Womble Discography

Singles Released outside UK

Wombling Song/ Remember Your A Womble

(?? 1974) (Not sure in what country this was released) EMI Records FP10047

Wombling Song/ Wombles Everywhere

(June 1974) (Canada only!) Epic 5-11119

Wombling Summer Party/ Wimbledon Sunset

(Aug. 1974) Columbia 3-10013

(1974 "white label" radio station copy 45rpm) Columbia 3-10013 (JZSS 159809)/ 3-10033 (ZSS 159899)

Billy G. Spradlin: "The interesting thing about the USA version of 'Wombling Summer Party' is that that short section of the song where the music 'drops out' (at 2:36) has been edited out and the song is shorter at 3:18. I guess Columbia USA thought this would be very distracting to Radio DJ's."

Remember You're A Womble/ Wellington Womble

(Sep. 1974?) Columbia 3-10033

FH: "Both "Wombling Summer Party" and "Remember You're A Womble" came with picture bags/sleeves, although the same picture (a shot from the "Remember You're A Womble" cover photo sessions) is used on both. There was also a promotional insert for Canada comprising a photograph of the Wombles at an airport, backed with the following text: Introducing
The Wombles.
England's current T.V. sensation
Invades Canada
(courtesy of Columbia Records)
------------------------------
Warning! These creatures
need air time to survive.
------------------------------

This came with the "Wombling Summer Party" single, which is an edit of the UK album track."

Wombling USA

FH: "This was a single made for the USA market that was never released! I suppose we'll have to wait for the Wombles Anthology series."

FH: "All the Wombles albums were deleted in 1979."

Die Wombles sind im kommen/ Die Wombles sind im kommen (instrumental)

(1974) CBS

The German Text was by Michael Kunze

Compilations

The Wombles

(1974) CBS 66323

(Boxed set of three albums : Wombling Songs, Keep on Wombling, and Remeber You're a Womble. Does not includ the original covers or lyric sheets, but with a poster, lyric sheet/colouring book and badge/button!)

Best Of The Wombles

(1976) CBS 10001 (also on Warwick)

1. Remember You're A Womble
2. Wombling White Tie & Tails
3. The Wombling Song
4. Invitation To The Ping Pong Ball
5. The Orinoco Kid
6. Wombling In The Rain
7. Miss Adelaide
8. Hall Of The Mountain Womble
9. The Womble Shuffle
10. Minuetto Allegretto
11. Let's Womble To The Party Tonight
12. Wombling Merry Christmas
13. Wipe Those Womble Tears From Your Eyes
14. Down At The Barber Shop
15. Tobermory's Music Machine
16. Wellington Goes To Waterloo
17. Non-Stop Wombling Summer Party
18. Banana Rock
19. Womble Of The Universe
20. SuperWomble

FH: "20 tracks!"

The Wombles Christmas Party

(1978?) Pickwick SHM 977

1. Wombling Merry Christmas
2. The Wombling Twist
3. Remember You're A Womble
4. Dreaming In The Sun (Orinoco's Song)
5. Womble Square Dance
6. The Wombling Song
7. Minuetto Allegretto
8. Banana Rock
9. Wombling White Tie And Tails
10. Great Uncle Bulgaria's March
11. Down At The Barber Shop (Singing In Harmony)
12. SuperWomble

FH: "Most of the UK chart hits. Nice cover drawing."

The Wombles Christmas Album

(1983) CBS 25805

1. Wombling Merry Christmas
2. Wombling White Tie And Tails
3. Remember You're A Womble
4. Invitation To The Ping-Pong Ball
5. The Wombling Song
6. Minuetto Allegretto
7. The Orinoco Kid
8. To Wimbledon With Love
9. Underground Overture
10. Banana Rock
11. Wombles On Parade
12. The Wombling Twist
13. SuperWomble
14. Let's Womble To The Party

FH: "All their UK chart hits."

