The 1980 Listening Post - Mike Batt - Waves

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: 1980 Mike Batt Waves Genre: Imaginary Soundtrack Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Highlights: Portishead Radio Waiting for a Wave “Underground, overground, wombling free, the Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we.” In 1973, English singer/songwriter Mike Batt got the opportunity to write the theme song for a new children’s program. In a moment of absolute clarity, he asked for and obtained the rights to not just the theme, but all the music written for the show. The show was, of course, The Wombles, a British phenomenon with so much staying power, the "band" (Batt and several top London studio musicians) played Glastonbury in 2011, in full Womble costume, more than three decades after the children’s program left the air. So what do you do when your only real claim to fame is being Head Womble? I guess you could try to cash in on that fame by making more kids’ stuff, or you could run in the opposite direction and try something daring and off brand. Or you could not worry about what anyone thought, and just make Waves. There are five instrumentals on this record, including the title track, a six minute pseudo-classical piece that feels like a Lloyd-Webber overture. The other four are much less ambitious -- the titles of Conga Reel, Echo Foxtrot and Sierra Tango pretty much tell you what the songs are (substitute Bo Diddley beat for Foxtrot), and Lobsterissimus Bumbercissimus is just lap steel and horns bouncing around for a minute. The other six tunes alternate between smooth pop (Winds of Change, Mona, Fishing for the Moon, Waiting for a Wave) and jittery pop (Portishead Radio, Buenos Dias Captain). There’s some nice jazz lite sax in places, as well as some nifty guitar bursts here and there. There’s also a ton of soupy synth strings, which threaten to drown the singer at times. If I had to pick a couple of highlights, I’d go with Portishead Radio for its jaunty XTC-like spikiness and Waiting for a Wave for its gloomy Nilsson-esque ennui. Mike Batt seems to have invested some thought and effort into constructing this album, but in the end it feels like he mostly made it for himself. I”m good with that, but I don’t need to listen to it anymore.