Thursday, February 12, 2009

Holy Hi-Fi!

Of course, Batman's theme song has entered our collective pop culture lexicon thing — whatever that is. Let's just say that as many people know Batman for its theme as for the Batmobile.

So, the Hollywood money machine wasted no time in getting their slick mitts into the wallets of the Bat-crazed kids of America.


20th Century-Fox put out an album with tunes — and dialogue — pulled from the earliest episodes. Nelson Riddle handled the conducting. It contains the Batusi.


"The Batman Theme" was written by Neal Hefti, so the next time around, he got to handle the album himself. It also contains "The Batusi." This is a glorious mono copy we're looking at here.

There's a rumour that Sun Ra plays organ on this. It's not true, but we'll get to that on another post. Why hurry? We got a whole year.


By the time this LP came around, the Batcraze must've been at full swing, because it sounds like Hefti's got a bigger band to work with. The arrangements are much fuller. The LSP catalog number from RCA indicates a stereo copy. Of course, the big bold STEREO says a lot.

But the Dynamic Duo aren't done with our record players just yet.

Stay tuned. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMarch 8, 2009 at 3:06 PM

    Fox and Warner Bros. should get past the legal obstacles as to who owns how much of the Batman trademark for the 60s TV series rights versus the movie rights, respectively. All that matters is getting this one-of-a-kind action/comedy/crime camp fest on the retail market, either via DVD or download.

    Worst case: Both studios negotiate a profit sharing plan for the release of the TV series DVD boxed set and/or any forthcoming movies. And the public finally gets to add the long-awaited Batman TV series to their DVD collection. Everyone wins.

    IMPORTANT: IF/when DVD production does begin, none other than Bernie Grundman Mastering or Bob Ludwig’s Gateway Master & DVD must be commissioned to handle the complete restoration of the legendary Neil Hefti and Nelson Riddle soundtrack. Grundman supervised all tape mastering of Dominic Frontiere’s unforgettable scoring for the original Outer Limits TV series. Originally a 1993 CD release from Crescendo Records’, it’s now part of a Frontiere 3-CD set from La La Land
    Records. The sound quality is to die for.

    AND while we're waiting for that DVD boxed set, all Bataudiophiles should be e-mailing
    La La Land Records to arrange with Fox for
    the CD release of the entire Hefti/Riddle
    soundtrack.

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