A follow-up companion piece to 2010’s critically acclaimed The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Collection, Volume 2 of the series continues to celebrate the rich musical history of DC Comics. A must-have for fans, this compilation features recordings from 1940 to 2016 from a variety of DC Comics movies, television shows, animated series, videogames, and radio shows...

Containing over 60 minutes of music, the album features John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Junkie XL, Sun Ra, Shirley Walker, and Mark Hamill, among others. It includes 11 never-before-released recordings from the DC Archive, such as the themes and narration from 1949’s Columbia Pictures serial Batman and Robin, 1958’s The Adventures of Superpup, 1978’s Challenge of the Superfriends and ‘The Ballad of Batman’ from 2002’s Batman The Brave And The Bold. Additional unreleased music includes themes from 2015’s Supergirl and 2016’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, both of which were produced by composer Blake Neely specifically for this album. The full three minute version of 'Get Your Cape On' from 2015’s DC Superhero Girls is included along with 'Penguin Makes Moves', the first commercial musical release from 2015’s Gotham. This album also features three tracks from Sun Ra & The Blues Project that have been out of print since the 1960’s.

Compilation albums of this sort are usually not my thing. However, this album is actually incredibly impressive. The majority of tracks are made up of Batman and Superman music (not surprising really as these are the two DC characters that have appeared in the most radio. TV and film projects). We get a nice mix of themes, to ensure that the listener never gets bored of what they're listening too. In fact, for all of the tracks I didn't already own the original scores, I was constantly looking at the playlist to see what I was listening to - there wasn't a single track that didn't catch my attention.

The album contains 29 tracks (1 hr, 04 min, 09 sec). Some themes are only noteworthy for their rarity - I doubt many will want to listen to the 'The Adventures of Superpup' or 'The Theme of The Justice League of America]' on a regular basis. And on the flip side of this there are plenty of tracks that you'll love so much you'll want to order the full album. On this release we get two tracks from John Williams's score for Superman (1978): 'The Flying Sequence / Can You Read My Mind? (feat. Margot Kidder)' and 'Lex Luthor's Lair' - an album that all Williams fans will already own.

There are also a number of funky jazz-based tracks from the '60s Batman show = you won't even need to check your playlist here, it's obvious where they're from.

From start to finish, this is an enjoyable, lovingly crafted tribute to the DC Comics. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to pick up Volume 1.

Track listing:

01 - The Baby From Krypton Intro (from Superman Radio Show) [1940] - Bud Collyer
02 - What Are You Going To Do When You Are Not Saving The World? (from Man Of Steel) [2013] - Hans Zimmer
03 - Superman Theme (from Ruby-Spears Superman) [1988] - John Williams
04 - Superman The Animated Series Theme [1996] - Shirley Walker
05 - The Flying Sequence / Can You Read My Mind? (feat. Margot Kidder) [1978] - John Williams
06 - Fight Night (from Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice) [2016] - Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL
07 - Batman Theme [1966] - Neal Hefti
08 - Batman The Animated Series [1996] - Danny Elfman
09 - The Ballad of Batman (from Batman: The Brave and The Bold) [2002] - Dynamic Music Partners feat. John DiMaggio
10 - Batman and Robin: Batman Takes Over (Intro) [1949] - Mischa Bakaleninikoff
11 - Why Do We Fall? (from Dark Knight Rises) [2012] - Hans Zimmer
12 - Christmas With The Joker / Jingle Bells Batman Smells [1992] - Shirley Walker feat. Mark Hamill
13 - Joker Is Wild [1966] - The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale: Sun Ra and The Blues Project
14 - Mischief (harley Quinn's Theme) [from Infinite Crisis Video Game] [2015] - Matthew Harwood
15 - Lex Luthor's Lair [1978] - John Williams
16 - Penguin Makes Moves (from Gotham) [2-15] - Graeme Revell and David E. Russo
17 - Penguin's Umbrella [1966] - The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale: Sun Ra and The Blues Project
18 - Challenge of The Super Friends [1978] - Hoyt Curtin
19 - The Theme of The Justice League of America [1966] - Arthur Korb
20 - Supergirl Theme [2015] - Blake Neely
21 - Robin's Theme [1966] - The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale: Sun Ra and The Blues Project
22 - The Adventures Of Superpup [1958] - TV Pilot
23 - DC's Legends of Tomorrow Theme [2016] - Blake Neely
24 - Metamorpho [1966] - Arthur Korb
25 - Get Your Cape On [2015] - Jordyn Kane
26 - The Flash TV Series Theme [1990] - Danny Elfman
27 - The Flash vs Arrow [2014] - Blake Neely
28 - Wonder Woman [1966] - Arthur Korb
29 - Wonder Woman TV Series Season 3 Theme [1978] - Charles Fox and Norman Gimble

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Darren Rea