DC Comics was the first huge comic book publisher, and with iconic characters like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, DC Comics has expanded well beyond comic books to television and movies, animation and live action. The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Edition is a 31-track sampling of the wide variety of the music (and, often narration) that has accompanies those sound-filled exploits.
While 75 years of music could easily fill several volumes, The Music of DC Comics (released in 2010) does a quite satisfactory job of showcasing the sounds accompanying their superheroes, from 1941's "Superman March" to 2009's "Green Lantern: First Flight." There are iconic numbers (such as the theme from the Batman television show or John Williams' Superman movie theme) and rarities (introductions to cartoons from the 1960s; the opening to the "Legends of the Superheroes" comedy roast; and who remembers the Swamp Thing cartoon, let alone its opening?). The first seven songs are all from Superman-based works, the next seven from Batman's body of work, then a variety follows.
The Music of DC Comics is a terrific trip down memory lane -- but it feels like two albums mixed together. The instrumental songs here are all very well done, quite dramatic and often very powerful. Then there are the narrated songs, which are often just a smattering of background music while a narrator extols the powers of the hero. (These are contrasted at the end of the album, where the dramatic instrumental from the end of the Wonder Woman animated movie is followed by the disco-inspired theme song from the live-action Wonder Woman show ("in her satin tights/fighting for her rights.")) Worse, there are no notes on how the album is put together, what determined which songs made the cut (like the intro to the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show) and what didn't (no Challenge of the Super Friends, though there are two other Super Friends songs). There isn't even an introduction by one of DC's writers or artists to talk about the impact these tunes have had on the heroes or on them.
But these complaints pale next to the very wide variety of songs collected here. The Music of DC Comics is far from complete and could have used more explanation, but what this provides is a neat trip down memory lane, a showcase of songs the listener hasn't heard before (I doubt even the most ardent comic book fan has heard all the songs here), and a pretty exciting soundtrack to go along with some of comic books' mightiest heroes (plus Aquaman and Hawkman).
With several decades of superhero shows, movies, and novelty songs, The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Edition barely scratched the surface of what's out there. So now there's The Music of DC Comics: Volume 2, a 29-track collection that both covers new material not on the first volume and sometimes feels like it's going for secondary choices.
The Music of DC Comics: Volume 2 has music from a wide variety of times. There are samples from new live shows (Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash), cartoons (the Superman and Batman cartoons, DC Comics Supergirls), movies (Man of Steel, Batman V Superman) and even video games. There are funky novelty songs from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. And yes, the theme from Challenge of the Superfriends made it onto this collection. Several of the songs are quite silly (The Adventures of Superpup, The Theme of the Justice League of America) but even they represent a more bombastic, often groovy time. And the instrumentals are almost all pretty exciting and very effective.
The weakness of Volume 2 comes from the times when it tries to follow the "good" stuff on Volume 1. Since Volume 1 has John Williams' iconic theme from Superman, Volume 2 settles for "The Flying Sequence" and "Lex Luthor's Lair" from the movie. Volume 1 has the theme from the Batman TV show; Volume 2 has a cover of the theme. Volume 1 got the original theme song from Wonder Woman; Volume 2 had the theme song from its last season.
Even with the limits from following the first collection, The Music of DC Comics: Volume 2 is still pretty good. The songs here are a nice mix through the decades, and several songs will be new to even the most devoted superhero fan.
There can be no doubt that The Great War is a Justin Currie creation. It is populated by songs which reflect classic Currie style, from his standard thematic preoccupations to recognizable chord progressions and modes of orchestration. While patterns may be discernable to a long-time Del Amitri and Justin Currie fan, however, their presence does not reflect artistic weakness—for the Currie hallmark is a guarantee of quality.
Currie throws pop culture a bone with his opening number “A Man With Nothing to Do,” a well-crafted, upbeat tune with refreshingly unpretentious lyrics which progress from ennui to hopefulness: “Let the years go by, let the daylight die/ I can’t think of anything to be/ The planes in the sky, the lines in the road/ Human hands make everything you see/ And if you keep busy in your mind do you think / you’ll see this through?” The final pronouncement of this song is the most unabashedly romantic statement of the album: “I’m a man with nothing to do / But wait around to fall in love with you.”
“Can’t Let Go of Her Now” is another peppy number featuring a classic Currie dilemma: this speaker is reluctant about his need for a particular relationship; while the melody is straightforward, however, the lyrics are poetically sophisticated, even if they do echo a certain Beatles’ tune: “Just don’t tell her I would die if I let her slip away/ Let her think I’m resigned/ Like those drying clothes just hang onto the line.” “At Home Inside of Me” also features a simple upbeat tune supporting complex imagery which, in this case, is rather surprising and morbid at times. The persona behind this song imagines the multiplicity of human experience residing within himself, as in the following quote, which may be one of the most wonderfully bizarre images to appear in pop music: “Armies of children and ghosts of suffragettes/ Make merry in the cauldron of my chest/ Bodies dumped in ditches and stowaways at sea/ They make themselves a home inside of me.”
“You’ll Always Walk Alone” is a rousing tune which jadedly undermines the intention of rousing tunes such as Carousel’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (also an English football anthem); here there is no god and human connections are limited: “Arm in arm and hand in hand, tied together with a wedding band/ Tethered to the line between the phones/ Remember you’ll always walk alone.” The song works well as a bleak reflection on human isolation, but Currie perhaps compromises this vision with a final verse which feels tacked on to appease listeners: “And alone every night you walk through my mind/ There we go, you and I in tandem all the time/ Our cover’s blown, now it’s all talk/ How you always walk alone.”
