In Memoriam: James Last and his Orchestra – Rolling Home,
2015
It was with great sadness that the world learnt of James
Last's passing on 9 June 2015. One of the best tributes I have read online can be
found on the website of the British newspaper, The Telegraph, found here
– as long as the html link stays up: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11665376/James-Last-band-leader-obituary.html.
This paragraph from the report sums it up beautifully for
me:
[Being] always smartly dressed, Last was ubiquitous on German
television, conducting his musicians for an audience of millions. He filled
enormous concert halls and toured, playing more than 2,000 gigs in the course
of his career.
He was particularly successful in Britain, where he had 52 hit albums
between 1967 and 1986, making him second only to Elvis Presley in UK chart
history; one British critic described him as being to music “what Harold
Robbins is to literature”. He also had extraordinary staying power, continuing
to perform at sell-out concerts until earlier this year.
Last composed some original melodies, including Happy Heart, which
became a hit for Andy
Williams and Petula Clark, and Games That Lovers Play (“Eine Ganze Nacht”
in German), which was recorded by Eddie
Fisher. But his true forte was rearranging the compositions of others. His
formula was simple. He would take a popular chart hit (or well-known classical
piece: Strauss (the Johanns) and Mozart were favourites) and orchestrate or
reorchestrate it, smoothing off the harder edges and introducing a
disco-friendly beat. “I just take songs that I like, make new arrangements and
millions of people from China, Australia, America and Britain like what I do,”
he explained.
I am a relatively latecomer when
it comes to the music of James Last. But many fans in Singapore remembered him
for his ‘Non-Stop Dancing’ and Party albums. It was only much later that an
appreciation developed for his large catalogue of light classical albums. It
was just recently that I listened to James’ classic ‘Games that Lovers Play’
within a Reader’s Digest compilation that brought quite a few tears of joy on a
beautiful sunny morning. Of course, when sung by Vic Damone, the lyrics were gently
warning lovers to be true to one another, but the instrumental version conveyed
warmth, joy and good spirit on an entirely different plane altogether. Listen
to a recent full house concert recording of James last performing ‘Games that
Lovers Play’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmeDMGFL_jM,
and you’ll know what joyful music this is!
In my modest James Last
collection, I have INSTRUMENTALS FOREVER and the double disc set THE TROPICAL
COLLECTION released by Polydor in 1993. I particularly like the tropical beach
carnival evoked in the double disc set featuring favourites like ‘Quizas,
quizas, quizas’, ‘Siboney’, ‘La Bamba’, ‘Tico Tico’, ‘La Cucaracha’, ‘Copacabana’,
and the fabulous version of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ featuring flautist Berdien
Steinberg. A surprise was the vocal interpretation of the Quincy Jones hit from
1980 ‘Ai No Corrida’ which made good tropical sense since its rhythm structure
matched the Latin Tropical theme. Last manages to capture the moods of his
themed albums so perfectly and then leave you wanting more in his next
offering. ‘INSTRUMENTALS FOREVER’ proclaims on its sleeve what Cap’n James
wanted exactly to do: immortalize in his own style the greatest instrumentals –
especially from the Latin songbook. ‘Amor, amor, amor’ is in there along with ‘Brazil’,
and another Last classic ‘Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom Wine’. This latter version
is a class apart from Perez Prado’s version simply because Last arranged it for
a layered trumpet sound plus the backing of what comes across as a ‘marimba’
back beat. Finally, another James Last classic must be mentioned: ‘Biscaya’
with its accordion lead and folksy string sound take you to the wide open rural
pastures of beautiful Europe from Ireland, to southern England, to coastal France
and right into the heart of the scenic German highlands. Listen to ‘Biscaya’ here,
courtesy of a kind James Last fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzOJ2z-ERGU
. For others, they’d prefer to remember his disco date with ‘Charmaine’,
reinventing Mantovani along the way! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3yxiuZanEc]
Reminisce with this beautiful cover artwork:
For now, there is probably no better send off for this easy
listening legend than to revisit an aptly titled instrumental piece - ‘Rolling
Home’ : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ShtZa-0SY.
Viva James Last!
AC
June 2015
