My creativity is blank right now, so far that the closest thing to writing something of note that I can achieve is this blog post. It doesn't help that I have manflu, and a general aversion to the holiday period, so I'm not in the best of moods. Also, Rainbow Six Vegas is kicking my ass.

However, I do have one cause to celebrate, and I am currently listening to it. I speak of the soundtrack to BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, the best cartoon that has ever been produced that doesn't feature a smart-talking alcoholic robot, and it's beautiful. It's an achievement, especially in today's credit crunch-fuelled climate where decent film score releases seem to be getting rarer, that this has been produced at all. Although I suppose Batman is in the public eye, what with THE DARK KNIGHT getting rave reviews across the board and making an obscene amount of cash.

The release itself is by La-La-Land Records, and is limited to 3000 copies. A very limited amount of those (I think about two-fifty) are signed by Lolita Ritmanis and Michael McCustion, the two composers of whose work appears on the album are still alive (Shirley Walker RIP), and luckily I managed to snag a signed copy. I dig the way LLL does this, by sending a sealed copy of the CD itself, but with a duplicate booklet signed by the composers. It's cool, thoughtful, and means I can read the excellent liner notes without chancing tearing the booklet on the jewel case, which can happen if you're not too careful.

The music is incredible, and it's amazing that this was written for a Saturday morning cartoon show. Danny Elfman's theme from the 1989 BATMAN opened the show for most of its run, and that arrangement is presented here, and I think it works better than the film's equivalent cue. The theme also shows up occasionally in the score, but is usually superceded by Walker's own fantastic theme, which was also used for BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM - THE ANIMATED MOVIE. The scoring here is so unique, and while it ranges from really dark, film noir mood music ("Two-Face"), to madcap Looney Tunes-style carnival sounds ("Christmas With The Joker"), it always remains fresh and interesting. Also, Walker's theme is just amazing.

I never felt the composers really got Batman 100% in the films. The 60s show, that was just camp all the way through, Elfman and Goldenthal's music for the Keaton-era films was pretty great, but never felt that interesting to listen to (although I prefer Goldenthal's, theme aside). And Zimmer and Newton Howard's music for Nolan's films works a lot of the time, but could probably do with some better thematic development. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to give Batman a proper theme at some point. Nolan et al may be going for an ultra-realistic vision of Gotham City, but at the end of the day, it's still an operatic story with larger-than-life characters and overtones, and some actual themes wouldn't be that out of place.

(Wow, I managed to get through the whole post without referring to something as Bat-something. Incredible.)

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK FROM THE WB TELEVISION SERIES