Classic or Dud: Prince's Batman "Soundtrack" Album

Actually now that I'm looking closer, nine of the B-Sides on that set were from singles whose A-Sides were not included.

Was reading up on this ... Prince had a deal with WB that gave them the rights to all the music. Thus, no Batdance on Hits/B-Sides.

That kind of thing is very common for anything having to do with movie music

first time hearing this - this is really good! "ARms of Orion" is awesome, as is "Electric Chair".

oh man, you just named one of the most universally derided prince songs of all time! (the former)

i figured it probably was, I like cheezmo duets tho

also I like "Partyman"

omg LEMON CRUSH

"Arms of Orion" is tres pretty. Fuck the haters!

"Lemon Crush" has always been my favorite

This album is in no way an enormous climb down from previous fare (and Lovesexy certainly wasn't either)

kind of surprised how many of these songs he's done live, even in recent years. only ones he didn't do live were "lemon crush" and "trust".

the osmosis jones soundtrack apparently is ridiculously good !?

1. Summer In The City - St. Lunatics
2. Big Ball - Drama
3. Solo Star - Solange
4. Open - Brandy
5. Fill Me In (Part 2) - Craig David
6. I Believe - R. Kelly
7. Cool, Daddy Cool - Kid Rock
8. Turn It Out - De La Soul
9. Take It To Da House - Trick Daddy
10. Just In Case - Nivea
11. Why Did You Have To Be - Debelah Morgan
12. Don't Be Mad - Sunshine Anderson
13. Here We Go Again - Nappy Roots
14. Love Me Or Leave Me - Ms. Toi
15. Rider Like Me - Ezekiel Lewis
16. Break U Off - Uncle Kracker

the osmosis jones soundtrack apparently is ridiculously good !?

. . .

7. Cool, Daddy Cool - Kid Rock
. . .

16. Break U Off - Uncle Kracker

Does not follow.

Sure, but also

1. Summer In The City - St. Lunatics
2. Big Ball - Drama (love this!)
3. Solo Star - Solange
4. Open - Brandy
5. Fill Me In (Part 2) - Craig David
6. I Believe - R. Kelly
8. Turn It Out - De La Soul
9. Take It To Da House - Trick Daddy
10. Just In Case - Nivea
13. Here We Go Again - Nappy Roots
14. Love Me Or Leave Me - Ms. Toi

(whoops this really belonged on the crow soundtrack thread i guess?)

Bumped because I found myself re-watching the '89 Batman movie today, which I hadn't seen for years.

Anyway, 'Scandalous' fucking rules... as good a song as anything Prince did in the '80s... 'Partyman' isn't a favourite, but it works far better for me outside of the movie... that whole scene made me cringe a fair bit.

gentlemen, let's broaden our minds

This is a great album with only a few duds imo

Howard Stern last April: "I believe Prince made the best motion picture soundtrack of all time, and I know that might be a controversial statement, because not a lot of people like the Batman soundtrack." He wasn't kidding. It's his favorite Prince album.

It's not a soundtrack album,tho.

The majority of the songs were "inspired by the motion picture Batman" iirc, the idea of which seemed funny at the time, Prince finding the idea of a Batman Movie so cool he writes a whole album. Doesn't seem so unlikely now tho it wasn't really the case.

It's not a soundtrack album,tho.

It was marketed as a soundtrack album to the movie (as opposed to Elfman's contribution, which was released as "the original motion picture score"), and the songs (tho not all of them) were used in the movie, so I don't see why it wouldn't qualify as a soundtrack?

Anyway, 'Scandalous' fucking rules... as good a song as anything Prince did in the '80s...

I don't agree with this, in fact I think "Scandalous" is the only dud on the album, but if you like it so much, you should check out the Scandalous Sex Suite EP, which extends the song to a 20 minute suite, complete with orgastic moans by Kim Basinger (whom Prince was dating a the time). It also has a B-side called "Sex (The '80s Are Over and the Time Has Come 4 Monogamy and Trust)", which has gotta be the most stereotypical Prince song title ever!

Lol, looks like I posted pretty much the exact same thing about the EP in this thread in 2015.

"The Arms of Orion" is blah.

What, you're not searching for a lover in the Sea of Tranquility?

"The Arms of Orion" is tres pretty.

I put it in the same boring ballad category as the R&B hit "Insatiable" two years later. In 1996 he released a cousin of "Orion" called "Soul Sanctuary" that's far prettier.

Back to the album! I love "The Future."

"The Future" and "Electric Chair" are the fucking bomb; overall I rate the album pretty highly and prefer to tag it as the end of the hot streak rather than beginning of the hit-or-miss imperium

Okay, so I previously had Lovesexy down as being the last LP in Prince's fabulous run, but after spending more time with Batman over the last month, I'm willing to admit I was wrong about this record for years - it fucking rules.

In other words, Jon not Jon OTM - this was the end of the hot streak rather than the beginning of the hit and miss records.

'The Arms of Orion' is a lovely song.

I wouldn't say it's at the beginning or end of any streak. It's about on par with Lovesexy and the three albums after it (Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds and Pearls, Love Symbol), in terms of hits and misses.

I think both Lovesexy and Batman are def. superior to the three LP's that came after!

All are uneven, all have moments of all-time greatness.

Graffiti Bridge alone has "Joy in Repetition" and "The Question of U" and "Round and Round" and "We Can Funk."

Turrican otm it was downhill from here and there was a p distinct change in sound - less cluttered, New Jack Swing drums, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sordWByWM-M

Graffiti Bridge is half of a worthy successor to batman and lovesexy and half... not

yeah that's really the first time you can tell he just sort of gave up/didn't know what to do and was just like "well, here's a bunch of random stuff"

also his first terrible haircut

guhhhh otm

so ugly

movie is legit fascinating in a shitshow way, but having to look at that hairdo for 90 minutes oy

haha yeah we watched it shortly after his death and it's just one design monstrosity after another, we found ourselves marveling at, like, the shitty lighting and his weird facial hair and the totally fake "outdoor" sets etc

Graffiti Bridge is technically half of a worthy successor to Purple Rain and half not even remotely in the same ballpark.

i actually love the aggressively false outdoor environments in GP a lot

just hanging out in this crappy abandoned department store display case https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftrashfilmguru.files.wordpress.com%2F2016%2F04%2Fgraffiti-bridge.jpg&f=1

love that thing