Customer Reviews

A very fine introduction to James Last - By: Mr. R. B. Ager, 01 Dec 2003
This box set of three albums (also available separately, at the time of writing) is obviously designed as an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with good orchestral easy listeningin general or the James Last orchestrain particular.

In turn it showcases the orchestrain classical, party & pop standards modes (if you want the polkas, jigs & reels you'll have to look elsewhere).

James Last's treatment of the classical music pops was always to add bass & percussion rhythm, & usually either chorus (for the dreamy classics) or brass (for the more spectacular tunes). Strangely it did work, mainly because the playing & sound production were always first-rate. Since 1966 he has produced countless albums of classics ("Classics Up To Date") & the first disc culls the best of these from the 1960s & 1970s. It is an almost perfect mixture of loud & soft, joyous & sad, & culminatesin a version of Ravel's Bolero which is notable if nothing else than for condensing an over-long 10-minute original piece of music into about five.

The second disc was a compilation releasedin the late 1970s, & comprises tracks from Last's "Beach Party" & "Non-Stop Dancing Party" albums. Some segue one into the other, others don't & as a result it doesn't quite work, at least not as an album to play at a (retro style) party. However, you'll know all the songs, & the words (which is more than the "Non-Stop" chorus sometimes did, just going la-la-la).

Third album is a collection of pop standards from the 20th century (up to mid 1970s) given full big orchestral treatment, with occasional contributions from singers (who did know the words), & plenty of brass, bass & percussion when needed.

James Last's orchestra players were always at the top of their field; he employed the finest session musicians & singers from the pop & rock world at the time to beef up the band for the pop numbers. These recordings come from the era before computer programming of sound; what you here is a real orchestra / band playing real instruments, very well indeed. This & excellent sound production from Peter Klemt (who also looked after Bert Kaempfert) means that this set is very fine indeed & is three hours of a beautifully wide cross-section of popular music. Almost perfect,in fact.