The Soft Pop Serenades of James Last and His Orchestra: Romance in the Clouds

 The Soft Pop Serenades of James Last and His Orchestra: Romance in the Clouds

For some of us who grew up in the mid-1970s, the James Last sound was always associated with the disco dance party albums he produced during that decade. It is only now that I have finally laid hands on remasters of Mr Last’s softer romantic productions, aside from his arrangement of classical music for a ‘pop’ audience. These have been put together very creatively by POLYGRAM/POLYDOR and its subsidiary labels. What a surprise this has turned out to be! The James Last orchestra sounds by turns, an ethereal romantic sound floating among the clouds, a typically 1970s string and chorus wall to wall soundstage of love, or a smoochy disco slow dance. I review four albums here, with perhaps a sequel to follow at some point.

First up, ‘JAMES LAST & HIS ORCHESTRA. Liebe Ist… (Love is…)’. Compiled from Last’s many LPs and remastered as part of the James Last - Ein Sound Geht Um Die Welt series. Made and released in West Germany in 1989 by Polydor as catalogue number 841 344-2. This is one of a few rare compilations of 100% love songs by the James Last orchestra. Better still, this one being released in 1989, collects only his LP remastered releases from the 1970s and 1980s. Looking over the selection of tunes, you will realize this is Last’s eclectic and romantic touch through and through. Even though one might not associate Neil Diamond’s hit ‘Holly Holy’ as a standard romantic song that comes to mind, Last brings out a fresh colour to the tune by employing his choir to sing Diamond’s famous chorus line. The same art of arrangement for strings and choir was employed for ‘Seasons in the Sun’ where the choir’s tone is aligned to bring out the spirit of the song’s play with innocence and illicit love in its original English lyrics… ‘Love Must be the Reason’ and the Carpenters’ hit ‘Close to You’ also get a dreamy string and choir treatment bringing these tunes to new dimensions of aural enjoyment that are quite distinct from their original vocal versions – indeed it is time to break out the champagne and candlelight…Or simply sit on a patio overlooking your favourite summer garden and watch the swans go by on a lazy sunny day… Other gems include the extremely mushy slowed down version of ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’, the bouncy ‘The More I See You’, the swinging and lightly waltzing ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ with strings in the lead, the soulful ‘Sexual Healing’, and finally the symphonic surprise on ‘MacArthur Park’ featuring an unforgettable trumpet solo from renowned musician Derek Watkins who has also played with Sinatra, the Beatles, Streisand, Elton John as well as the Ted Heath and John Dankworth big bands, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra….Indeed Love is…to dream on! 

TRACK LISTING:

1		Games That Lovers Play	2:25
2		Seasons In The Sun	3:59
3		You Make Me Feel Brand New	5:27
4		Sexual Healing	4:20
5		Holly Holy	4:47
6		The Best of My Love	3:51
7		Make This Night Last Forever	2:53
8		The More I See You	2:31
9		Elizabethan Serenade	2:37
10		Fly Me to The Moon	3:21
11		Love Must Be the Reason	4:13
12		Close To You	3:13
13		When Irish Eyes Are Smiling	2:33
14		Let It Be	3:30
15		Spanish Eyes	2:58
16		MacArthur Park Soloist on Trumpet – Derek Watkins	7:35

One of the tracks above actually lends itself as the title of LOVE MUST BE THE REASON, the 1972 Vinyl LP released on POLYDOR as 2371281. This has actually been faithfully remastered by POLYDOR/POLYGRAM’s subsidiary SPECTRUM records in Germany and sold worldwide in limited quantities. No wonder I had never seen it before – till now. The track list:

1		Wedding Song (There Is Love)	3:37
2		It's Going To Take Some Time	2:45
3		Love Theme From ''The Godfather'' (Speak Softly Love)	2:49
4		Close To You	3:13
5		The Summer Knows	2:50
6		Heart Of Gold	2:57
7		Without You	2:52
8		Face In A Crowd	2:54
9		The Way Of Love	2:28
10		I Don't Know How To Love Him	3:37
11		Love Must Be The Reason

 

Typically, of productions from the 1971-2 period, hits by the CARPENTERS and CAROLE KING and the classic love them from THE GODFATHER movie had to be featured. But James Last softens and slows down the original somewhat to dress these familiar pop songs in the mood of a gentle romantic evening in late summer. This album is impressive also for the employment of a female chorus on 10 out of 11 tracks. The James Last chorus does not imitate Ray Conniff or the Geoff Love Singers, but deliberately arranges his chorus to sing in mostly mid-register with a female sound. I do not know what this technique is called in musicology. But what it does is to bring out an emotional lament and poetry not found in the original vocal versions of these songs. Take Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’, the Carole King/Carpenters hit ‘It’s Going to Take Some Time’ for instance, the singers elicit a whole new dimension to these songs. The first becomes a torchy ballad, the second a melancholic yet hopeful plea for a second time romance. The Harry Nilsson ballad ‘Without You’ undergoes a fresh makeover of heartbreak emotion with this choral treatment too.

Thirdly, another compilation from 1984, simply titled ROMANTIC LOVE SONGS (POLYDOR 835 977-2) takes the listener into romance at cloud level – if I may be allowed to exaggerate in a good way! This set draws you in with mostly string arrangements that are pitched like Mantovani in its familiar passages and then interspersed with Fender Rhodes keyboards, solo violins, trumpet and chorus. Wonderful surprises include the disco ballad treatment of ’I Only Have Eyes for You’; a live (with audience applause at the start and finish), emotionally charged interpretation of a saxophone led ‘Endless Love’; the lightly Latin flavouring in ‘Love Story’ through the use of massed guitars a la Manuel and the Music of the Mountains in a mid-tempo rendition of the Francis Lai classic; and the cheerful choral rendition of ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’ which I dare say, sounds better than Stevie Wonder’s original. Finally, ‘Ballade pour Adeline’ and ‘What Now My Love’ send you to romantic France on a bed of strings that seem to reach infinitely into the upper atmosphere of dreamy consciousness.

Finally, we end this review on a romantic Parisian night – PARIS MON AMOUR – in which James Last serenades you with strings aplenty – with a side trip to the disco ballroom with ‘Charmaine’ from his 1978 WORLD HITS IN DISCO LP. In this set, Last absolutely stands apart from Lefevre, Caravelli, Pourcel or Mauriat by sticking to the idea of a consistently string and trumpet arrangement played softly for after dinner dancing in between the candlelit tables and the backlit Champs Elysees. All these popular French chansons define romance in a subtle wordless way as only maestro James Last can elicit from them. One closing gift by James Last: the vocal crooner’s solo on ‘If You Go Away’ – the famous Jacques Brel composition – is enough to justify owning this album alone.

ALAN

June 2022