The 1981 Listening Post - Mike Batt - Six Days in berlin

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: September 1981 Mike Batt Six Days In Berlin Genre: Imaginary Soundtrack Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: Part One Those of you who follow my work here (you both know who you are) will already be aware that Mike Batt was the driving force behind The Wombles, a British children’s show of some renown. I previously reviewed Mike’s 1980 release, Waves, which included some mildly interesting, vaguely soundtrackish tunes, as well as more basic post-Beatles pop songs. This is something else altogether. Six Days in Berlin has six tracks, which are titled Part One through Part Six. Part One opens with about 3 1/2 minutes of grand, sweeping instrumental bombast, which very suddenly becomes an ELO-like pop song, complete with vocoder and abrupt tempo shifts, punctuated by dramatic string section washes, polyrhythmic percussion, elaborate 15 second guitar interludes, and a story that begins, “She had built her hacienda / Far above the sweeping plain / Where she weathered the agenda / with the sweet diminuendo / of the rain,” and ends, “The milkman used to say / Tra la la la la / Bring out your dead.” This is one of those nine minute songs you’d swear was about 4:25. It rewards close listening (Is that really an accordion solo? Yes, yes it is), but even if you just put it on in the background, it never lets up. Part Two opens with the sound of walking feet and two voices speaking far off in the distance. The Berlin Opera Orchestra steps forward, presenting a clear piece of program music. Not sure what the program is, but that’s OK. Just before the 4 minute mark, the orchestra becomes the rock combo once again, and Part Three begins. Harmonized guitars dictate a melody, which is then echoed by a string section, which gives way to churning guitar bass and drums, quickly interrupted by strings, then back to rock, etc. There are occasional pauses for spoken lines, sound effects, race cars panning left to right, delicate flute solos, synth washes, Van Halen style guitar arpeggios, vocoder glissandos, drum whacks, and classical horn section blasts. All of this happens in less than six minutes. Sort of like Pink Floyd with a relentless beat but without a discernible message. I won’t bother with a blow-by-blow review of the second half. Suffice to say, there’s a lot going on here, and all of it is skillfully created and put together. At 11:28, Part Six feels like a symphony composed for orchestra and rock band, in that order. It’s the least interesting part of the album to me, but it’s still an intriguing effort. I would stop short of saying this record qualifies as a Listening Post Discovery, mostly because I wouldn’t really call it a Pop/Rock album, anymore than I would the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera. Oh, by the way, Mike Batt co-wrote the title song from Phantom, which makes him either a very impressive fellow or one of history’s great villains (I lean toward the latter, but that’s just my opinion). It’s hard to believe this wasn’t created specifically as a soundtrack for something, but as far as I can tell, it was only the movie in Mike Batt’s mind. He wrote and arranged all the parts and even conducted the Staatskapelle Berlin. Whatever the story is, it’s mostly a fun ride. If you enjoy soundtracks and don’t mind making the movie up yourself, you might get a kick out of Six Days in Berlin.