THE WOMBLES ‘GOLDEN’ ALBUM RELEASED ON CD
Due to popular demand GOLDEN – a compilation of all The Wombles’ singles – will now be released on CD on November 8th. Initially released in June as a limited edition vinyl only, the reaction from Wombles fans around the world has prompted the label, Dramatico, to broaden the release to include a CD format.
Celebrating 50 years since The Wombles’ 1974 UK chart domination, GOLDEN contains all the Wombles’ singles, remastered and in chronological order with bonus rare tracks including ‘Wombling USA’.
From the release of their very first single, ‘The Wombling Song’ written by Mike Batt as the theme tune for The Wombles TV series, the original furry eco-warriors from Wimbledon Common became a UK phenomenon, elevated to household-name status and a part of the fabric of British life.
Over their four gold-achieving albums, the pop group had eight top 40 hits in the British charts, and became the top selling singles act of 1974 beating Slade, Abba, The Bay City Rollers and many other favourites in the charts at the time. In June of that year, The Wombles had 3 songs simultaneously in the charts (‘Wombling Song’, ‘Remember You’re A Womble’, and ‘Banana Rock’), the first act to achieve that since The Beatles.
‘Orinoco’ vocalist, songwriter and producer Batt, whose entertaining memoir was just published, comments on the CD release stating, “The enthusiasm for the GOLDEN collection of singles on vinyl was exciting to see, and I am always amazed how many fans there are for The Wombles and their music, whenever we do anything. So when people asked for a CD of this album it would have been churlish not to respond! Looking forward to the Christmas celebrations with ‘Wombling Merry Christmas’ to the fore, and who knows, we might even do some appearances around that time!?”
Wombling USA was originally written for a 1975 release in America, however never saw the light of day due to Batt kickstarting his solo career at the time, “I had been contemplating a 5th Wombles album, and this would have been the lead single on it. After recording it, CBS/Sony and I decided to convert The Wombles deal into a solo deal, and I made my first solo album "Schizophonia" which was very successful internationally. Releasing ‘Wombling USA’ at that time would have pulled focus from my solo stuff, and it was shelved indefinitely. There's always been pressure from the more knowledgeable Womble fans to release it!”
A perfect sub-3-minute slice of Beach-Boys-esque Womblesy pop, ‘Wombling USA’ was previously only available as a B side on the limited cassette release of ‘I Wish It Could Be A Wombling Merry Christmas Every Day’ in 2000.
Immaculate pop is The Wombles’ trademark sound - an eclectic range of music including blues, country, folk, barbershop harmonies, glam rock, military brass and classical. The Wombles were originally created by Elisabeth Beresford in six novels, and adapted to be a band by Batt in 1973 after he was commissioned to write the theme tune for the spin-off TV series and negotiated for the rights to record and perform music under The Wombles name.
Wearing costumes made by Batt’s mother, Elaine, the band - with musicians such as Chris Spedding and members of Steeleye Span donning the costumes alongside Mike as Orinoco - would regularly appear on Top of the Pops, Crackerjack and Blue Peter. The Wombles reunited in 2011 for a highlight performance at Glastonbury Festival.