Edited 2 years ago

Wholesome record! Besides the obvious great compositions and mastering, it is also outstanding how Prince's view of the Batman world —quite apart from Tim Burton's mind— surfaces in almost every track. It is very amusing how Prince role-plays the movie characters (shown for example as the "lead vocals" of each song in credits) imprinting all that sweaty, sexy, party, funny themes to a usually dim, cruel and serious world. Also remarkable the sexual tension between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale showcased in a very Prince-ish way like in "Lemon Crush" (exactly what kind of juice is being squeezed here?), "Vicki Waiting" (a "small organ" being played in "a cathedral"?) and "Scandalous" —let's just ignore the cheesy duet "The Arms Of Orion" which is not sexy at all. Anyways... great!

Edited 2 years ago

One Of Prince's Best Albums. The Production Is Excellent, Dark & Moody With A Great Sense Of Fun Just Like The Tim Burton Batman Movie. Some Of Prince's Very Best Songs Are On Here From The Excellent Hard Rock Of Electric Chair To The Epic Hard Funk Of Partyman, The Sensuous R&B Ballad Scandalous, The Very Disney Styled Arms Of Orion, The One Of A Kind Batdance And The Magnificent Minimalist Funk Pop Of The Future, Trust, Lemon Crush & My Favourite Vicki Waiting. The DMM Used For This Pressing Is Really Quite Something, The Music Really Pops And Comes Alive. Beautiful Level Of Full Bodied Detail In The Highs, Mids And Lows. I Strongly Recommend Anyone Who Wants To Get This To Jump On It.

Edited 7 years ago

An album that works well away on its own as much as it is an exclusive soundtrack to a Tim Burton film. Appearing as the "pop" side to Danny Elfman's classical score, "Batman" is a strange affair of Prince's hits and misses. The production is without doubt top-notch, the sample-heavy tricks under Prince's sleeve deliver a daring collection of twisted pop experiments.

Among these, "Batdance" alone stands out carrying the entire premise of a "soundtrack", combining moments from "The Future", "Electric Chair" and "200 Baloons" (the latter a non-album b-side track to "Batdance"). Interchangeable and magnificent with a stunning guitar solo cutting mercilessly straight down the middle, "Batdance" makes some of the other songs sound like fillers - "Electric Chair" is musically driving but lyrically doesn't live up to the title's promise. The same goes for "Vicki Waiting" and "Lemon Crush" both of which also show music appeal but these tracks' weakness lies in the shallow lyrics.

The "Batdance" appeal of a soundtrack is strongly evident in "Partyman" - a stunning, funky-as-hell dance number in reference to The Joker (the extended (video) mix is even more adorable). "Trust" passes the test with a charm of its own (and like "Partyman", actually appears in the very film). "The Future" adds to this selection, and is an ideal opening track, stripped down to a minimal beat placed in a suitably creepy, gothic setting.

The unecessary soap opera sadly arrives with "The Arms Of Orion" - too typical a ballad of the time (a duet between Sheena Easton and Prince as "Vicki" and "Bruce"), too bland for a soundtrack like this one, ruining the complete picture. And if you saw the film, the Vicki / Bruce romance isn't that explicit to earn a song like this, which in fact doesn't even appear in the film anywhere, sounding even more over-the-top in trying to portray a romance between the two, that is rather on the surface.

"Scandalous", the other of the two ballads, suffers for the same reason - overcharged with erotic innuendos to an extent of hinting at a sexual climax scene in the very film (in the album version we hear some heavy female breathing), although "Scandalous" is one of Prince's finest ever songs and stands strong on its own, away from the film's context.

Holy DMM-pressing Batman! Sounds nice and bright and crisp. No problems with my copy. Play "Trust" and "Batdance" loudly.

For me it's a masterpiece.