Batman: The Animated Series Volume 1 Score Review

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. This is Matt Verbois

from La La Land Records, and you've entered the

La La Land lounge on Geekcast Radio. Hello folks

and welcome to the La La Lounge this is episode

6 here on GeekCast Radio and this week in Geek

that's right we are cross promoting the content

you're also going to find this on probably Legends

of the Dark Knight and Tooncast Beyond and a

bunch of other shows that I do and Steve does

and everything else because we are here tonight

to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Batman the

animated series by talking about the first of

the four volume CD releases done by La La Land

Records. It has been nearly a decade. Next year

will be 10 years since La La Land Records released

Batman the Animated Series Volume 1. This is

a two disc release totaling 71 tracks and it

is amazing. I am of course TF2 and Mike. Joining

me as always Steve Megatron. Hello sir. Hello,

hello, hello. Yes, can you believe it? Ten years

since the first Volume City release and 25 years

since the cartoon came out. No, can't believe

it. Yeah, no, it's unbelievable! It's insane!

Yes. Well, you a no -joker, because, you know,

that's what you are. I remember in 2008, I think

it was somewhere around November. I think it

might have been November 5th or somewhere around

November. The original, and this is going to

be a funny turnaround for us because you can

relive your horrible, horrible eBay story from

oh so long ago. I think it was November something.

Yes, shut your face. I remember that. november

something of two thousand eight uh... somewhere

around you know thanksgiving christmas time somewhere

around there where uh... they released that in

the series the complete series in this super

big box set the you know to dvds with all of

the animated series stuff on it all four volumes

the time it was on sale at Best Buy for like

$75 and my mom got it for me as an early birthday

for an early Christmas present I should say and

I Love that DVD set that DVD set was amazing

fast forward to about middle of 2009 Steve's

like I went on eBay and I got the oh wait I was

opening it on air, and then I come to the realization

that it was bootleg. And we were comparing my

actually bought set from Best Buy to your bootleg.

You were like, it's got this on it. And I was

like, no, it's got this. And you're like, no,

I'm telling you, I have it on this. And I started

reading some of the words in the back, and they

were misspelled. And I'm like, oh, you've got

to be kidding me. So it wasn't a total loss because

I got that bonus disc out of the bootleg set

and then I just copied it because it was already

bootleg and it didn't feel bad. And then I sent

it back and got my money back and then I bought

all the individual seasons. But as I said, we're

here to celebrate 25 years of Batman the Animated

Series by doing our first of four La La Land

lounge episodes talking about the music of Batman

the Animated Series. When this two disc CD set

came out from La La Land, I pounced. This was

before I even had a relationship with them, because

this was early. And you know, this is early when

I first found out about them in 2008 or so, 2009.

And I just had to have this. I nearly keeled

over and died for this thing because as you know,

as hopefully anyone that's listening to this

knows, I am a huge soundtrack file. I'm a huge

music file when it comes to soundtracks. And

I've told this story before. actually told it

to uh... several different interviewers interviewees

that i've done uh... one of the memorable ones

i can remember recent times is uh... the composer

joe kramer who did the mission impossible rogue

nation score i can sit here and i can or when

i talk to dr laura danley and michael mcquestion

who did the time's up score for the uh... uh...

the griffith observatory uh... planetarium show

i can Put a CD into my computer a CD player or

whatever turn it up full volume Just close my

eyes and just immerse myself in the music and

listening back to this Like that on my headphones

blaring it out of my ears. Just it's absolutely

amazing folks. It really really is Shirley Walker

and her team Just do an amazing amazing job This

first volume is comprised of tracks from On Leather

Wings, The Last Laugh, It's Never Too Late, Pretty

Poison, Christmas with the Joker, Two -Face Part

One and Two, Joker's Favor, Vendetta, Pertains

to Dream, and Birds of a Feather. Now this is

the original release that I have that we have

because They released they re -released it as

another I think one disc set or two disc set

But they change like not everything it was not

all original 71 tracks there They I don't know

something got left off or whatever So this is

the very first original release 71 tracks what

is so cool to me about this besides getting to

go back and listen to this music the very first

track and the very last the second to last track

yeah this is well no it is it is the last track

actually the first track is Gotham City Overture

which is basically a lot of the themes meshed

together like you hear various You hear the classic

Batman the Animated Series opening title by Danny

Elfman and you hear other themes from other things.