“Anywhere I’m Away From You” and “As Long as You Don’t Come Back” are what I will call classic Currie “good riddance to a bad relationship songs,” while “Ready to Be” represents the “I’m really a bad ass” genre. “The Fight to be Human” is an extended meditation on the woes of the world, which has become a standard feature of Currie’s ouevre, although this song does not simply repeat the ideas of its precursors such as “Nothing Ever Happens” and “No, Surrender”; this epic points inward as well as outward, considering how the author has tried to deal with the mess that is human life, unabashedly admitting “I hate the world they gave me.”
“The Way that it Falls” and “Baby, You Survived” feature gorgeous string orchestration of the kind witnessed on Currie’s first solo album “What is Love For”—but by far the most interesting track on this album, musically speaking, is “Everyone I Love.” The title is misleading, for this song is not about love at all; it continues the idea from “Ready to Be,” that “I’m ready to be the devil they’ve been seeing in me,” as the speaker plans to unleash pent up hostility and play a twisted emotional game which people sometimes play: “Tonight I’m gonna hurt everyone I love/ just to see if they love me/ I’m gonna run around running off my mouth,/ be as cruel as I can be.” “Like Dr. Frankenstein I’ll let the monster walk/ from the cellar to the town” is an appropriate image, as the complex rhythms and dark sounds of this number feel like a tango in a haunted house. With its terribly honest lyrics and meaty electric guitar, “Everyone I Love” is a guilty pleasure of the first caliber.
The Great War is indeed about war: strife between people in romantic and familial relationships, the struggle to make sense of the world in which we live and to be a “good person,” the desire to express one’s feelings, even if they are not palatable to all. In this album Currie has once again shown that he is a solid tunesmith and transcendent lyricist who is not afraid to think and engage deeply with the “dark side,” even under the false guise of a harmless pop album.
Remaining 2010 US Tour Dates for The Great War: 06.17.10 - New York, NY, Joe's Pub 06.18.10 - Boston, MA, Paradise 06.19.10 - Philadelphia, PA, Tin Angel 06.20.10 - Washington, DC, Jammin’ Java reviewed by Rachel Wifall
After Batman's appearance in The Lego Movie, and with the character's rich history in comic books, it's no surprise that the character became the focus of his own Lego movie. The Lego Batman Movie is solid entertainment, with both lots of in-jokes for comic book fans and a couple of flaws as well.
The movie opens with Batman (Will Arnett, giving a nice comic exaggeration to the current gravelly-voiced character) single-handedly defeating almost his entire gallery of villains (including some new ones, obscure ones, and ones from the 1966 Batman TV show). While everyone loves Batman, in private he's terribly alone -- watching romantic comedies by himself and wandering around an empty mansion, to the concern of Alfred (Ralph Fiennes). His desire to be alone has Batman refusing to work with new Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) and not acknowledging the Joker (Zack Galifianakis) as his arch-enemy. And when Bruce Wayne accidentally adopts orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), Batman pretty much ignores him -- even when Dick becomes Robin.
The Joker, upset by Batman's slight, hatches a master plan that begins with getting himself and every other villain in Gotham City arrested, involves Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate), and winds up with a slew of amazingly powerful (and non-DC) villains taking over Gotham City. Batman, meanwhile, keeps using or ignoring Robin, carelessly insulting Alfred, and refusing to work with Barbara.
As one might expect, there are innumerable elements from Batman's history, from the cartoons, TV shows, and movies to the obscure villains from the comics and black and white serials. There are also plenty of other comic book and pop culture references, including the Super Friends, non-comic book characters (that aren't all Lego sets), and pop music. The voice talent is terrific (including numerous celebrity voices) and there's plenty of action and humor through the movie.
The Lego Batman Movie also has a couple of problems. The movie drags a lot in the middle and could have been a good deal shorter. The story arc is pretty obvious, and there are several inconsistencies that pop up in the movie (that can't be explained away by the Lego universe). But even with those, The Lego Batman Movie has lots of entertainment, for little kids and adult comic book fans.
The old DC comic book The Brave and the Bold paired Batman with a new superhero every issue. This is the basis for the new cartoon Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Too bad it's almost campy in execution.
The style of Batman: The Brave and the Bold is distinctively retro, from Batman's chiseled features to the swingin' jazz used as background music. Unfortunately, this retro attitude hearkens back as well to the silly Batman TV series with Adam West. The cartoon isn't quite as campy, but the Dark Knight who puts terror in the hearts of criminals is now a more generic crimefighter (voiced by Diedrich Bader).
There's also the setting of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. It's been argued that the Batman comics was weakest in the 1960s and 1970s, when Batman went from battling street crime and colorful criminal masterminds to dealing with super-powered baddies, aliens, and outer-space adventures. The weird adventures are all that show up here. None of Batman's traditional villains -- Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, Clayface, Two-Face -- make an appearance. Instead we have Batman having underwater adventures, outer-space travels, or on a dinosaur island.
As for the guest stars, they feel more like a blatant attempt at fanboy appeal than anything to add excitement. (Squeezing in an unrelated superhero appearance before the credits each episode doesn't help either.) The heroes appear just to join Batman in bashing heads, and having Bats as a loner while still working with a new hero each week doesn't quite work. Batman worked better as a JLA member on JusticeLeague -- and best on the Batman Animated Series -- than here.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold may appeal to kids who like the colorful costumes and over-the-top action, but it's pretty weak for those of us who have found cartoons made as much for adults as for children.
