Well, this is something. It’s a fairly impressive, 31 track compilation of superhero theme songs from various films and TV shows, covering nearly the entire 75-year history of DC Comics. The oldest track here is the “Superman March” from the classic Fleischer cartoons of the 40s; the newest, the main titles of the Wonder Woman and Green Lantern direct-to-video animated films from 2009. There’s plenty of things here that have never been available on CD before, some never commercially released anywhere: jingles from old Saturday morning cartoons, the John Williams overture from the Christopher Reeve Superman films, the classic Neal Hefti Batman song, two different themes for “Super Friends”, etcetera. And yet, I found the disc pretty frustrating.
First thing, there’s no liner notes to speak of. The artwork consists of a fold-out poster of the cover art, and a list of track titles with composer credits and dates. No information on performers, no mention if the source is a film or serial or live-action show or cartoon, no historical context. Nothing. For a compilation of this nature, that’s inexcusable. Somebody had to research all these tracks, there should be some information included in the packaging.
Second thing, the title is “The Music Of DC Comics”. And it’s a pretty good (if far from thorough) sampling of tracks from their filmed adaptations, but there’s a lot more that could be done. Granted, it’s a product for a niche market, there’s only so many copies of this thing that’ll be sold, and I’m really glad to see this disc existing at all, but still… You want to do an actual retrospective of the musical impact of DC Comics, there’s a lot more than just movie soundtracks to pull tracks from.
For example: Neal Hefti’s Bat Songs and In Gotham City LPs. The Jan And Dean Meet Batman LP. The three kids’ records of songs and stories from the 70s, dedicated to Batman, Superman, and The Justice League Of America (which features a song for the entire group, then individual songs devoted to Wonder Woman, Plastic Man, Aquaman, The Flash, and Metamorpho). The Sensational Guitars Of Dan & Dale’s “Batman And Robin” LP from 1966. The Superman Broadway musical. And so on.
So, this disc is good for what it is, and it’s also a great missed opportunity. There’s a lot of exclusive material, some really amazing selections for the superhero fan, and I’m glad it exists. I just wish it were more.