Mike Batt began his career in the late 1960's with a number of fairly forgettable recordings. But, if you listen very carefully to them you can hear some of the aspects that developed into the magnificent work he has composed and produced over the past two decades. In 1973 the first Wombles music was created and over the next few years the Wombles had a number of big hits. Anyone who, as I did, thinks that Wombles: children's show equates to Wombles: children's music is sadly wrong. The catalogue of Wombles music is an outstanding collection of music in a wide range of styles, brilliantly arranged and performed by Mike and his co-musicians. During the same period Mike wrote and produced some solo recordings but without success. I don't know why but the quality of the music on the solo recordings did not match that of the Wombles tracks.
           For me, it all began in 1980 when I was listening to my local radio station in country Victoria, Australia and heard a song called: Losing Your Way in the Rain'. I was so taken with the unusualness of the song being played on a poppy, bubblegum type of radio station that I was hooked. Through the ensuing week a number of tracks were played from the album: 'Tarot Suite', which the radio station was featuring as its album of the week.  I bought the album and played it over and over again it becoming the most played album I have ever owned.  Over the years and thanks to a number of fellow MB fans whom I have 'met' through the magic of the internet I have acquired almost every recording Mike has written and/or produced. The following pages provide a personal review of most of that work. Please browse and enjoy. If you have any comments please email me. My email link is on the title page.   
For more information on those early recordings visit Dieter Friedls website. See link on page 1.