{"id":6933,"date":"2013-08-29T16:34:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T20:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6933"},"modified":"2013-08-29T16:34:48","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T20:34:48","slug":"cd-batman-the-animated-series-second-edition-1992-1995-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6933","title":{"rendered":"CD: Batman: The Animated Series (Second Edition) (1992-1995 \/ 2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>B<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records<\/a> \/ Released: July 19, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: \u00a0CD1: 35 tracks \/ (62:02) + CD2: 34 tracks \/ (67:27)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 20-page colour booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger, and notes from series writer \/ producer Paul Dini and composer Danny Elfman \/ Limited to 5000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Shirley Walker, Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

It was a natural choice to port over Danny Elfman\u2019s big orchestral sound from Batman<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1989) to an animated TV spinoff, and in spite of the more modest budgets, Shirley Walker was able to convey the scope and sweeping gloominess of the film with her expert orchestrations and flawless integration of original material.<\/p>\n

Walker had already tackled an animated Batman in the robustly scored Batman: Mask of the Phantasm<\/strong> (1993) and adapted Elfman\u2019s theme for the live-action The Flash<\/a><\/strong> series [M<\/a>] (1990-1991), so a full series featuring more thematic material for the masked crusader wasn\u2019t a tough challenge, and yet the wealth of material on La-La Land\u2019s 2-disc set makes it clear she wrote a huge<\/em> amount of music for the 30 episode run.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s music (plus contributions from Lolita Ritmanis and Michael McCuistion) covers main thematic material as well as seasonal holiday jaunts \u2013 the suite of material within \u201cChristmas with the Joker\u201d embraces jingling Xmas sounds as well as a little Burt Bacharach, with flashy brass and a pop-rock drum kit \u2013 and on occasion the style becomes a little rock-oriented (\u201cThe Last Laugh\u201d suite features a heavy backbeat), but the bulk of the material on CD1 contains swerving theme statements, great dynamics between woodwinds and brass, and a percussion ensemble that still conveys the oomph of Elfman\u2019s feature film scores. There\u2019s also Walker\u2019s sly humour which is more jaunty in the kid-friendly animated series, and little classical touches \u2013 her spin on the Nutcracker sugar plumb fairy dance is especially giddy.<\/p>\n

CD2 is more robust in the action department, and the episodic extracts reflect darker scenarios, and suites like \u201cTwo Face Part II\u201d have a more concentrated atmosphere of emerging gloom in their chords and use of dissonance. \u201cPerchance to Dream\u201d is equally energetic, with the series\u2019 main theme leaping around some wonderful frenetic strings figures and booming percussion.<\/p>\n

Any sense of direness is fleeting, however, as the show\u2019s energy and the compact running time of the episodes mandate fast transitions, but cues do sustain specific moods without an overt sense of Mickey-Mousing energy. Mood shifts also occur in the jaunty suite for \u201cJoker\u2019s Favor,\u201d with a 20s-style jazz rhythm, and a watery (and rather flatulent) sound effect.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s any issue with the scores, it\u2019s the sometimes fragmented nature of musical arcs, yet the cue edits are well-placed and give the impression of longer thematic development and dramatic musical arcs. Fans of the series will be pleased the large orchestral sounds inherent to Burton\u2019s Batman <\/strong>are very much present, with only slight appearances by electronic elements.<\/p>\n

LLL\u2019s \u201cSecond Edition\u201d CD is basically a slightly abbreviated \u00a0reissue of their 2008 2-disc set with the same content, plus two bonus suites featuring 21 extra minutes in the tracks \u201cGotham Citt Overture\u201d and \u201cMusic of the Bat 101.\u201d. The 2013 reissue is mastered from very clean sources, and the details of Walker\u2019s orchestrations really shine in this 2+hour presentation, with the 20008 liner notes from Daniel Schweiger.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ B . Rating: Very Good Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records \/ Released: July 19, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: \u00a0CD1: 35 tracks \/ (62:02) + CD2: 34 tracks \/ (67:27) . Special Notes: 20-page colour booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger, and notes from series writer \/ producer Paul Dini and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[128,126,2182,2183,1098],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1NP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6933"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6953,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933\/revisions\/6953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}