The very last track is called Music of the Bat

101. Now, at this time, Shirley Walker, I guess

at the time that they were producing this, she

was still alive. So this Music of the Bat track

is something everyone should hear because it's

basically her at the piano. taking us through

how they worked out the theme to the cartoon,

how it transitions sometimes into the Danny Elfman

movie themes, and things like that. And it's

just an awesome track to just listen to her explain

how they came up with the main cues for Batman

the Animated Series. When you listened to this,

what were your feelings and thoughts and all

that stuff? Particular song or the entire song

just the whole thing when you first you know

got a hold of it and first Went went through

it seeping nostalgia And it's good nostalgia

because even if it's a badly written episode

the music is still stellar Absolutely. It doesn't

matter on any episode, in any of the DCAU, but

specifically Batman the Animated Series, the

music for every episode was so iconic and different

than any other episode. Because every episode

had a different tone, had a different villain,

had a different theme and plot. So the music

went really well with whatever it was. Whether

it's a Joker themed music or Harley or You know

a Bruce Wayne or if it's like any of the altered

versions of the theme music. I mean, it's just

It's impossible not to sit here. And I mean I

had this in my car for a while listening to this

stuff and I It's it's it's hard to pick favorites

when I'm going through this Mm -hmm like obviously

the Joker music is the most fun to me But that's

because I can do the Joker's voice and then I

can put the Joker's voice over top of his music

And then it's just even more fun But uh, I Can't

remember if I Don't think it's got this is this

garbage scowl on this one. Yeah, that's the laughing

fish. That's what I thought Yeah, but the one

with Captain Clown No, that's the next one. That's

volume two. Yeah, the last laugh is the one that's

on here. Yeah, that's the one with the... But

like, really, I love all of the music that comes

through on this. Some of the more fun ones are...

Whenever whenever it's one with Batman in it

for instance But you get like the the mischievous

stuff with Joker you get the kind of like sultry

type of stuff for poison ivy Because it kind

of just goes with that tone penguin you kind

of get this weird The penguin tracks were always

weird to me Had a hard time like even in the

series watching the penguin episodes, but they

never were really as bad as like the Rupert Thorne

stuff or the And some of the secondary episodes

where their characters that were throwaways Yeah,

and we're not and I'm not saying that the music

is bad, but I'm just saying that They're strange

the the the penguin tracks like Birds of a Feather

Which is the final episode score on this two

disc release? I can listen to that and all as

I like I don't hear the penguin from the cartoon

series I don't even hear Burgess Meredith like

I can't That's the one out of all of these that

are on here that I cannot envision What the heck

is going on because the music is so strange and

different to me. Maybe I need to go back Maybe

I should have gone back and rewatched birds of

a feather But I didn't because most of these

episodes we know them by heart. I mean we spent

Well, it was almost five years doing this here

on Legends of the Dark Knight over on, you know,

GeekCast Radio and everything else. Perchance

to Dream, I know exactly what that is. That's

the one where, you know, Bruce is sucked into

this dream world by the Mad Hatter, and he tries

to give him this perfect life. And then he's

like, noooo, and then he fights Batman. Right,

exactly. And, you know, Joker's Favour, that's

the casino one, you know. I don't know, that's

Joker's Millions. No, Joker's Favor is the one

with Charlie. Charlie. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup At least in this release,