The Womble's Greatest Hits

(Released Dec. 1989, deleted Aug. 1990) CBS 466 118 1 (LP), CBS 466 118 2 (CD), CBS 466 118 4 (Cass.), & Warwick PR 5022

1. The Wombling Song
2. Remember You're A Womble
3. Wombling White Tie & Tails
4. Hall Of The Mountain Womble
5. Minuetto Allegretto
6. Let's Womble To The Party Tonight
7. Wombling Merry Christmas
8. The Orinoco Kid
9. SuperWomble
10. Banana Rock (? - not listed in the guide I consulted, but likely on it)

FH: "Ten tracks, if I recall correctly, at a budget price. Also released on CD but I've never found one and tried to order it several times in vain. Now deleted, like all the rest of their records.

There were also two tracks on a 70's compilation on one of the budget labels.

I also recall seeing an 8 track of the Wombles Greatest Hits."

Underground, Overground -- The Ultimate Wombles Collection

The Best Wombles Album So Far Vol.1

(Released 1998) Columbia (CD) Sony Imports

The tracks were not remixed other than digital mastering.
1. The Wombling Song
2. Remember You're A Womble
3. Wombling White Tie & Tails
4. The Orinoco Kid
5. To Wimbledon With Love
6. Wombles On Parade
7. Down At The Barber Shop
8. The Empty Tidy-Bag Blues
9. Wellington Goes To Waterloo
10. Nashville Wombles
11. Invitation To The Ping Pong Ball
12. Non Stop Wombling Summer Party
13. Underground Overture
14. The Myths And Legends Of King Merton Womble And His Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
15. Hall Of The Mountain Womble
16. Banana Rock
17. Womble Of The Universe

Credits
According to the liner notes the new Wombles Alderney, Stepney, Shansi, and Obidos have not yet auditioned for the group.
• Orinoco - vocals/sax
• Wellington - lead guitar
• Madame Cholet - bass guitar (er... what happened to Tomsk?)
• Great Uncle Bulgaria - violin
• Bungo - drums
• Tomsk - roadie
• Tobermory - "only rarely appears" (likely scrounging old radio sets for suitable electrical hardware for the band)

The Wombles also received human help as follows:
• Clem Cattini - drums
• Ray Cooper - percussion
• Chris Spedding - guitars
• Les Hurdle - bass guitar
• Rex Morris and Eddie Mordue - sax solos
• Jack Rothstein - solo violin and orchestra leader
• Mike Batt - keyboards, lead and backing vocals
• London Symphony Orchestra - on Myths & Legends

FH: "The booklet takes bits and pieces of the liner notes from the Reader's Digest set and adds a few new tidbits of information, along with some great pictures. There's a centre spread of the "band" on stage, the tray liner is a ready-to-scan "W" logo, there's a nice shot of Orinoco with a tuba on the back cover, and the front cover is almost the same as the other set.

"Much the same as Disc One of "Underground Overground" except for the following changes:

To Wimbledon With Love is included at the expense of Tobermory's Music Machine.
Wombling In The Rain is excluded.
Invitation To The Ping Pong Ball is moved earlier in the program.
The Myths And Legends... is included at the expense of The Jungle Is Jumping.

"So I suspect Volume Two will have 18 tracks in similar order to Disc Two of "Underground Overground".

"The current Q magazine reviews the album, giving it three out of a possible five stars. They even show a still from the new TV series."

Albums related to the Wombles

Bubblegum Classics Vol.3

The Rutles

FH: "While being a parody of the Beatles, the drummer of this band was called Barry Wom - short for Barrington Womble. Near the end of their parody of "All You Need Is Love" ["Love Life"] one hears a few bars of "Let's Womble To The Party Tonight". Their parody of "Penny Lane" ["Doubleback Alley"] also borrows a bit of the arrangement from the TV version of the "Wombling Song"."

GRIMMS - The Womble Bashers Of Walthamstow.

FH: "An anti-Womble record done, not surprisingly, in the style of an early Wombles record. Not nice, but more palatable than Michael de Larrabaiti's book "The Borribles" which has the Wombles slaughtered off one by one by a gang of anti-heroes who will remain kids all their life as long as they don't get their ears clipped."

