{"title":"Mike Batt","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-closest-thing-to-crazy-my-life-of-musical-adventures","title":"The Closest Thing to Crazy: My Life of Musical Adventures","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe extraordinary life story of songwriter and composer Mike Batt, the man who has written multi-million selling hits for and with Art Garfunkel, Katie Melua, on the fiftieth anniversary since he shot to fame as part of the Wombles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDescribed variously as a 'polymath', a 'renaissance man' and 'one of the most colourful characters in the music business', Mike Batt has led an extraordinarily vibrant and challenging life that has been full of both glorious victories and bitter failures.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor better or for worse, he is a man who has always lived life on his own terms. Idiosyncratic but mainstream, complicated but compassionate, steadfastly maverick in spirit but avowedly commercial in outlook. He is a man of great contradictions, but even greater talent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter starting out in the music business as a teenager, Batt shot to fame in the early 1970s for his part in the creation of the Wombles pop group. But this success proved to be just the beginning as he then went on to work with various artists as a songwriter, composer and producer, including Art Garfunkel, George Harrison, Cliff Richard, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Katie Melua.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeaturing cameos from some of the biggest stars in the business from Paul McCartney to Prince, The Closest Thing to Crazy takes us not only on the rocky (and classical) journey of Mike Batt's life but also on a tour around the inside of his mind.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nine Eight Books","offers":[{"title":"Hardback | Signed Copy","offer_id":50406636880203,"sku":"2195655","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/The_Closest_Thing_to_Crazy_cover_4e8ec178_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726588532"},{"product_id":"symphony-no-1","title":"Symphony No.1","description":"\u003cp\u003eMike Batt: Symphony No 1 “Ukraine”  The London Symphony Orchestra are on the top of their game as they perform this vibrant new symphony from Mike Batt, the first of several forthcoming classically-driven  pieces by the composer.  This is the accessible, melodic face of modern classics, motivated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it can be heard without that connection being made. In turns violent, sweet, brutal and romantic, Batt’s score will resonate with a wide audience. It is not background or minimalistic in nature. It is not academically constructed, but written from the heart by a veteran orchestral composer who has felt the urge to express himself powerfully.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 37-minute symphony is in four movements,\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dramatico","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":57027925180747,"sku":"R3519-7013","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":57027925213515,"sku":"R3519-0326","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/MikeBattartwork.jpg?v=1776161389"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/mike-batt.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}