"I want to make music for everyone. It must be enjoyed by all. Otherwise it is pointless."
Includes five bonus tracks: Night Dreams (previously unissued in Germany), If There's A Way (previously unissued), So What's New?, Sweet Romance and Sermonette.
Sound Engineer: Peter Klemt
Concept & Text: Bert Kaempfert Music, Hamburg
Translation: Angela Schumacher
Design: LOGICON HAMBURG
Polydor 539 111-2 (deleted)
Biography
Bert Kaempfert's great breakthrough came in 1960 with his No. 1 hit in the USA, Wonderland By Night, which went on to conquer the world. He was the first German bandleader to be awarded a gold record in the USA. DJs in the American music magazine Cash Box voted his orchestra "Band of the Future."
In 1968 Bert Kaempfert won no less than five of the annual BMI awards in New York in the category of "most played compositions" for Lady, Spanish Eyes, Strangers In The Night, Sweet Maria and The World We Knew.
In 1974 "Mr. Invisible" received triumphant applause at his first two live concerts in London's Royal Albert Hall. At the early age of 56, Bert Kaempfert died of a stroke on 21 June 1980. That his music and compositions have a firm place in international music life is emphasized by numerous posthumous awards. In June 1993 he was elected to "The Songwriters' Hall of Fame" in New York - the first German to receive this most prestigious of all international awards.
The World We Knew
Recorded in March 1967, the album THE WORLD WE KNEW could well be regarded as the central part of a trilogy of LP productions, the others being STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (1966) and MY WAY OF LIFE (1968). All three title numbers have a common factor: they were sung by no less than Frank Sinatra. Although the melancholy The World We Knew (Over And Over) did not achieve the legendary success of Strangers In The Night, Sinatra's version entered the Top Ten on the American "easy listening" charts and was a Number 1 hit for several weeks in Argentina.
Five further compositions from the original album were written by Bert Kaempfert and Herbert Rehbein: the gently swinging I Can't Help Remembering You, with which Dean Martin enjoyed worldwide success; Lonesome, with its solemnly majestic melody; Stay With The Happy People, which was influenced by gospel songs and spirituals; Vat 96's simple riff theme is enhanced by the harsh accents of the brass and muted trumpets; and finally Talk, whose snappy theme is presented by two trumpets and which is treated stereophonically, one might say, towards the end in that it passes from one section of the winds to the next.
The remaining compositions are successful numbers of various origins: Rain was written as early as 1927 and has taken its place among the evergreens through recordings by the orchestras led by Sam Lanin and Arnold Frank for example. Lover was sung by Jeanette MacDonald in an imaginative musical from the early days of the "talkies"; during the Forties this number achieved renewed popularity through a recording by the trick guitarist Les Paul, while in 1952 it was a million seller for Peggy Lee. Originally one of the most popular waltzes by the Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, Lover takes on a completely new character in this almost aggressively swinging version by Bert Kaempfert.
Interpreted by such varied artists as Tex Ritter, Bing Crosby, Gene Autry and Ray Charles, the ever popular country and western evergreen You Are My Sunshine, written in 1940, was composed by Jimmy Davis, a professor of history and social studies who devoted himself to music in his spare time. In 1944 he became Governor of the State of Louisiana, having used his song in his election campaign - obviously with success.
The two remaining compositions are connected with one of the most famous names of the swing era - Glenn Miller. The Serenade In Blue, which is appropriately given a "bluesy" trumpet introduction by Bert Kaempfert, was premièred in 1942 in the film "Orchestra Wives" where it was performed by Glenn Miller's orchestra and his singer Ray Eberle.
Moonlight Serenade, which Miller composed in 1939, is probably the most popular signature tune ever to have been written for an orchestra in the big band era. During his studies with the "music mathematician" Joseph Schillinger, Miller wrote the melody "just for practice"; the serenade was one of his very first recorded hits and has lost nothing of its fascination in Bert Kaempfert's version, despite its totally different sound with the leading piano.
Three original compositions are included on this CD as bonus tracks: Night Dreams (1967) and If There's A Way (1965) are two unreleased Kaempfert recordings which could only be heard in vocal versions sung by Johnny Mathis. Sweet Romance (1965) was released in the USA under the title Love For Love in a vocal version sung by Pat Boone; it was released in Germany under this title on the LP HOLD ME (1967). The two numbers Sermonette and So What's New? are also from HOLD ME; written by Peggy Lee and John Pisano, the Kaempfert version of the latter number was an extremely popular radio hit.