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 Not as good as the originals Oct 06, 2008
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.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Awkard Elfman, Pretty Good Goldenthal, and a nice insert. Mar 05, 2006
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.
 Great collection of Batman music !! Sep 04, 2005
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!!!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Solid, effective rerecording of these scores Aug 25, 2003
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.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Who Knew? May 28, 2001
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.....
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