Batman Forever

15 years ago when Batman Forever was released in 1995, I was a kid and to be honest I liked batman forever, but what I found to be more interesting to me was the new batman theme. After years of searching and wondering if there would a soundtrack for the score, I finally found what I hoped would be the ultimate batman experience. Batman forever the limited expanded edition, and although Eliot's Goldenthal `s turn isn't as popular as Danny Elfman `s Batman /Batman Returns, or even Hans Zimmer's Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman forever is however one of those rare gems that as a batman fan you just have to get, your library just wouldn't be complete without it.Lately La La land records has been consistently releasing one soundtrack after another that's great, especially the catalog includes Batman the animated series, Batman brave and the bold, and Superman the animated series and of course Batman Forever. The new expanded edition not only was expanded but it was remastered to perfection , the soundtrack can now be heard in all it's heroic insanely twisted, coin flipping riddler riddling glory , 2 cd's 28 tracks each, 56 tracks in total, 2 hours worth of music , and a booklet filled with photos and linear notes accounting the history of reinventing the franchise and valuable information on what inspired the choice to have Eilot Goldenthal score.I cannot ask for more than how this score is presented on this wonderfully packaged soundtrack , the only thing I would ask for is that La La land release Batman and Robin, other wise for now I am as blind as a bat.

Though BATMAN RETURNS was a big hit in 1992, it was not as successful as Tim Burton's 1989 original in part due to the backlash from parents deeming the film too perverted and violent for children which caused Warner Brothers to do a complete overhaul of the series. While series veterans Michael Gough and Pat Hingle remained and Burton stayed on as a producer, Michael Keaton and the remaining cast and crew were replaced for the 1995 installment BATMAN FOREVER, with Val Kilmer wearing the costume and Joel Schumacher taking over directing duties to make a more colorful and light-hearted film that would appease family audiences (and McDonald's). Considering the studio's desire to make a more accessible film for children, it seems an odd choice in retrospect to hire an experimental composer like Elliot Goldenthal to replace Danny Elfman given the adult-oriented fare he did at the time (and it's even more strange considering how Elfman's theme was heavily used in the marketing for both this and Schumacher's next Bat-installment, BATMAN & ROBIN). Though many aren't fans of this score simply because it isn't Elfman, I've always liked it since I first heard it as it's what first introduced me to this fantastic composer and his idiosyncratic style. The colorful nature of the film allowed him to indulge in his sensibilities in a more mainstream way and one can hear traces in this score of his past works (such as ALIEN 3, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, and especially DEMOLITION MAN) as well as hints of some future ones (such as TITUS).The first disc kicks off with "Main Title" and introduces his theme for Batman, which the composer says was by inspired by imagining kids playing with their Batman action figures (little did he know the motivations for the next film- or did he?). Though it lacks the driving butt-kickin' attitude of Elfman's theme, it has what the composer calls "a sense of power and flight" which makes it memorable in its own way. That theme makes several appearances throughout in various ways whether heroic in "Batmobile", ominous in "Bat Signal", imposing in "Second Riddle Delivered", tragic in "Flashback", or victorious in "Batman Phoenix".The other characters get their own themes as well. There is a demented two-step waltz for the schizophrenic villain Two-Face (ironically played by a one-note Tommy Lee Jones) that's best heard in both aggressive mode in "Big Top Bomb" as well as "Have a Safe Flight/Through the Eye" and comical in "Two-Face's Lair" and "Two-Face's Entrance". There's a smoky film noir-influenced piano theme for the film's sultry love interest (Nicole Kidman) heard in "Rooftop Seduction" and later more sensually in "Go to Chase". Even Two-Face's thugs get one in "Thug Fight", a buzzing bit of bombast that has a similar zaniness to Nelson Riddle's music for the 1966 film with Adam West. However, this being a Goldenthal score, there's a ton of experimentation and Jim Carrey's the Riddler is where he lets loose with that. The character actually recieves two themes with a theremin to underscore his descnet into madness and a bouncy rhythm to accompany his mischievous antics and those can be heard best in "Nygma After Hours/Brain Drain", "Nygma's Apartment" and "More Heists" as they are full of TITUS-like zaniness with their combination of jazz and electronics . Though Robin (Chris O'Donnell) doesn't get his own theme (he would get one for the next film), but there is occasional use of electric guitar such as in "Laundry Stunt" and "Master Dick" which I guess is there to represent the character's adolescence.The remainder of the score on the second disc is loaded with a large amount of exciting action music. The rambunctious "Happy Halloween/Seize and Capture" is where the villain themes dominate. "Riddles Solved/Partners/Battleship" has an understated suspensful build up of the Batman theme before heading to the film's climax. "Scuba Fight/Claw Island/Emperor of Madness" and "Fun and Games", make great use of all the hero and villain themes and "Batterdamerung" has heroic swirling strings that strangely aren't too different from what Elfman would do for SPIDER-MAN years later. "Wet Screen Kiss/March On!" closes out the score portion of the disc with Chase's theme dominating the first half in the same way as it was presented before and the Batman theme in the second half is heard at it's most triumphant in the track's second half which makes for an overall great finale. Following it are two bonus tracks and the original 45-minute score album release from Atlantic Records, which offers interesting differences in how the music was presented for that product.As much as I enjoy the score, I'm not a fan of it's arrangement on the first disc since some sections are not in film order and it's presented in such an erratic fashion that can make it difficult to listen to as the thematic ideas don't develop properly (ironically, the Atlantic album is also not in film order but is somehow more coherent). Also, it's missing a really cool piece of music- a heroic trumpet theme for the Flying Graysons that has a hint of the Robin theme he would develop for the following film. Those qualms aside, it's great to have previously unreleased material and the liner notes make for a good read as they offer a good description of the score and a track-by-track analysis. Though Goldenthal has admitted in recent years that he doesn't have a desire to score action films as he once did (partly due to a severe head injury), I hope he gets to score another (better) superhero film since the genre could use someone with his unique compositional abilities provided he is allowed creative freedom. Some may find this score to be a bit too noisy and bizarre, but I think there's a lot of imagination at work here and proves that Batman as a character has been mostly blessed with pretty good music to accompany his many multimedia adventures and this is another worthy contribution to his legacy.

Fantastic Soundtrack! Beautiful release by Lala land. Sweeping and dramatic as well as clowny and bombastic in other portions

This was exactly what i was looking for at a reasonable price. So in that regards it worked out perfectly.

This is a good cd. I like this composer. He also did "Interview with the Vampire" which I also have. It comes with a very good booklet. The Main Title is the best part, when Batman is suiting up. 'Id recommend this cd to lovers of Batman or Elliot Goldenthal. It's just not nearly as good as "Interview with a Vampire".

This 2-Disc-Set is limited of 3500 pieces.Disc Time total (56 Tracks): 151:29 minContains a 24-page-booklet.The 2-Disc Set contains the previously released Album Version + new the complett/expanded score by Elliot Goldenthal.Like the 4 movies are also the scores quite different and it sound quite different than Danny Elfmans Score.Finally: good score, not my favorite but glad to get the complett expanded score with this Set.