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 his 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 on 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 to record this album. 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 in total.

Batman produced Prince’s biggest chart success since Purple Rain, being certified double Plantinum by RIAA. Yet despite this, it has since hit licensing constraint with the DC Comic character’s trademark, which dictate no songs from the Batman soundtrack can be included in his other compilation releases. The album is considered to have revived Prince’s career in America due to the muted success of the previous release, Lovesexy.

Performers

All Instruments: Prince
Choir: Sounds Of Blackness ^{The Future}
Orchestration: Clare Fischer ^{The Future}
Saxophone: Eric Leeds
Trumpet: Atlanta Bliss

Data

Producer: Prince
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Distribution: Warner Bros. Records
Cover Art/Photo: Anton Furst and Tom Recchion
Released: 30 years, 7 months ago, on 19 June 1989
Running Time: 42:34
US Chart Peak: 1
UK Chart Peak: 1
Prince Album: #11

Tracklist

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

Singles from Batman

Batdance

Warners Bros. Records

Released: 6 June 1989
US Chart Peak: 1
UK Chart Peak: 2

Batdance (6:13)
Batdance [Vicky Vale Mix] (5:55)
200 Balloons (5:05)

Partyman

Warners Bros. Records

Released: 18 August 1989
US Chart Peak: 18
UK Chart Peak: 14

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

The Arms Of Orion

Warners Bros. Records

Released: 17 October 1989
US Chart Peak: 36
UK Chart Peak: 27

The Arms Of Orion [duet with Sheena Easton] (5:03)
I Love U In Me (4:12)
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: -

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

The Scandalous Sex Suite

Warners Bros. Records

Released: 1 December 1989
US Chart Peak: -
UK Chart Peak: -

The Crime [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:24)
The Passion [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:17)
The Rapture [feat. Kim Basinger] (6:39)
Sex (7:02)
When 2 R In Love (4:02)
Partyman [The Purple Party Mix] (5:58)
Partyman [Music Mix] (4:34)
Partyman [Video Mix] (6:12)
Feel U Up [Short Stroke] (3:45)

The Future

Warners Bros. Records

Released: 18 May 1990
US Chart Peak: No Release
UK Chart Peak: -

The Future [Remix] (6:25)
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.