as I did Prade) off the radio... I may have had to wait a few days to get the actual cd...

jdcxc said:

RODSERLING said:

I love Lemon Crush too (the weakest tracks for me on Batman OST are "Arms Of Orion" and "Batdance").

I didn't listen to Prince by the time the movie and the album came out (I did even buy the game, hah). I remember a friend lend me the album on tape in 1993, and despite claiming not having liked it that much, I can remember having listened to it on my walkman for the entire summer break in school. I must have liked it.

"The Future" certainly seemed like an odd opener for the album, but I remember thinking that its minimalistic electronic sound made it a bold opener anyway. Now that I've been a fan for over 25 years, it's not so hard to see the similarities between its use as an opener and the use of the title track as an opener on SOTT.

i dont understand this thread

luvsexy4all said:

Wolfie87 said:

luvsexy4all said:

i dont understand this thread

When you heard The Future for the very first time, what did you expect from the rest of the album? What musical direction were you thinking he was about to make?Just based on the sound of the track. Even before listening to the rest of the songs. [Edited 12/29/18 10:13am]

how can u judge that from just one track?

luvsexy4all said:

I thought (and still think), the Batman album kicks ass aside from Arms of Orion.

I thought the album sounded like he made it in a rush, the lyrics sounded forced in places, i hear he did the record in a week and more than one person suppossed that the tracks were lying around before that. I thought the future sounded like some of Bruce Springsteens sentiments on his nebraska album, a line goes something like "if you can kill a man for what goes on in his mind" pretty much the same as what was on the future, maybe coincidence, or maybe prince had listened to nebraska. Either way, some of Prince's most profound ideas are on that album and they are easy to miss, the line "we got the power, so, we got the soul" sums up black and white people for me all day long and is one of the most profound things he ever said.

Wolfie87 said:

luvsexy4all said:

how can u judge that from just one track?

Ohh, come on now. Apart from SOTT,I would argue that every album from Dirty Mind up until Lovesexy had a introduction of a concept and a sound. Why are people quoting ATWIAD as a totally different direction compared to Purple Rain. Parade as a minimalistic sounding album with those drums as an overall soundscape. Lovesexy with more incorporated instruments and a thicker sound than SOTT and a gospel feel. Purple Rain as a Rock Opera heavy sound on Let's go crazy. Dirty Mind as a sleazy, synth orientated sex escapade. Controversy as a funky bridge into 1999. And 1999, well the linn drum speaks volumes on the title track.

.

And there is your answer. The other albums are a collection of songs written/selected for that album. Purple Rain is a collection of songs written/selected for his movie. Batman is a collection of songs written/selected for another person's movie. When writing/selecting songs for another person's movie it has to fit the movie not an album's concept.

.

Batman as an album is one of my favourites.

'nuff said. The imagery is a little bleak,
to say the least.
It's the audio that matters.

No Seal's Trevor Horn "Crazy" without
this Orbit tour de force.
Heck, no "Ray Of Light".

That there wouldn't be any sweet-talk on it.

I heard Tim Burton was ambivalent about most of the music offered by Prince for Batman

[Edited 12/29/18 17:22pm]

peggyon said:

I heard Tim Burton was ambivalent about most of the music offered by Prince for Batman

He liked the songs,but he didn't feel that they worked in the type of movie that he was making.He said that Warner Bros. basically pressured him to use the songs.

alandail said:

RODSERLING said:

Lemon Crush and Orion were among his worst output

I LOVE Lemon Crush.

"Lemon Crush" has a fantastic groove,but it's the one track that truly seems like filler...it feels wildly out of place.

I like Arms of Orion. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Seriously.

RODSERLING said:

Prince creative feeling is there during the whole album you snobberish punk. Even if Lemon Crush and Orion were among his worst output, the other 7 tracks are Prince at his best.

EXACTLY!!

I couldn't have said it better.. thanks.. spot on,



Batman the album is fine = shut up already damn..

Batman was soooo different than Lovesexy but hey, this was Prince. ATWIAD was very different than Purple Rain, either. So I needed time to digest it thoroughly.

.
I never liked Scandalous and the Arms of Orion, but then again I never liked Prince's romantics ballads, either. Adore is another such song.
.

Trust has been a song that I always skipped. I don't know, it sounds like it belongs to a "The Time" album, not a "Prince" album.
.

No complaints about Lemon Crush and Partyman, I enjoy them when I hear them. Very creative pieces. Vicki Waiting is a sexy song. It's lovely. So unique, so Prince-y.
.

But Electric Chair and Batdance got me. They have been my favorites from the album. Remixes of them even pushed me to the realm of electronic music. I was 21 then and moving on.
Batman was also my very first Prince CD!

PeteSilas said:

Number23 said:

PeteSilas said:

Either way, some of Prince's most profound ideas are on that album and they are easy to miss, the line "we got the power, so, we got the soul" sums up black and white people for me all day long and is one of the most profound things he ever said.

Funny how we see what we want to see. Seems very basic, dumb and binary to me to ringfence white as power and black as soul. Against everything that Prince stood for, in fact. What the fuck is ‘soul’ anyway? Utter nonsense. You’ve built walls in your brain that limit your perception, again, against everything that Prince stood for. Sick of ‘white folks ain’t got no soul’ pish.

sorry you feel that way.

PeteSilas said:

Number23 said:

I never liked The Future and Electric Chair much. I thought they were the two worst songs on the album on first listen.
Scandalous is the track that saved the album. Vicky Waiting and Partyman are the other two on the plus-scale.