Two of My Favorite Characters in the Whole Universe

Sun Ra and The Blues Project
Batman and Robin (1966)

Funny, since we were just all talking about this at work the other day, but WFMU's Beware of the Blog has just posted downloads of all twelve songs from the Sun Ra Batman record. Cool!

Oh, wait... Sun Ra Batman record, you ask? Why, yes. Here's the story:

In 1966, a toy company in Newark, New Jersey released a children's record called Batman and Robin to cash in on the popular Adam West TV series of the same name. The music on the LP was credited to "The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale," but in fact the band was one of the greatest uncredited session combos of all time, including the core of Sun Ra's Arkestra and Al Kooper's Blues Project. To keep the music licensing fees to a minimum, all the tracks were based on public domain items like Chopin's Polonaise Op. 53, the horn theme from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and the love theme from Romeo and Juliet, and generic rock riffs. It's all instrumental, with the exception of Robin's Theme.

It's not by any stretch of the imagination a classic Sun Ra record, or even in the top half of his discography, but it's manna for Sun Ra junkies like myself.

1. Batman's Theme
(you'll actually have to go to Beware of the Blog for the rest)