Prince Album of the Day (Day 2): Batman Soundtrack (1989).
Standout tracks: Lemon Crush, Trust.
The soundtrack for Tim Burton's first Batman movie, this album is mostly a big mess. There is no real cohesion here at all between songs, and on the tracks that don't include Jack Nicholson dialogue, you really have to stretch to connect them to the film. There are random references (lyrically) to Gotham City and there's a song named (ostensibly) after Vicki Vale, which had been actually recorded a year earlier and was named Anna Waiting, after Prince's then-girlfriend, but that's really about as far as it gets. And that's fine, because every song on a Batman soundtrack doesn't need to mention Batman. Musically, there's not a lot to talk about. Trust and Lemon Crush are both pretty great, and Electric Chair (also from an earlier recording session) and the upbeat Partyman are not too shabby either. The duet with Sheena Easton (The Arms of Orion) is not very good. The ballad Scandalous isn't terrible, but not very inspiring either. And the Batdance finale (I had the cassingle!) is fine if you like that sort of thing, but I'm not fond of film dialogue being inserted into songs. All in all, Lemon Crush is worth hearing though. There are snippets of smokin' guitar leads, like Eddie Hazel with Tourette's, and a really solid groove. I would definitely shake it up on the dance floor if it came on in the club. But the album itself? Meh.
Rating: 2 Bat Signals (out of 5)
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