Prince – Batman™ (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

warner bros should have put the batman logo on the labels. that wld hv been super cool. oh well 🦇

While I love the film, Prince's album 'Batman' is a masterwork in its own right. According to some sources, director Tim Burton disavows the album and the music's inclusion in the film, while others note that he used Prince's music in the rough cut of the film and brought him to the set and asked him to record music for the film. It's a misunderstood and generally derided and divisive entry in Prince's 1980's canon, even tough it was his first hit record since '1999.' I didn't understand how absolutely weird it was when I was jamming it as a 12 year old, obsessed with the music and the film. The album is written from multiple points of view - The Joker, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Vicki Vale. Originally, Michael Jackson was supposed to sing the Batman / Bruce Wayne songs and Prince The Joker songs. Instead, we have Prince doing the whole record basically himself with the exception of a duet with Sheena Easton. According to the Prince vault:

"Of note is that while the credits denote that Prince sings lead vocals, the lyrics are in fact attributed to characters from the movie, as if Prince is singing on their behalf. The Future and Scandalous are attributed to Batman, while Electric Chair, Partyman and Trust are attributed to The Joker.The Arms Of Orion is attributed to Bruce Wayne (Batman's alter-ego) and Vicki Vale, while Vicki Waiting is attributed to Bruce Wayne alone, and Lemon Crush is attributed to Vicki Vale alone.

"Batdance attributes different lines to different characters. The only line attributed to Prince, which seems very intentional, is the finale of Trust, "Who do ya trust if you can't trust God? Who can you trust - who can ya? Nobody." "

I have nothing else to compare it to, other than streaming on Apple music, but this record sounds incredible.

DMM, is it a Direct to Metal Mastering cut? word + word.

Great sounding record here, perhaps slightly grainy and oriented towards the mid-high frequencies, with some sibilance scattered here and there, but at the same time quite linear across the entire range, with a more than good bass response and an excellent and defined soundstage. Play it loud (and get the funk up)!

Once again the European reissue for this is infinitely better than the US one. No noise issues on this version compared to the US, which had crackles all over, especially during Scandalous. This version is completely quiet throughout with great bass too.

Not every song is a masterpiece, but it’s late 1980s (and a precursor to what we’d get from 1990s) Prince and that alone makes it incredible — especially when you check the lyrics sheet & see Prince made up his own Batman story from the perspectives of the character versions in Burton’s movie.

I think of the Batman connection was removed, it would be considered a classic Prince record from that era.

I mean … “Electric Chair” alone should get this album more respect than it gets now.

And this reissue sounds sublime.

Next to the original, this has a bass boost. But the original has better sound quality—detail, balance and soundstage—present. The photo-quality/packaging of the original beats this reissue as well. Although I wouldn’t recommend the sound quality of this release over the original, I do ire it for its flat, quiet vinyl-pressing, the BATMAN label design, and for the anti-static sleeve included.

I have this and the 2023 reissue. This one—the original— takes the cake. The reissue has a nice bass boost but at the expense of the finer, funkier details that sound ever-present on this ‘89 release. The glossier jacket and photographic quality of the original’s packaging also shines by comparison.

Compared it to my DMM American OG. There's definitely more bass on this reissue, and to me it's a sole plus. Otherwise the reissue sounds more congested and one-dimensional, with Prince's vocals buried in the mix and everything sounding just flat and pretty dead. Prince Estate should change the sound engineer ASAP, all of the recent reissues suffer from the same issues.

Very good reissue. No pops, cracks, etc.. nice channel separation and thight bass. Mine came with a polylined inner sleeve (Europe)