Mike Batt

I put this in the discussions not related to music because I dont want him added or anything, I just heard schizophonia and loved it, can anyone maybe recommend similar albums, i mean if he isnt on the archives im assuming that the majority of his stuff is not prog at all. But is there another album which has the musical scope of schizophonia?

I really liked 'The Hunting of the Snark'. It was a stage musical project that failed to gather much attention. And, being a musical, it is something close to prog.

Pity Mike Batt will always be "a Womble".

He's actually a very tallented guy, especially in the songwriting department. I have several good albums by him. One called "Arabesque" is especially notable, and includes his original version of "Closest thing to crazy", recently covered by Katie Melua.

I found yesterday a Mike Batt record in a sales bin. 'Tarot suite'. I bought it because the name was familiar to me from the 70's. Quite a mixed affair; it is a concept album about the tarot cards.MB composed and arranged all the tracks for 'Rock ensemble' and the LSO. Some interesting musicians : Roger Chapman (Family) on vocals, Rory Gallagher, Chis Spedding and Tony Mc Phee (Groundhogs) on guitar and Mel Collins on sax. The overall sound reminds me of Alan Parsons with  a hint of Rennaissance for the orchstral arrangements. I looked quickly at his bio and he did a lot of different stuff, pop, TV music , arrangements. Is anyone more familiar with his output?

Edited by Alucard

Syzygy wrote: The Wombles were basically Roxy Music minus Bryan Ferry, and I believe Chris Spedding might have been involved as well. As I've spent the last couple of years about 15 minutes walk from Wimbledon Common (which is as much countryside as any normal human needs) I'd sooner that you showed Uncle Bulgaria and co a little respect.

Wombles = Roxy Music

A thought guaranteed to keep me awake at nights...
 

What exactly is it that you like about Schizophonia? The mix between Arab and rock? If so, there's little else, except other stuff by Mike Batt, especially his complete soundtrack for Caravans. The nearest thing after that would be Sheherazade - the story of 1001 Arabian nights told and sung by prog veterans Renaissance plus a full symphonic orchestra, and of course the heavenly voice of Annie Haslam. 

Apart from that, any other Mike Batt release will do - personally I love them all, even if they are not prog (sometimes even plain kitsch). In descending order of progginess: Six Days in Berlin, Caravans, Tarot Suite, Songs of Love and War, Arabesque, but in fact any of his stuff will do. Just stay clear of the compilations, best-of crap, etc.

Another glorious band+orchestra+goosebumps album is Hope by Klaatu. Samples here: http://www.klaatu.org/samples/samples.html (scroll down to The following samples are from the second album, "Hope")

And another hair-rasing West-meets-Arab album (non-prog, but absolutely awesome) is The Sultan's Picnic by Rabih Abou-Khalil, samples here: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/PID/1208470/a/Sult an's+Picnic.htm

My wife's brother performed in the world premiere of Hunting of the Snark, down here in Australia. Can't remember which part he played, but it was quite a feather in his cap as he was only in amatuer theatre at the time and got to perform with all the 'names' in Australia.