Batman (album)

Production

The album was quickly recorded in six weeks, from mid-February to late March 1989, and Prince used three tracks recorded earlier: "Electric Chair", "Scandalous!", and "Vicki Waiting" (originally known as "Anna Waiting", named for his then-girlfriend Anna Fantastic). Originally, the songs "1999" and "Baby I'm a Star" from earlier albums were slated to be used in the film, but Prince instead recorded an entire album's worth of material with Batman samples and lyrics. It was also originally planned to be Prince performing the funk songs, and Michael Jackson would perform the love ballads; this plan was unfruitful. The album was performed entirely by Prince, with a few exceptions: Sheena Easton duets with Prince on "The Arms of Orion", "Trust" features a sampled horn part by Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss, and "The Future" features strings by Clare Fischer sampled from the then-unreleased 1986 track "Crystal Ball" and samples of the Sounds of Blackness choir. "Batdance" includes a sample of Prince's technician Matthew Larson, and "Partyman" features the vocal performance of then-girlfriend Anna Garcia (credited as Anna Fantastic). All dialogue sampled on Prince's Batman album is taken directly from a workprint of Batman and therefore lacks ADR and foley. This is especially noticeable in the beginning of the first track, "The Future", with dialogue of Michael Keaton speaking as Batman.

In the album's liner notes, the lyrics of each song are associated with one of the characters in the film.

The album also marked a change in Prince's appearance; he switched out frilly clothing, polka dots, lace, and controversial attire for a much darker and simpler attire, usually donning dark blue/black clothing and "Batman" boots. The artist's hair was also completely straightened from wavy curls, as shown in the "Batdance" video. Overall, the tone of the era was darker than previously.

Ownership complexities

Ownership of the Batman franchise is notoriously complex. Prince had to agree to sign the publishing rights to the songs used in the film over to Warner Bros.; Prince's hit singles from this album were not permitted to appear on any of his hits compilations until the 2016 release of 4Ever, which included "Batdance". Only the B-sides "200 Balloons", "Feel U Up", and "I Love U in Me" appeared on his 1993 The Hits/The B-Sides collection. On concert T-shirts which listed all of Prince's album titles to date, the song "Scandalous!" appeared in place of the album Batman. Despite this, Prince performed a number of the album's tracks in concert over the years. A 2005 special edition DVD of the Batman film contains Prince's related videos as a bonus feature (although "Partyman" is still edited down from the original longer version, much to the chagrin of fans). Wedged between Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge, the soundtrack serves as Prince's final album contribution of the 1980s.

Personnel

Source: PrinceVault.com

Singles and Hot 100 chart placings

1. "Batdance" (edit)
2. "200 Balloons"
3. "Batdance" (The Batmix) (maxi-single)
4. "Batdance" (Vicki Vale Mix) (maxi-single)

1. "Partyman"
2. "Feel U Up"
3. "The Purple Party Mix" (maxi-single)
4. "Partyman" (music mix) (maxi-single)
5. "Partyman" (video mix) (maxi-single)

1. "The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton (#36 US, #27 UK)
2. "I Love U in Me"

1. "Scandalous!"
2. "When 2 R in Love"
3. "The Crime" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
4. "The Passion" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
5. "The Rapture" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
6. "Sex" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)

1. "The Future" (Remix)
2. "Electric Chair" (Remix)