Mike Batt - The Mike Batt Music Cube

The whole shebang, Wombles and all

This is all the Batt you’ll ever need: 16 CDs of his solo and show albums. RC looked at six of the releases in 2009, included here and joined by everything else, plus two DVDs. Batt’s most interesting at his least linear – the album he made as Autopilot, 1980’s Rapid Eye Movements, like his later Six Days In Berlin, is an off-the-wall synthesiser collection full of tunes that Classix Nouveaux would have killed for. We’ve previously gotten the feeling that some of Batt’s best work has been given away to others, from The Wombles to Katie Melua. Thankfully, the beguiling A Songwriter’s Tale sees him Batt his greatest hits; so we have his renditions of A Winter’s Tale, as well as a touching version of Bright Eyes.

The box represents a completely personal, idiosyncratic approach to Batt’s catalogue. The most popular Wombles songs aren’t on here, as they’re available elsewhere, though you do have Minuetto Allegretto and the splendid and not at all bonkers The Myths & Legends Of King Merton Womble & His Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Meanwhile, the rarities/oddities collection The Orinoco Kid hoovers up the loose ends.

Batt will always be an acquired taste, but for those with the time and money, Music Cube is where to start.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Dramatico | DRAMBOXCD 001 (14-CD+2-DVD)

Reviewed by Daryl Easlea
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