Mike Batt: The Winds Of Change

(VSOP 169, Released in 1992)

This album is subtitled Greatest Hits.
Nigel Hunter wrote an introductory text on the inlay of the cover. This text can be found on the Mike Batt index page. In the following list of tracks I included the comments in which Mike recalls the circumstances of each track.

Track list

1. Railway Hotel
   This is from Schizophonia and is about only being able to afford a seedy hotel. It's only partly autobiographical.
2. Imbecile
   From Tarot Suite and inspired by the Fool card. Somebody naive, just starting out in life and not at all worldly wise.
3. The Ride To Agadir
   This is the opening track of Schizophonia. I got interested in the Moroccan uprising and this is about an imaginary battle between the Foreign Legion and Moroccan tribesmen. This piece started off the whole idea of the album.
4. Mona
   An imaginary character from the Waves concept. Her sailor boy friend returns from a voyage and assures her he hasn't got a girl in every port. He wants her to help him 'unload his contraband' which he's been saving just for her. I wrote this on the eve of my voyage around the world when I had salt in my blood.
5. Lady Of The Dawn
   Basically a love song from Tarot Suite.
6. Run Like The Wind
   Again from Tarot Suite, this is about freedom and breaking away, overcoming frustration and making a fresh start. It's also about ambition and wanting to archive something.
7. Better Than A Dream
   This is a love song from The Dreamstone, which was an animated TV series in 26 episodes.
8. Love Makes You Crazy
   I wrote this for Zero Zero, which is set in the future when love has been eliminated from the world like a nasty disease.
9. The Walls Of The World
   Another song from Schizophonia. A soldier writing home from the battlefront, saying he's OK, can look after himself and nobody should worry about him. He says he's writing on the walls of the world, sort of wishing he could shout from the rooftops.
10. Introduction (The Birth Of Number 17)
    This is a character called 'Number Seventeen' in Zero Zero who hears his mother talking and saying he looks like a Number 17.
11. It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
    Schizophonia again. It's about losing all your money on the roulette table."
12. Plainsong
    From Tarot Suite and an instrumental with a certain strange, stark quality, describing the High Priestess card.
13. The Winds Of Change
    This is from Waves and is someone saying the winds of change won't affect us, no matter what happens."
14. Theme From Caravans [actually it's the Caravan Song, but with an additional verse (well, or the other versions are missing one... -- mb]
    This was a commercial success from the soundtrack of that film. They wanted a big desert theme and that's what they got.
15. The Valley Of Swords
    An instrumental about the Swords cards from Tarot Suite. It depicts a battle and has pronounced military and historical overtones.
16. Into The Sunset
    A duet I recorded with Bonnie Tyler, which I wrote for The Dreamstone.
17. Children Of The Sky
    This is the opening song in The Hunting Of The Snark about the ten characters who set sail in search of this mythical creature. It is intended to depict the sense of adventure."