it's kind of happy, not really happy -go -lucky,

but like, you know, sadistically happy and strangely

happy, whereas the Ivy stuff is more exotic,

erotic kind of, you know, bouchic -a -wow -wow,

and Two -Face is kind of... Yes, I'm emulating

Michael Wilson. I really should throw John Bailey

in here somewhere, but I won't, because I have

that clip. I ripped it out of one of the... Anyway,

but the Two -Face stuff, what it does is it gives

you a different feel because obviously Two -Face

is not like the Joker, not like Poison Ivy, not

like any of the other villains. What Two -Face,

part one and part two, does with the score is

that it gives you dark and light because that's

what Harvey is. He's two halves. He's not just

one person anymore. And then you go down the

line in a future release that we'll talk about.

I think they have the trial. I think they have

the trial on. He's the judge. Yeah, exactly.

Just listening back to this music whether it's

on my headphones whether I'm just you know having

it on You know on my speakers usually when I

have it on my speakers I'm sitting here my computer,

and I'm doing whatever I'm doing whether it's

stuff for the website whether it's stuff for

this week and geek whatever it is and I've been

doing this the last two days I've been going

back and forth of having it come out of my speakers,

and then just having it blare through my headphones

and The man bad episodes are creepy They are,

yeah. On Leather Wings, yeah. On Leather Wings,

you know, the only reason why I enjoy the On

Leather Wings music is because... The way they

bookend it. The way they bookend it. But also

it's because of... This was the first. This was

the first story. Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, all

those guys. This was their opening, this was

their, hey look at us, this is a Batman show,

and this isn't an Adam West Batman show, it's

a dark Batman show. And it just really, really

works. I know for a fact that La La Land Records

has plans to do more of the DC animated universe

scores. BTIS volume one. Some of the some of

the titles are actually rather humorous to read.

Mm -hmm like pukey Christmas music Or Pie in

Batman's face dangling hostages saved deck the

halls, you know, and then you've got Where some

other good ones that it just passed Like there's

one it's party time Or the the the dr. Jekyll

and mr. Bat There's just a lot of fun a lot of

fun titles to some of these that just either

a make you laugh or be they're just Very telling

of what it's what that episode is Absolutely

and I don't want to just talk about Shirley Walker

here because she was the driving force behind

this. Well you had Shirley Walker, you had Danny

Elfman, you had Lolita Romanis, Michael McQuistion.

Yeah and the thing here is that You know, yes,

Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker, Danny Elfman

kind of provided the main part of the theme from

the 89 film, and that's, you know, that's obviously

the inspiration behind this. I believe Bruce

Kim had said that at one point or another, that

that was, the 89 film was one of his inspirations

to get this off the ground. Outside of Danny

doing the main theme and outside of Shirley doing

her own theme and she does a lot of the music

as well I mean she did the ones for on leather

wings and the last laugh and it's never too late.

I know that's It's never too late as Lolita Lolita

Ramonis Michael McQuistion I've talked to them

before I've interviewed them along with their

cohort Christopher Carter called dynamic music

partners They're just absolutely wonderful people

And I love the differences between each of these

composers. And as we go through the next three

podcast episodes, now I'll tell you this, folks,

this isn't going to be btas volume one, two,

three, four, four weeks in a row. No, we're going

to spread this out, but I'm just saying the other

three podcasts that Steve and I do talking the

other three disc release sets, they bring in

a multitude of of composers and musicians and

artists and it was said before that Shirley Walker

was this driving force behind giving musicians

not only a chance but a place to work, a place

to create and that's really what This first set

allows you to see from Lola to Hermanus and Michael

McQuistion as well as Shirley herself. And again,

having her go through and break down, like I

said, listen to that very last track, Music of

the Bat 101. Just hearing that, it's just eerie

to me. I will say that volume two is probably

my favorite, but this one is like second to that.

Just based on the episode music alone, right?

