BATMAN: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

There are times when bad or silly movies have good soundtracks.  Batman: The Movie (from 1966) was every bit as campy and goofy as the TV series, but its music works quite well.  Batman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack has all the music from the movie, plus a few extra songs.

Composed by Nelson Riddle, the songs on Batman: OMPS have a very jazzy feel to them.  The 29 songs from the movie are all based on scenes from the movie; one can tell the plot of the movie just from reading the track listing.  It's easy to recognize the songs focusing on the villains -- the Penguin's waddle, Catwoman's seductive side, etc.  -- and elements of Neil Hefti's Batman television show theme creep into many of the songs.  (That theme is one of the three bonus tracks on the album.)

The music on Batman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will never be jazz classics, but it is a fun, breezy album that's fun to listen to.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch