Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Womblingly brilliant
Comment: I've little to add to the excellent reviews already given for this album. This is a super cd, full of fun brilliantly composed happy songs that will not fail to make you or your little ones smile, or giggle hysterically as you dance around the living room with them. I've yet to find a childrens album that tops it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great fun!
Comment: I actually came across some Wombles songs on 'You Tube' so I thought I'd see what was on Amazon and came across this album. Wow! Musically this is brilliant with a variety of styles, humour and basically fantastic fun. I've always had a high regard for Mike Batt and the musicians he surrounds himself with but after this listening to this I regard him even higher. Oddly enough I appreciate this much more at my age (48...) than I did when these songs were originally released. Well worth listening to, well well toe-tapping to and well worth enjoying. Thanks to all responsible for this release, whoever you are.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A THOUSAND ARMOURED TRASH COLLECTORS
Comment: I can't agree more with the first reviewer Sordel's summary of the Wombles band. I'd also like to add that it's rare that you get something so first-rate and quality as the range of music styles, humour, satire and magnitude written for kids these days. Personally, I was first introduced to it in the late seventies as a child when my older brother played it interminably. I grew up with such soundtracks as "The Myths and Legends of King Merton Womble" and "Wombling White Tie and Tails" entwined with my early childhood consciousness and appreciation of music. Largely due to this album, I felt very comfortable with different types of music from a very early age. When I bought it off Amazon recently, I expected a pleasant and humorous trip down memory lane, but I was mistaken. It blew my head off! Quite apart from the childhood connections that opened up again when I listened to the well-remembered tracks, it is an absolute cornucopia of musical variety, written and performed with panache and a huge dose of humour. The epic-sounding "A thousand armoured trash collectors glistening in the sun!" sung across heraldic trumpets really takes some beating!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable
Comment: I'm from the 80s generation who had older friends and cousins with some of the original 70s LPs -- the CD took a couple of listens to worm a way into my head, as I hadn't heard many of the tracks before. It makes great toe-tapping music to work to, and the only tune I'd really like to have seen included that isn't is "Exercise Is Good For You (Laziness Is Not)". Hopefully the out-of-print 2CD Wombles Collection set will be reissued eventually, but in the meantime this disc is a bargain and likely to have most of the songs you remember.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Underground (Overground) Classic
Comment: Erm, okay ...
I'm going to assume that you already know that The Wombles was a novelty band aimed at children that existed about thirty years ago. You probably also know that they were masterminded by Mike Batt, latterly the Svengali of Katie Mellua. When I give it five stars, you can pretty much safely assume that these are not the same five stars that I would give "OK Computer" or "Sgt. Pepper". That said, this is a brilliant album.
Batt used The Wombles as a vehicle to pastiche other musical styles, so we get here, amongst others, parodies of reggae, the blues, barber shop quartets, country 'n' western, Rick Wakeman, and David Bowie. For kids that is great, because it gives them a range of musical styles to understand and appreciate, including classical music in the form of Copland, Mozart and Mussorgsky. All the best Wombles songs are here, and there is a certain amount of filler avoided. On top of which, the orchestrations and session work are absolutely at the top of their game.
If you're sick of playing the Tweenies to your children, this is an excellent alternative that may well also get some serious airtime when the little darlings are not around to hear it. Those old enough to have grown up on The Wombles (guilty as charged!) will need no further recommendation.
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