0 CDs with a total playing time of over 24 hours, filled to the brim with 34 original albums and the best of international pop, rock and soul music from the 1960s to the 2000s. That sounds like a music-historical project of distinction. But you can also see it quite differently, as the greatest pop party of all time! 50 years of popular music, seen through the glasses of James Last, Germany’s most successful entertainment musician.
James Last (1929 – 2015) was a legend, a phenomenon, a thoroughbred musician. 93% of all Germans knew James Last according to an official study conducted in the early 2000s. As an orchestra leader, composer and arranger, he is considered one of the inventors of the “easy listening” genre. In the course of his career, over 80 million records were sold from his approximately 190 record productions, not only in Germany but also in Great Britain, Holland, Canada, Australia and South Africa. His melodies shaped feature films and TV series, he wrote hit songs for international world stars such as Elvis, Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark, melodies such as “Happy Heart”, “Biscaya” or “Lonesome Shepherd” are only a few witnesses of his boundless creativity and professionalism. Tours have taken him and his orchestra to all continents. He performed around 90 times in London’s Royal Albert Hall alone – an incredible record, even more so for a German orchestra.
Countless awards, including 17 platinum and over 200 gold records, have been bestowed on the “Godfather of good humour” (quote Udo Lindenberg) in the course of his career. In June 2015, the website of the official German charts published the following figures: Last placed no less than 110 albums in the hit list in the course of his long career. Of these, 46 reached the Top 10 – both lonely peaks.
Even today, the label “party king” is what comes to mind when people think of James Last. He himself saw this as a distinction, although it does not describe his versatility and musical talent nearly enough. The reason was the albums of the “Non Stop Dancing” LP series, launched in 1965, the greatest recipe for success of James Last and his label Polydor. The albums sold like hot cakes for decades, were an indispensable part of the record cabinets, not only of German music fans, and are now available in their entirety for the first time in this opulent 20-CD box set.
“Non Stop Dancing” was party music – always the best hits from the current charts – cleverly mixed with the sounds of a raucous party. The concept also got the Last fans’ home parties going.
Over 30 “Non Stop Dancing” albums have been released since the mid-sixties, with one exception all reaching the German album charts between 1965 and 1979, many making it to number one, every single issue between 1969 and 1973. That means nine consecutive number one records!
Incomprehensibly, most of the “Non Stop Dancing” LPs have not been released on CD or digitally until today, despite the enormous success and musical quality. Presumably the label was of the opinion that the hits of the year would be “statute-barred” just one year later. Now, years later, the “Non Stop Dancing Box” opens up a new perspective on the series for the first time: it forms a pop history without equal, from beat and Schlager to pop and rock, soul, funk and disco to Neue Deutsche Welle, James Last has congenially transformed the highlights of international pop music into a party suite every year. Nowadays, you can not only still dance to it very well, but also rediscover a whole lot of music history.
It’s hard to believe which greats of popular music found themselves on the LPs in the dynamic James Last sound. There were super bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lovin’ Spoonful, Beach Boys, Monkees, Kinks, Who, Hollies, Turtles, Bee Gees, Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Moody Blues, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chicago, 10cc, Eagles and many others. Last also exploded songs by bands that are more or less classified as heavy on the party albums: Deep Purple, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Golden Earring, Kiss, Foreigner and Queen. When glam rock dominated the charts in England, James Last pricked up his ears and recorded the hits in his sound as well: The Sweet, Slade, T. Rex, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro and others.
It should come as no surprise that the songs of the great pop and rock authors can also be found on the “Non Stop Dancing” albums: Bob Dylan, Donovan, Simon & Garfunkel, Joe Cocker, Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Rod Stewart were all present, as was almost the entire spectrum of black music: Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Sly & The Family Stone, The Isley Brothers, Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Gloria Gaynor, Barry White, Thelma Houston, Gloria Gaynor, Earth, Wind & Fire, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Kool & The Gang, Marvin Gaye, Donna Summer, Prince and many more.
When the funk and disco wave was booming, James Last fully adapted to it, with groovy versions of songs by Chic, Silver Convention, Hot Chocolate, KC & The Sunshine Band, Village People, Giorgio Moroder, Grace Jones and many more. Musical topicality was also ensured in the 1980s, with songs by Culture Club, Eurythmics, Mike Oldfield, Nena, Ultravox, Talk Talk, Wham!, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Police and the Pet Shop Boys.
For the strictly limited “Non Stop Dancing Box“, all albums have been digitally remastered, a 68-page booklet contains German/English liner notes with interesting background information on the genesis of the series and the international musicians and singers of the orchestra, as well as rare photos. All 34 iconic original covers are reproduced on a poster, because after all, the eye celebrates with you.
