The Wombles were big furry animals that lived underground on Wimbledon Common and collected rubbish. Particularly belligerent when cornered they were also known to frequently feast upon their own young, not so surprising really when you consider just how tasty they were.
This unfortunate moreishness coupled with the fact that they were comically dim and none too
quick on their big hairy feet meant that the species was never more than an extinction waiting to happen. Tomsk, the last known specimen died tragically in captivity way back in 1979 and all we now have to remember these chaps by is a series of short documentaries narrated by Bernard Cribbins and this collection of "Womblesong". As with whale song there's a real sense here that The Wombles were actually trying to communicate with each other...
The Wombles were the biggest selling UK singles act of 1974 and if that doesn't confirm to you just how whack-yer-head daft the Seventies actually were then you scare me like only the unhinged truly can. 'Remember You're A Womble', 'Super Womble', 'Banana Rock', all the greats are collected here on a worryingly comprehensive 2CD collection.
Ignore the most recent festive car-crash that is 'Wombling Merry Christmas' spliced together with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day'. It's a hissing squall of a**e seepage that has been blended together with all the due care of a belligerent drunk climbing into his Golf GTI just after kicking out time when he hasn't pulled. Listen instead to the unadulterated original and weep at the majestic melancholy of it's descending chords. It has a melody that would have Noel and Liam asking for Utd shirts from Santa for Christmas as would so many of these songs. Listen to 'Remember You're A Womble' and it IS Oasis. What's the Story Tobermory indeed...
As crazy as they are catchy, 'The Wombles Collection' is an historical document to how we used to live and the rare, hirsute animals that we hunted. Times were simpler then and people a lot more simple. It's only right though in a way that the Wombles faded away before being subjected to these disfunctional and dystopian times of ours. They really would have struggled to recycle the current detritus that clogs the common, the used condoms and dirty needles that the everyday folk leave behind.
