Customer Reviews

Batman: Batman Theme And 19 Other Bat Songs (1966 TV Series)

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It's NOT like it looks! You know those albums that say, "Music INSPIRED BY the motion picture..."? This predates that trend by 30 years! The difference here is, among the many, many recordings of the famous 1966 BATMAN tv theme song, Neal Hefti is the guy who actually WROTE it! Considering the bulk of the show's score was done by Nelson Riddle, this might make Hefti the "Monty Norman" of the BATMAN community. Ironically, his extended "45" version has turned up on collection after collection (the single itself was even reissued back in '89) while Riddle's faster arrangement can only be found on the official "TV Soundtrack" album.

It seems like everybody wanted to jump on the "Bat-Craze" in '66, and several artists did entire albums "inspired" by it (among them The Ventures, Jan & Dean). While NONE of the recordings here actually appeared on the show, this is a pretty cool disc on its own merits. The CD combines 2 Hefti albums from the same year, and I didn't notice at first they were slightly different in style. BATMAN THEME & 12 HEFTI BAT SONGS fit squarely in the "space age bachelor pad pop" genre, with a lot of early electronic sounds. The follow-up, HEFTI IN GOTHAM CITY, however, is full-out big band jazz! Among my favorites are "Senorita Boo Bam" and "Honorable Batman". Also of interest is "Mother Gotham", which sounds suspiciously like an early version of "The Odd Couple" theme-- which (I checked!) Hefti ALSO co-wrote! (It's not plagiarism if you re-use your own ideas, right?)

For anyone seeking out the "real deal", be sure to also get the "Exclusive Original Television Soundtrack Album" (which features sound clips from 4 of the earliest stories along with Nelson Riddle's amazing music). And for more MUSIC like you'll hear here, I'd recommend anything by Enoch Light or Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited!

My mom gave me this record when I was about six years old. I remember putting on the old Motorola console record player and waiting for some godforsaken dialogue already... but alas only music. In the ensuing years this record grew on me to the point that it has become one of my regular favorites. My brother sent me a copy of this recently and I was overwhelmingly pleased with the fact that someone took the time to remaster this piece. And bonus tracks too! You'll go wild for Evil Ekdol, the Sewer Lady and the Evil Plot to blowup Batman. Of note also are Holy Diploma Batman, and the Batchase. I must tell you, there's really nothing like zooming down the street in my 98 horsepower Saturn with the Batman theme or the Batchase playing. Try it!
Here's a piece of trivia: who wrote the theme for the Odd Couple TV show? Just think - da-da da-da da-da da-da da-da - kinda similar, eh?

I got this CD simply to complete my theme song collection, but found myself listening to the whole CD over and over again. These pieces of background music do very well on their own. THE BATUSI will have you doing the twist and the GATHOM MUNCIPAL SWING BAND seems very timely with the recent resurgence of swing music. All this plus the Batman theme song from the 60's TV show. If you liked Booker T. and the MG's, US3 or Dick Dale, this Tongue-in-cheek Album by Neal Hefti is something you might want to check out.

Not the music directly from the show...for that we have the GREAT NELSON RIDDLE CD soundtrack! BUT this CD is still GREAT! Wonderful 1960's music from a GREAT Composer! Love the CD graphics too!

I grew up with this record, my grandmother gave it to me used, and now that its reissued on cd, it brings me back to being a kid listening to this stuff playing in the basement! Songs like Jervis are really good chillout jazz tunes.

Other than the title theme, the tracks on this disk have little association with the television program (the show's theme was penned by Hefti, the scoring generally done by Nelson Riddle). Most of this CD is middling jazzy muzak, although done with some wit and flair. The "Batman Theme", which was a minor chart single, suffers without Hal Blaine's propulsive drumming that made the television version so memorable. An interesting period piece, but nothing to get excited about.

For ultimate TV Bat-fans. Representative work of composer Neal Hefti. This is a terrific collector's item for those who would enjoy music with a 60s era feel. Includes sound bytes of Burgess Meredith, Otto Preminger, Frank Gorshin among others. Batman opening theme is a slightly different arrangement than the shorter :60 TV version. Lots of fun. Holy Digital-age!

I saw this CD and added it to the wish list, knowing little about it.
Very disappointing, to say the least. There were few songs I could make it through without clicking for the next selection.
So unpleasant, it's almost entertaining.
Almost.