Batman: Original Soundtrack (Prince)

this album, released in 1989 as OST to the hugely successful Batman movie was Princes biggest success since Purple Rain in 1984. The album was number for six weeks in the US and the lead single, Batdance, was number at the same time for three weeks.

alot of hardcore prince fans believe this album to be the beginning of prince going very commercial after his spiritual album of the year before, lovesexy. and many view it as the beginning ...
...absolutely disagree with this opinion and was very surprised when i found out how little this album sold for its comparative brilliance.

for this album prince plays just about every single instrument, and as it shows on the batdance video, alot of the sounds are from a synth (and sound excellent and give the album a very individual sound, as prince tries to create for each of his albums).

the album opens with 'the future', ... more

this album, released in 1989 as OST to the hugely successful Batman movie was Princes biggest success since Purple Rain in 1984. The album was number for six weeks in the US and the lead single, Batdance, was number at the same time for three weeks.

alot of hardcore prince fans believe this album to be the beginning of prince going very commercial after his spiritual album of the year before, lovesexy. and many view it as the beginning of the end for 'classic' prince. however i totally and absolutely disagree with this opinion and was very surprised when i found out how little this album sold for its comparative brilliance.

for this album prince plays just about every single instrument, and as it shows on the batdance video, alot of the sounds are from a synth (and sound excellent and give the album a very individual sound, as prince tries to create for each of his albums).

the album opens with 'the future', which plays in the film during the opening scenes where the family walk through the streets. its a very dark song and begins with a sample from the film, where batman 'introduces' himself to the two punks on the rooftop. as he says 'im batman' the music kicks in with a cool drumbeat. the lyrics to the song are very dark and in a sense almost remind me of sign o' the times (from 1987) in their view of the world. it also shows princes' anti-drug attitudes...

'yellow smiley offers me X, like hes drinking 7-Up,
'well i would rather drink six razor blades,
'razor blades from a paper cup'

the next song is the electric chair. on the inside cover it reveals that each song is about, or 'sung' by a particular character from the film, thus giving each song a double meaning of sorts. the future is sung by bruce wayne/batman, and this song is sung by the joker. the song is slow and pretty funky, with some excellent guitar.

the third song is a ballad, a duet with, i think, sheena easton. at first i didnt like it and found it abit too sappy. however, after listening to it a few times it is enjoyable enough, although probably the worst song on the album (even then its still probably like a 7 out of 10).

the next song is where the party gets going, with partyman, opening with the infamous quote from the joker (see the title of this review). in the film the song is used during the art gallery scene where the joker and his men vandalise the works of art. supposedly during the film they played the song '1999' and dubbed partyman on afterwards, and when you think about it, both songs do have a similar party vibe.

the fifth song is my favourite, called vicki waiting, this time 'bruce' sings about his relationship with vicki vale and it shows some of the humour prince uses in his songs that often goes unnoticed...
'there was a woman, who asked her lover,
'why is your organ so small? (at this point an organ actually plays)
'to which he replied, i didnt know, i would be playing, inside a cathedral
the song has like 3 or 4 tunes playing at the same time so everytime you listen to it you can hear something new.

'trust' comes next and is the song played during the scene where the joker throws money into the crowd of people. like 'partyman', its a good dance song with no real deep meaning, and it kind of reminds me of 'baby im a star' from the purple rain OST.

'lemon crush' is a good song with some great vocals from prince. it is nothing hugely special, but i rarely skip it, like i sometimes do with 'arms of orion'.

'scandalous' at first seems like a love ballad but listen to the lyrics and its a rather explicit song about one of princes favourite subjects, sex. this is possibly my favourite song off of the album along with 'vicki waiting'.

'batdance' closes the album and seems like a melding of about three songs prince had left over. however, it still seems coherent enough to be enjoyable, starting out with an uptempo drum beat and synth riff it even samples the old batman theme tune and the whole song is littered with funk riffs from prince. it also samples other songs off the album, such as 'the future' and 'electric chair'.

this album can often be bought as part of the 5 for £30 deals retail music stores often have and as its a relatively unknown album (in comparison to say, 1999 and Purple Rain) it can often be found cheap and as such a total bargain.

if you arent a prince fan who is interested in hearing his music you could do worse with this album, as it is commercial enough to be appealing but with enough quality to not be a sellout.

if you like the film then i would recommend you buy this OST as you will recognise most of the songs on here and its interesting to go back and watch the film again and see how the songs fit in and where they are relevant (for instance, the future plays as the camera goes through the mean streets of gotham city, with the junkies and the prostitutes). 

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