Batman Mask Of The Phantasm Expanded Soundtrack Review.

   For all of the fans of Batman The Animated Series out there, you've probably have seen Batman Mask Of The Phantasm. If so, you know about the great score composed by the late Shirley Walker, who also composed the music for Batman The Animated Series. Originally the Batman Mask Of The Phantasm soundtrack was released on CD and cassette through Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros. Records on December 14th 1993. I will compare the Reprise Records release to the La La Land Records release.

Original Release

  The original release contained 10 score tracks and the end credits theme performed by Tia Carrere. The original release runs 27 minutes shorter than the expanded release from La La Land Records. The 10 score tracks on the original release are in order as they appear on the CD are, 1 Main Title, 2 The Promise, 3 Ski Masked Vigilante, 4, Phantasm's Graveyard Murder, 5 First Love, 6 The Big Chase, 7 A Plea For Help, 8 The Birth Of Batman, 9 Phantasm and Joker Fight, 9 Batman's Destiny. The 11th Track is I Never Even Told You performed by Tia Carrere. I bought the original release used for $4.99, and I felt that Shirley Walker got the middle finger given to her on this release. The original release is more of a score sampler than a score soundtrack to me. 

The Expanded Edition

   The La La Land Records Expanded Archival Collection is a much better release.  For one reason it is the complete score. Reason number two is that is remastered, so there is more oomph to it and it makes it more audible. The expanded edition is a limited edition pressing of 3,000 copies. Now the expanded edition has 20 tracks instead of the 11 on the original. The expanded edition's track list is as the following with comparisons to the original release. Track 1 Main Title (Expanded) to 5:01 from the original at 1:35. Track 2 The Promise (Expanded) to 1:25 from its original length of 0:46. 3 Ski Mask Vigilante (Expanded) to 4:28 from its original length of 3:06. Track 4 Fancy Footwork, which is a previously unreleased track. Track 5 Phantasm's Graveyard Murder which is expanded but not labeled on the La La Land release from its original length of 3:43 expanded to 3:52. Track 6 Bad News/ Set Trap/ May They Rest In Peace is a previously unreleased track. Track 7 First Love which is expanded to 1:59 from it's original length of 1:35. Track 8 City Street Drive/ Sal Valestra/ Good Samaritan is a previously unreleased track. Track 9 Birth of Batman (Expanded) to 6:01 from the original at 4:17. Track 10 The Joker's Big Entrance is a previously unreleased track. Track 11 is The Big Chase which is expanded to 5:40 which is 0:08 longer than it's original release. Track 12 Nowhere to Run which is a previously unreleased track. Track 13 A Plea for Help is an odd track, it isn't expanded, it's actually 0:54 seconds shorter than it's original release, so shortening the length is makes no sense since this is an expanded release. Track 14 A Tall Man/ Arturo and his Pal/ Makes You Want To Laugh/ What's So Funny? is a previously unreleased track. Track 15 Andrea Remembers/ True Identity is also a previously unreleased track. Track 16 Phantasm and Joker Fight is expanded but not labeled. Phantasm and Joker Fight is expanded to 6:01 from 4:05. Track 17 is Batman's Destiny which is shortened to 1:46 from 3:50 also like track 13 this makes no sense on why it was shortened. Track 18 I Never Even Told You performed by Tia Carrere which is expanded 0:03 seconds from 4:20 on the original release this song is played during the end credits. Track 19 Theme from Batman Mask of The Phantasm which is a labeled bonus track. This track is not to be confused with the end credits song. This track is played after Batman's Destiny in the movie. Track 20 Welcome to the Future is a previously unreleased track. This is the song that is sung by the robots at the entrance to The Gotham City World's Fair also known as the song that the Joker hates. The Expanded edition runs at 62:05 compared to the original at 33:26.
   My opinion of the expanded soundtrack on a scale of 1 to 10 is a 10. This is the true soundtrack that should have been released like this back in 1993. This is the full soundtrack of the film. Shirley Walker would be proud of this release. The expanded soundtrack has a 20 page booklet describing the history of Shirley Walker's career as a score composer and gives a track by track description of the scenes scores. The Original release doesn't have that at all.
  Pros and Cons.
Expanded Pros.     Expanded Cons.
   Complete score.      Limited Edition of 3000 copies.
   Remastered.            Not sold in stores.
   True to the film.       Can't buy on iTunes.

                                  Tracks 13 and 17 are shorter than the original release.