Customer Reviews

The Batman Trilogy: Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever (1997 Studio Recording)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My 5 year old loves everything Batman. I never watch an entire Batman movie with him but when he showed interest in movie scores I naturally purchased this one. We all love it. I've listened to it several times while my boy's at school. It's got me completely turned on to Danny Elfman, hence I'll soon be broke... PS... Reduces the "are we almost there yet"s by 95% on hour car ride to grandma's. Partly because Dad pretends he's driving the bat-mobile and I think he drives faster.....

What we get here is a mix of the dark and creepy Danny Elfman scores of Batman and Batman Returns and the much more different yet wonderful score of Elliot Goldenthal from Batman Forever. All three of these films contain great scores! Its nice to see them put together in a trilogy where they belong! A nice job by both composers. A must buy for any Batman fan!

A re-recording? Yes. But in every way as good as the original soundtracks. McNeely's cunducting is little different than Elfman's and in many ways, is better. For instance, track 10: Birth of a Penguin uses louder vocals which, in my opinion enhances the music. I'm impressed.

I was first introduced to Joel McNeely through his scoring of the soundtrack for Star Wars:Shadows of the Empire, which made me less wary about buying this new recording of the Batman movie themes than I ordinarily would be. Elfman's work still shines through, though having tracks from all three movies really illustrates how the Goldenthal music from the third film doesn't connect as well to the first two. Themes, notably the Penguins in "Batman Returns: Birth Of A Penguin" (track 10, as mentioned in another review) are accentuated a touch differently by McNeely in comparison to the Elfman originals, but it's a solid recording. This compilation is a straightforward way to obtain a 'best of' the soundtracks from these movies without buying all three scores, if you don't mind a distinct lack of liner notes.

This compilation is a superb testament to the unique artistry of three composers. The first 'section' consists of music from "Batman". It is well done overall, although the main title is a little slow during the layered precussion sections. The most suprising track is the 'Finale' which is about a minute longer than the original version, Joel McNeely has added a few restatements of the famous four note statement. The second section is that from "Batman Returns" this section has some interesting pieces, a very tragic sound and more melodramatic than the first. The third section is that from "Batman Forever" This was composed by Eliot Goldenthal. The main title (batman's fanfare) starts off (literally) on the same note as Elfmans theme. However it immediatley changes into a simple fanfare that ends anti-climaticly. There is thirty seconds or so of the music underscoring Val Kilmer doning the Batsuit, but without the visuals, it is rather pointless. What follows that is playfull quasi-action/romantic music that is wonderfull to listen to. As a 'bonus' The TV theme is including. Watching the show I didn't care much for the theme and perfered the Elfman theme or (my personal favorite) the Shirley Walker theme. However McNeely has resucitated the theme and it is great, action packed and lively fun- just like the CD. A GREAT BUY!

After Batman Forever, it was decided that Joel McNeely, a composer who created the score for the nonexistent movie Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, would reorchestrate pieces of the Batman music into suites. This was before Batman and Robin, so the live-action Batman series was for the time a trilogy, hence this CD's title. Joel McNeely had the task of redoing Danny Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal's wonderful scores.

Unfortunately, McNeely's job in creating a suite for the three bat-films ahs produced mixed results. He has made some nice touches, but in a lot of places he has chopped up the music or taken out the climatic moments. He also seems to perform some of the tracks at a slow speed. "The Cemetery", which lasted around two and a half minutes long on the Batman Returns soundtrack, goes on for about an extra fifty-five seconds using no additional music!

This compilation starts out promisingly with "The Batman Theme", which has a good new ending, but after this everything goes downhill. "Flowers" is cut down to twenty-eight seconds, taking out some of the best moments of this piece. It goes into the "Love Theme" which is a fair rendition, and then the Joker music comes on. "The Joker's Poem" suffers by having its loud ending notes taken out. "Clown Attack" keeps building
up, but its climax is also not reorchestrated. "Up the Cathedral", a five-minute piece in the movie, is horrendously chopped up for lack of an organ. Soon to follow are "Waltz to the Death" and "Final Confrontation". Things actually get a lot better with "Finale". This piece of music is extended in a very good way. Joel McNeely adds more climatic notes to herald the end of the first part.

Batman Returns is not butchered, but there are still some things lacking. No organ, a choir that fails to match up with Elfman's, and slowed down renditions of themes makes everything feel longer. The Batman Forever section is considerably better. In some ways it is better and in others it loses some of Goldenthal's zaniness. The clangs and loud horns heard in "Main Title" are taken out to provide an easier listen (although I was never daunted by these notes). Of good note is "Nygma Variations" which collects two minutes and thirty-nine seconds of insane Riddler music. Ending this soundtrack is Neal Hefti's theme from the T.V. show, this one conducted by Hollywood musician David Slonaker.

All in all, this soundtrack might be worth buying to hear otherwise hard-to-find Goldenthal music, but Elfman fans might want to be a little careful. If the soundtrack was expanded to over seventy minutes, the music would have been a lot better. However, there's a nice insert that talks about the music of the bat-films. This gives the CD an extra star.

Although it was nice to see a slightly different listening experience. The new tracks composed by Joel McNeely are a slower pace to both that of the Original soundtracks (Danny Elfman & Elliot Goldenthal) and the actual film result. When it came to the vocals in Batman Returns, I felt that the Royal National Orchestra just couldn't hit those high notes, which made them sound out of key.

Overall, if you just like the actual tunes of the Batman themes - and don't worry too much about hearing the actual music from the films, this would be a good album for you. This album gives you alternate instruments in some areas, and acts as a new way of listening to the scores.

The music that was chosen in this is great! and it is by the same guy who played the "Psycho" score! The tempo is kind of slow, but that isn't important in my opinion. I think that when the tempo is slow, you can enjoy the music better!!!

This is probaly the best Batman CD ever made

This CD contains music from the first three Batman films and also the Batman TV theme. The disc contains several highlights such as the classic BATMAN THEME from the first movie, the eerie UP THE CATHEDRAL or the etheral BIRTH OF A PENGUIN. Equally good are also the tracks SELINA TRANSFORMS, THE LAIR, THE CEMETERY and the END CREDITS from the Batman Returns section. The music here is a fairly good intepretation of the original. And after that, we pass to the lighter side of the CD. The MAIN TITLES of Batman Forever is good, and well intepretated but the other tracks are silly and show why Elfman wouldn't have left the series. The NYGMA VARIATIONS is particularly stupid. As for the Neil Hefti BATMAN TV THEME, it is very bad indeed, but it makes you like the tracks of the first two movies even more.