How often have you gone back and and listened

to this one? Occasionally when I remember or

I come across it Typically, it's when I come

back across it, but it's Whenever I have this

inkling for animated Batman, and I don't want

to actually watch the episodes This is like the

best way to do it. Yeah Because you get the vibe

of the episodes without having to hear anything

else. Right, exactly. Yeah, when we get to volume

two, we've got stuff like Where the Great Ghost,

Cat in the Claw, Nothing to Fear. Great Ghost,

I love, and then Captain Clown. I used that for

an L .O .T. Dark Knight commercial. Yes you did.

It's just absolutely amazing. Volume 1, I absolutely

love it. Going back and re -listening to it.

I mean, you look at It's Never Too Late. It's

Never Too Late is a Rupert Thorn episode, but

it is also... It's also, you know, about the

two brothers. You know, one's in trouble, the

other one's gonna help the other one out of trouble.

And just that music alone in that episode just

absolutely... really resonates with me because

of the fact that you have such emotion put into

the music for it and it's just it's just so wonderful

it really is folks if you've never heard this

music you need to you really really need to whether

it's the high riffs the low tones You know, you

look at, and this is back in the days where the

Joker wasn't as dark and sinister as he would

have gotten in later seasons and series and things

like that. What I loved about, and what I will

continue to say on these podcasts that we do

for these four soundtracks is, what I loved as

these got released is when they put on the source

cues. Like just having the Joker talk show source

cue. Without him actually saying like just the

music itself just having that data that that

that that you know just oh God, I just absolutely

love that they did that that they put those on

on these sets I highly recommend batting the

animated series volume one even though it is

almost ten years old at this point. I'm sure

You listeners can find a way to hear it at some

point Who knows maybe la la land will do another

re -release. I I'm not sure what they'll do But

absolutely love it If you if the Joker put a

put a bang pistol your head and said pick a pick

a score which one off of volume one Are you like

the best which episode yeah? Yeah episode which

piece of music which episode score so on leather

wings Joker's favor last laugh which episode

score did you like the best? It's difficult for

me Because there are good ones lots of good ones

yes for chance to dream is actually pretty good

One of the ones that stick out because it's just

kind of that you know it kind of digs into the

psyche of Batman But I also like the game show

Christmas music with the Joker. Yep. Because

it's just the Joker. And it's fun because of

what it is. Yeah, absolutely. It's not a wonderful

life, it's not a wonderful life. And, you know,

after all it's, you know, it's Batman and he

just didn't get past the title. Another thing

that's interesting to me as we go along in the

next three podcasts is How many different versions

of the btas theme they give us? Mm -hmm like

this one has the main theme Which is the which

she's got the light and he's got the sound effects

the lightning effects at the end But then there

are other versions of it on the other other Releases

and I can't wait to talk about those so any other

For my picks for volume one. It's gotta be Christmas

with the Joker And probably Joker's favor I Do

love the last laughs sub main title though, which

is track 9 But yeah, so Join us next time when

we head to California. Oh, wait, I've already

been there. But no, we're going to be talking

about Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2 here in the La

La Lounge on Geocast Radio, so join us for that.

Any final thoughts from you, sir, before we get

the bat out of here? Get the bat out of here.

Like a bat out of hell. The yoke's on you. No,

I think that about carries it for me. Awesome.

Alright folks, that's gonna do it for us here

on the La La Land Lounge. You can head on over

to lalandrecords .com where soundtracks live

to get all your soundtrack needs. They just released,

as of this recording, they released Cliffhanger.

They've got a bunch of stuff coming up. I'm not

exactly sure what. but uh... i do know they just

released a uh... soundtrack for the film the

still the still so this is a long film cliffhanger

head on over there folks they've got a time of

releases that you can check out they've got soundtracks

for every kind of tv cartoon video game movie

fan any anything you can think of La La Land

Records has it, so head on over there. So until

next time, I am TF2 and Mike with Steve Megatron

Phillips. We will catch you next time here on

GeekCast Radio's The La La Land Lounge. Hi, this

is Loren Lester and you're listening to the GeekCast

Radio Network.