Eccles & Bluebottle - Remember You're A Womble. (The B side was "Die Wombles Sind In Kommen")

(March 1976) WEA K14422

FH: "A UK single, by the Goons (Peter Sellers & Spike Milligan)."

FH: "It came with a picture sleeve of two sketches - each did a sketch of the other's character. Nothing remotely Womblish about the cover, title aside. The record is two silly parodies of the intentionally silly song we all know and love. Side one has a basic cover of the song with Eccles (Sellers) taking the lead vocal and Bluebottle (Milligan) replying and adding comments ad lib. These characters will be familiar to anyone who was a fan of the Goons; anyone else will wonder what is the point of doing the song in voices more silly than the original. Side two is more interesting and more in line with Sellers' beloved parodies of Beatle songs ("She Loves You", "A Hard Days Night", "Help"). It begins with an impersonation of Winston Churchill (Milligan) reciting those memorable lyrics of Mike Batt's, followed by a reply in German from a Hilter impersonator (Sellers). The lyrics used in the second half are those of the German version of "Remember You're A Womble" and it gives part of the songwriting credit to Michael Kunze who obviously did the translation. (Question: Does a German version single exist? I've seen video from a German TV pop show where the Wombles perform the song in English and then reprise it in German! And how would Sellers and Milligan have found out about it... )"

Kinks - Prince Of The Punks (B side of "Father Christmas" single)

FH: "A put-down of Chris Spedding and Tom Robinson, two older rockers who were accused of cashing in on the punk/new wave scene in the UK. The final chorus is arranged in Womble style voices and harmonies to refer to Spedding's involvement with the Wombles."

More Musical Interest

"The local FM University station here (RTRFM) sets aside a little time every few Fridays to remember the Wombles by playing a tune from the box-set of the first three LPs. People can ring up and vote for their favourite Womble, and depending on who gets voted for, a different song is played to do with that Womble. (For instance, this week Orinoco came out on top and so they opened the show with 'The Orinoco Kid'.. I persuaded them to play 'Tobermory's Music Machine' to finish the show, ) However the person organising that is leaving to go back to the UK soon, so that'll stop in a little while. *sigh* Oh well... life goes on."

Mike Batt marched in the Queen Mother's Birthday Parade with a lot of Wombles in uniform on July 19, 2000.

Release Rumors

JC:In 1998 there were rumors of a smash of new recording mixes 
and re-releases of Wombles albums on CD. These include:
Remember You're a Womble -- re-release and re-mix on CD single (March 1998)
Wombling Song -- re-release and re-mix on CD single (? 1998)
Wombling with Tie and Tails -- re-release on CD single (was planned, not sure if it was released.)
The Best Womble Album So Far - Vol 1 -- Compilation CD album (March 1998?)
The Best Womble Album So Far - Vol 2 -- Compilation CD album (Was scheduled for release in Nov 1998 but release was delayed.  I have no new news as to when it will be released.)
Also a remix album, with 1998 versions of the Womble hits, may be out from Columbia.
Another rumor is a possible 50 date Wombles reunion tour.

Questions

A couple requests came in (fall of '99) asking about Peter Felstead. It seems there was a quiz going on somewhere that was asking 'Which Womble was played by Peter Felstead on Top of the Pops in 1974?' I've been asking around but still never found the answer. I don't think it was Orinoco (Mike Batt) or Great Uncle Bulgaria (Steve Lyman-Dixon) or Wellington (Chris Spedding).
The only other information I've been able to gather about Felstead is that he was a manager for 'Lush'.

If you know any information about who played which Wombles and when please let me know. I believe some of the Wombles were played by different people at different times so your information source would also be valuable information.

Paul Stannard wrote to say that, Steve Gardener played drums for The Wombles. He was also the drummer in one of the early "Cockney rebel" line ups, as well as getting onto a couple of Ozzie Osbourne albums as a session drummer.