In 1995, Joel Schumacher took directorial duties over from Tim Burton and turned Burton's vision of Gotham City into a living comic book. Gone were the dark and dangerous alleyways, the dimly lit and mysterious streets and the serious criminals. Taking their place were florescent lit alleys, streets lit in bright and loud colors and criminals who acted like elementary school rejects. In such a vision, Danny Elfman's dark score from the previous two Batman films would not do so Elliot Goldenthal was brought in.
Rather than keep some of the musical styles set forth by Elfman, Goldenthal created his own theme for the caped crusader and it is heard in Main Titles & Fanfare. However due to the crashing of instruments and such, it seems like we're trying to listen to the track in an industrial construction zone. To get a better version of the main theme for Batman in this soundtrack, listen to Fledermausmarschmusik. However this main theme is not heard as often as Elfman's Batman theme in his efforts. As a result it is not really memorable to most people.
The rest of the soundtrack is an assortment of tunes depicting varying moods and scenes taking place on the screen. Of these, Chase Noir seems to have hit the nail on the head. Harking back to the old gangster movie style chases, the music compliments the scene perfectly and is a fun track. Victory is another good track, as is Under The Top which is the drum pounding theme heard when our heroes are seen at the Circus at the Gotham City Hippodrome. While a worthy effort, Goldenthal's departure from the trend set by Elfman was not a very, very good idea but it fits in better with director Schumacher's vision.
Total time:
1: Main Titles & Fanfare (1:50)
2: Perpetuum Mobile (:54)
3: The Perils of Gotham (3:01)
4: Chase Noir (1:45)
5: Fledermausmarschmusik (1:15)
6: Nygma Variations (An Ode To Science) (6:02)
7: Victory (2:37)
8: Descent (1:07)
9: The Pull of Regret (2:50)
10: Mouth To Mouth Nocturne (2:14)
11: Gotham City Boogie (2:02)
12: Under The Top (5:42)
13: Mr. E's Dance Card (Rhumba, Foxtrot, Waltz & Tango) (3:21)
14: Two-Face Three Step (2:20)
15: Chase Blanc (1:23)
16: Spank Me! Overture (2:46)
17: Holy Rusted Metal (1:51)
18: Batterdammerung (1:21)