The Danny Elfman Batman Collection
4-disc soundtrack set featuring Batman and Batman Returns
La-La Land Records, 2014
Coinciding neatly with the character’s 75th anniversary, this 4-disc boxed set features Danny Elfman’s film scores for director Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and its sequel Batman Returns (1992). Both scores had been offered previously as individual releases from La-La Land Records. Both had sold out.
The discovery of newly-unearthed elements for the first film’s score meant this newly reissue collection would feature much better audio quality than any previous edition of Elfman’s original Batman score. I was hoping to bring similar enhancements to the quality of the photography from the films. Contractual issues necessitated the new 4-disc edition use the very same stills as all previous album releases—imagery which suffered mainly from scan quality concerns and low-light issues compounded by the omnipresent grain of the original 35mm shots.
In the example below, the topmost image shows the initial scan provided by the archival department at the studio. For the most part, I was able to clean up and enhance these original scans, but this was one instance where simply too much detail had been lost.
Photofest, an entertainment media archive, provided me with a much higher-quality scan (above, middle). However, the color grading was a little off, skewing too pink in comparison to both the scene on blu-ray and the original marketing photo as shown in the original 1989 CD's booklet (which I'd had on my shelf for, golly, two decades...? Whoa.). I also touched up some details in Keaton's eyes.
The below pic of Batman and Catwoman from Returns had some scratches (Oh thanks, Selina!) which had to be retouched out. I also lightened the background considerably, taking a little creative license with the original shot in order to give some separation around the figures for a cleaner reproduction on the printed booklet page.
A pair of unused covers for the set, from early in the design process.
(A) was designed before the "Returns" back tray cover had been decided on, and (B) skewed a little too heavily on the look of the first film.
The interior booklet (cover above) would also need to use identical imagery as all previous editions. That original album for the 1989 film used a still from the film itself...one that unfortunately couldn't be located in the WB archives. In the end, I used my own grab from the blu-ray. The contrast and saturation were then adjusted to match the original 1989 cover, which was a touch brighter and more of an icy blue than the more muted tones shown in the film.
(C) the original 1989 soundtrack CD. The same image was used on a cassette single of the Batman Theme I had when I was a wee Bat fan..
(D) the sold-out, original album expansion from La-La Land Records.
Due to the combined length of four CDs worth of track titles and times, the track listings were moved from the traditional back of the tray to inside the booklet.
