Batman

Warner Bros. Records

Having wanted to include 1999 and Baby I’m A Star in his new movie Batman, director Tim Burton approached Prince to re-record these songs or provide entirely new replacements for the soundtrack of his 1989 film.

He had a vision for what the music should sound like … he had captured the mood of the film perfectly.

Following that December 1988 meeting with Burton at Pinewood Studios in London, Prince wrote two replacement tracks, Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic and 200 Balloons, but then decided to record an entire album instead – neither of the new songs appearing in the final configuration. Much of the album was written during the Japan leg of the Lovesexy Tour which he could not wait to wrap up so to return to Paisley Park Studios in mid-February 1989 to record this album, which was complete by the end of March. Batman is an entirely solo project and became at the time of its release the fastest selling album in history, selling 1 million copies in its first week – eventually 11 million units in total.

Prince credited the lyrics of each song on Batman to a character from the movie. Prince himself assumed a Bruce Wayne/Joker hybrid of character named Gemini, who sang on behalf of the characters. The album is engineered by Femi Jiya, who can also be heard in the backing vocals of Partyman.

Batman produced Prince’s biggest chart success since Purple Rain, being certified double Platinum by RIAA on 29 August 1989. It also received five Grammy nominations: Best Male Vocal Performance (Album), Best Motion Picture Soundtrack, Best Male Vocal Performance (Single) for Batdance, Best Motion Picture Song, for Partyman, and best production. Yet despite all its successes Batman is subject to a licensing constraint with the DC Comic character’s trademark, that dictate no songs from the soundtrack can be included in any other compilation release. Being a solely Warner Bros. production, Batman was not credited jointly with Paisley Park Records as was Prince’s other projects between 1985 to 1993. 

In addition to the regular release, the CD version of Batman was also available as two limited editions. The first had the same packaging as the regular issue but as a yellow and black printed CD. The second, with black artwork on the disk, was available in a metal container called The Bat Can, complete with a round picture booklet and may have provided Prince the later inspiration for the packaging of Crystal Ball, in 1998.

The album is considered to have revived Prince’s career in America due with the muted success there of the previous release, Lovesexy. Although due to its omission from later greatest hits packages, Batman is largely overlooked in Prince’s discography.

Performers

All Instruments

Prince

Choir

Sounds Of Blackness ^{The Future}

Orchestration

Clare Fischer ^{The Future}

Saxophone

Eric Leeds

Trumpet

Atlanta Bliss

Data

Production

Prince

Label

Warner Bros. Records

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

Cover/Design

Anton Furst (logo) and Tom Recchion

Released

31 years, 10 months ago on 19 June 1989

Running Time

42:34

US Chart Peak

1

UK Chart Peak

1

Prince Album

#11

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

1. The Future (4:08) ^{1 & 3}
2. Electric Chair (4:13) ²
3. The Arms Of Orion [duet with Sheena Easton] (5:03) ^{4 & 5}
4. Partyman (3:11) ^{1 & 2}
5. Vicki Waiting (4:47) ⁴
6. Trust (4:24) ²
7. Lemon Crush (4:15) ⁵
8. Scandalous! [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:15) ^{1 & 3}
9. Batdance (6:13) ^{1, 2, 3, 4 & 5}

¹ Released as singles.
² Lyrics attributed to the character The Joker
³ Lyrics attributed to the character Batman
⁴ Lyrics attributed to the character Bruce Wayne
⁵ Lyrics attributed to the character Vicki Vale

Singles from Batman

Batdance

Warners Bros. Records

Released

6 June 1989

US Chart Peak

1

UK Chart Peak

2

Formats

1. Batdance [Edit] (4:06)
2. 200 Balloons (5:05)

Batdance [Maxi Single]

Warners Bros. Records

Released

21 July 1989

US Chart Peak

1

UK Chart Peak

2

Formats

1. Batdance [The Batmix] (7:15)
2. Batdance [Vicky Vale Mix] (5:55)
3. 200 Balloons (5:05)

Partyman

Warners Bros. Records

Released

18 August 1989

US Chart Peak

18

UK Chart Peak

14

Formats

1. Partyman (3:11)
2. Feel U Up [Short Stroke] [Prince as Camille] (3:42)

Partyman [Maxi Single]

Warners Bros. Records

Released

18 August 1989

US Chart Peak

18

UK Chart Peak

14

Formats

1. Partyman [The Video Mix] (6:20)
2. Feel U Up [Long Stroke] [Prince as Camille] (6:28)

Partyman [Remixes]

Warners Bros. Records

Released

18 August 1989

US Chart Peak

18

UK Chart Peak

14

Formats

1. Partyman [The Purple Party Mix] (6:02)
2. Partyman [Partyman Music Mix] (4:31)
3. Partyman [The Video Mix Edit] (5:40)
4. Feel U Up [Short Stroke] [Prince as Camille] (3:44)

The Arms Of Orion

Warners Bros. Records

Released

17 October 1989

US Chart Peak

36

UK Chart Peak

27

Formats

1. The Arms Of Orion [duet with Sheena Easton] (5:03)
2. I Love U In Me (4:12)
3. The Arms Of Orion [Edit] [duet with Sheena Easton] (3:52)

Scandalous!

Warners Bros. Records

Released

28 November 1989

US Chart Peak

-

UK Chart Peak

-

Format

1. Scandalous! [Edit] [feat. Kim Basinger] (4:12)
2. When 2 R In Love [Edit] (3:58)

The Scandalous Sex Suite

Warners Bros. Records

Released

1 December 1989

US Chart Peak

-

UK Chart Peak

-

Formats

1. The Crime [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:24)
2. The Passion [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:17)
3. The Rapture [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:39)
4. Sex (7:02)
5. When 2 R In Love (4:02)

The Future

Warners Bros. Records

Released

18 May 1990

US Chart Peak

No Release

UK Chart Peak

-

Formats

1. The Future [Remix] (6:25)
2. Electric Chair [Remix] (5:36)

Supporting tour

Nude Tour

1990

• 56 shows from 2 June to 10 September, 1990

Batman – review

Overlook this album at your peril. It never ceases to surprise that Batman (the sound track) hails from the 1980s. This is the album Prince recorded entirely on his own and thank god that he did. The quality of Batman is its diversity; fusing funk (The Future, Vicki Waiting, Partyman and Electric Chair) with sensitivity (Arms of Orion and Scandalous). Topped off by the terrific all-time sampler classic Batdance, which includes some of the strongest guitar Prince put on a record, bass too is excellent throughout and hard hitting. Batman is well ahead of its time and will fool you to believe this could date back to the 1980’s at all. Batman didn’t become the fastest selling album of its day for nothing. It is Scandalous! that due to licensing restrictions the album is denied the recognition it deserves on Prince’s later greatest hits releases.

Batman is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.

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