Buy it... if you have any affinity for superhero scores, for Danny Elfman's Batman is among the best ever recorded.

Avoid it... if Elfman's famous theme for the character is too overexposed for your liking, along with some of the passages that reveal the composer's inspirations from others' works.

Elfman

Batman: (Danny Elfman) Action movie aficionados have Tim Burton's 1989 vision of Batman to thank for the resurrection of the superhero concept on film, a genre that would flourish with success for almost two decades following Batman's explosive debut. With its outrageous marketing bonanza courtesy of an enthusiastic Warner Brothers, Batman was one of the rare action productions that actually exceeded expectations, predictably replacing serious awards consideration for the kind of eye candy approach that would yield several sequels throughout the next decade. Balancing the carnival atmosphere natural to Burton's zany tendencies, embodied in both Jack Nicholson's extremely expensive Joker and the handful of songs performed by Prince that actually made the final cut of the film, was the director's ability to provide serious, adult comic book-style action and sensuality. Burton had collaborated with composer Danny Elfman for the wildly creative Beetlejuice the previous year, serving notice to film score collectors of Elfman's arrival into the mainstream. The highly effective score for Batman, however, would introduce the composer to the masses and consolidate a budding group of avid collectors and fans of Elfman that would solidify with Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas in the following four years. In the interim, Elfman and Burton would attempt to carry the success of Batman over to a 1992 sequel, and though Batman Returns takes far more chances in the diversity of its score, Elfman would prove unable to recapture the same raw action and elegance of performance. While considered more of a "guilty pleasure" by critics at the time, the Batman score has aged remarkably well, outlasting the sequel scores by Elliot Goldenthal and remaining leagues ahead of the music resulting from the continuance of the franchise in the 2000's. Regardless of the lack of connection in crew, cast, or concept, Elfman's primary theme for the Batman character has proven useful in advertising the franchise long after the composer's exit from it, testifying to the lasting impression that Elfman provided for the character on screen.

Perhaps no title theme has had more impact on a superhero as this one; its four-note minor key ascent and two-note major key descent is frightfully simplistic and yet it perfectly addresses the duality of the Bruce Wayne character. The easily recognizable construct of this theme also allows Elfman to use fragments of the theme with ease, often producing the suspense before a battle with only the rise of the first two notes. The composer claims that he first thought up the tune on an airplane ride and went to the toilet so he could hum the tune into a tape recorder in private. Later, he would also acknowledge that some of inspiration in how the theme was fleshed out came from Bernard Herrmann's opening to Journey to the Center of the Earth, with almost a complete reprise of the Herrmann composition at the outset of Batman. The three-minute opening credits to Batman follow the tradition of the great superhero films of the modern age by providing an overture with which the score introduces itself. Elfman maximizes the effectiveness of his identity for the title character by drawing out the performance of the title theme, repeating the first five notes in heavily dramatic layers before only proceeding to the last, major-key descent as the character's logo is revealed in full on screen. Two such massive and lengthy crescendos highlight Batman, including the opening bars of "Charge of the Batmobile," the seemingly obligatory scene in which Michael Keaton is suiting up for the battle to the death. When performed by sweeping strings, as in short interludes in "First Confrontation," the theme exposes its elegant half. It would go on to be performed by every section of the ensemble, including light percussion and massive organ, before sending the character on to the sequel with rousing ensemble performances in the uplifting "Finale" and the first half of the end titles. The legacy of this theme would live on in Elliot Goldenthal's two Batman scores, though he cleverly altered the same minor-to-major key progression to suit his own scores. The concept of building a crescendo around the anticipated switch to the major key would remain intact.

Other themes and motifs exist in Batman, but are obscure by comparison to the title theme. For the Joker, Elfman would utilize a waltz that explodes with the introduction of the altered character in "Face-Off" (as everyone's favorite Jack Palance receives his share of hot lead) and culminates in a lengthy, robust performance in the climactic "Waltz to the Death" atop the cathedral. Elfman also adapts Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer" theme for the Joker's more sensitive side, if one could call it that, and faint performances of this theme echo after the Joker's death at the conclusion of the film. A music box effect underlines these performances, providing a comical side to the character's sickness with a triangle and xylophone-like atmosphere that is interrupted quite rudely by a fragment of the waltz at the end of "Joker's Poem." For his henchmen, Elfman conjures an array of wildly percussive rhythms that accompany their chaotic activities. The love theme, based in part on one of Prince's songs, has pieces of Batman's primary theme built into its construct, a bittersweet and yearning adaptation of the score's main identity into a piano and string performance in "Love Theme" that would only exist in small pieces throughout the film (confirming the fleeting nature of the affair). A variant of this theme would also represent Wayne's affinity towards his dead parents, with one of the score's more poignant moments of reflection existing on cello in "Flowers." Several rhythmic motifs also represent specific locations or concepts. A distant and menacing bass line in "Childhood Remembered" is performed by piano under dissonant brass and choral effects. Far more splashy is the rolling, churning string rhythm that Elfman provides the chemical company, complete with tuba and bass bassoon for additional depth; the style of this rhythm, with it frenetic variations in "First Confrontation," strays the closest that Elfman would come to the more colorful comic book style that would prevail in Dick Tracy the following year. In this cue, Elfman also introduces a motif specifically for the Joker's falling, an act that both creates and destroys the character. The far more melodramatic performance of this motif, obviously, occurs in "The Final Confrontation."

