Soundtrack of the movie "Batman" directed by Tim Burton (1989). A counterpart Batman score was also composed by Danny Elfman.
All choir, horn and orchestra parts were sampled and re-arranged by Prince.
Special guest presence (samples from the movie 'Batman') by: Jack Nicholson (The Joker), Michael Keaton (Batman) and Kim Basinger (Vicky Vale) on 'The Future', 'Vicki Waiting', 'Partyman' and 'Batdance'. The uncredited voice of Robert Wuhl (Alexander Knox) can be heard on 'Trust'.
Recorded & mixed at Paisley Park Studios.
'Electric Chair' mixed at the Grey Room.
Mastered at Masterdisk, New York.
Sheena Easton appears courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.
Crijevo, Jan 15, 2006
Prince either produced excellent albums or completely boring, self-indulgent shit. Often adding hardcore sex to effect, but 'Batman' remains a strange 'neither/nor' affair with interesting studio trickery, based around samples (we wonder...), and state-of-the-art technology.
As a soundtrack to a film, however, it is quite authentic - with soundtracks, the story is usually a compilation of everything, hired from rock to sleaziest romantic ballads, so Prince made an album in his own right, while remaining as mysterious on the back of a film (even taking his own narrative character into the songs, named Gemini).
Bizzare opening offers paranoia to great effect - a frightened person listening to Batman ('I'm not gonna hurt you...')... The line kicks off into fade with 'The Future', a stunning feature in lyrics 'I've seen the future and it will be...'... In the end, it leaves you uncertain with Jack Nicholson's (The Joker's) frightening call 'Think about the future...', leading the way on to 'Electric Chair'. Sadly here's where 'Batman' stops from being a mysterious soundtrack to clumsily performed comic adaptation - 'Electric Chair' is ok but fits better to some 'Sign O'the Times' than 'Batman'... then a bollock-dropping 'The Arms of Orion', a pathetic godawful ballad in duet with Sheena Easton (without the 'look'). 'Partyman' as a funky-crazed answer to The Joker's lucidity repairs the damage but 'Vicky Waiting' again, despite its effective intro tape loop/drum falls flat with the very first line of the song ('Phone rings it's Vicki calling, she wants me to come to the crib... blah blah).
Side two changes nothing if very little - 'Trust' and 'Lemon Crush' are absolutely forgettable while 'Scandalous' goes much better for 'Emmanuelle' or any erotica feature of 'Playboy Nights'...
In the end, the whole album ows most to its closing number, 'Batdance' which could've been the sole offering to the film (alongside 'The Future') - as a compilation of refrains from the rest of the songs, mostly 'The Future' and 'Electric Chair', 'Batdance' deserves a listen as Prince demostrates his experimental skills to great effect here - twisting around two dancing rhythm-patterns, shining with both, electro and hip-hop infiltrations, giving all of the dramatic atmosphere of Gotham City (especially worth noting Vicki Vale's screams, pistol shots, Joker's menacing creepy vocals or Bruce Wayne's standards such as 'I've gotta go 2 work', hah!)...
3.2/5 (