As impressive as Elfman's themes for Batman may be, the instrumental assignments and their performances are even better. There has been some controversy over the roles that Steve Bartek and Shirley Walker played in the orchestration and conducting of Batman, and whether they indeed deserve more credit for the success of the score than Elfman himself. Regardless of the merits of that debate, Batman is much like Beetlejuice in that its instrumental creativity may be the most memorable aspect of the recording. The brass section is handled brilliantly, often performing in successive layers that treat normal trumpet usage as a distinctly different layer as muted ones. The muted trumpets in Batman seem like another throwback to the techniques of Herrmann. A pipe organ would often lend power to cues in much the same fashion as Beetlejuice; it's used during all of the major crescendos involving the title theme and understandably receives a prominent solo role in "Up the Cathedral." Hints of the agonizing heroism of the organ in this cue would be touched upon again by Elfman in the subsequent Darkman. The choral employment in Batman is less obvious than it would be in Batman Returns, often used as only an accent to orchestrally robust cues. The two striking exceptions both involve scenes of nature; in "Childhood Remembered," the choir offers disjointed and unsettling ambience, though in "Descent into Mystery," a cue that stands out as a highlight in the film, Elfman relies on the chanting of the voices (in the style of Carl Orff, but not with the same resonance) to provide the awe necessary to introduce the Kim Basinger's character to the mystique of her winged savior. Together with the title theme, this cue is a glorified advertisement for the batmobile (the scene is even shot like a car commercial), and veteran Elfman collectors will hear similarities in choral technique to Scrooged here as well. The piano would reprise its role from Beetlejuice too, mixed with dry clarity at the forefront of the recording and often serving as a rhythm-setter for the less bombastic cues. Cutting jabs on the piano often do battle with the trumpets in those louder moments.

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The most intriguing element in the score for Batman is easily the hyperactive percussion section. During the lengthier performances of the title theme, including the credits pieces, you do hear the stereotypical snare rhythms that you'd expect. But beyond that, Elfman's use of drums is astoundingly dynamic. Elfman incorporates the percussionists as a bridge between his score and the few Prince songs that made the film, and the mix of the drums specifically creates an outstanding soundscape, especially for moments of havoc. The metallic percussion also is significant, with cymbals and gong often performing in succession to present ultra-cool transitions (no better is this utilized than at the beginning of "Charge of the Batmobile"). With Gotham and its cathedral hosting several tolling bells, Elfman typically returns to the banging of chimes to emphasize a point. Always harmonious, these clangs are a highlight of the conclusion of the cues "Attack of the Batwing" (tolling away for the death of the flying machine) and "Finale" (which uses them, along with organ and harp, to push the envelope for heroism in the genre). The harp provides several lovely flourishes in the score, perhaps most notably in the interludes of the end credits. A handful of unique sound effects (from either the percussion section or synthesizers) include the sound of an aerosol can shaking in "Batman to the Rescue" and a fading steam train whistle in "Attack of the Batwing." The aerosol can effect, mimicking the spray-painting in the film, borders on genius. Overall, an excellent performance by The Sinfonia of London brings Elfman's best superhero score to life. Some critics lament that they hear pieces of Holst, Orff, Strauss, and Wagner in Batman (not to mention Herrmann), but Elfman packages the score so well that these influences don't hinder its effectiveness. In sales, the score album has rivaled Prince's hyped song album, and so profound the score's legacy has been that it was the subject of one of Scarecrow Press' Film Score Series of books, devoting an entire volume to the analysis of just this score (and Prince's songs). While die-hard Elfman fans continue to argue that the more varied and brooding sounds of Batman Returns are superior, the majority the mainstream agrees that the original Batman is a classic of such accomplishment that none of the sequel scores --by any composer-- can compete. Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight would never sound so good again. *****

Bias Check:

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