"I want to make music for everyone. It must be enjoyed by all. Otherwise it is pointless."
Includes four bonus tracks: For Bert, My Blue Heaven, The Entertainer and Ho Ho Ha Ha (The Last Blast).
Sound Engineer: Peter Klemt
Concept & Text: Bert Kaempfert Music, Hamburg
Translation: Angela Schumacher
Design: LOGICON HAMBURG
Polydor 539 114-2 (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.
Yesterday And Today
Six nostalgic hits from the Fifties and six new compositions with his own unique sound - such are the ingredients of Bert Kaempfert’s album YESTERDAY AND TODAY, recorded in November 1972 and released the following year. It was probably for this reason that MCA released this compilation in the USA under the title FABULOUS FIFTIES... AND NEW DELIGHTS.
Do you remember Blueberry Hill? It was a Top Ten hit for Glenn Miller and his singer Ray Eberle in the Forties; it was a million seller for Fats Domino and his honky-tonk piano in 1956, and Louis Armstrong - who had recorded the number in 1949 - also profited from its success. And here it is again - given a decisively modern touch by Bert Kaempfert. Elvis Presley's Love Me Tender was an overwhelming success: taken from the film of the same name (Presley's very first film), the melody goes back to a song from the American Civil War, "Aura Lee," written by George R. Poulton. Bert Kaempfert pays homage here to the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" with his entirely personal interpretation of this early rock ballad. The guitarist Duane Eddy had a special "trade mark" in the 1950s: a twangy guitar sound with which he introduced his rock numbers - one of these was his highly successful Rebel Rouser, performed here à la Kaempfert, which happily connects 1958 with 1972. Bert Kaempfert, of course, also has his very own "trade mark" - a remarkable versatility which allows him to take a rhythm and blues number such as Night Train (a hit for James Brown in 1962) and lend it a truly modern touch without losing anything of the original thrilling beat.
If your memory functions better in the world of pop rather than rock, then two timeless melodies which have been treated with the Bert Kaempfert Sound will offer special pleasure: Who's Sorry Now, a highly popular song in the vaudeville theatres of the 1920s, became one of Connie Francis's greatest hits in 1958 in a modern version, and Everybody Loves Somebody. The latter song brought Frank Sinatra only moderate success at the end of the Forties but sold millions in 1964 when sung by Dean Martin who used it as his theme melody in his television shows and made it a true classic.
But maybe you prefer works by the composing team Bert Kaempfert/Herbert Rehbein such as You Turned My World Around which Frank Sinatra included in his repertoire, or Children Of Peace whose basic lyrical mood is spiced with dynamic, powerful sections or again I Remember Loving You which is based on the Cancan from Jacques Offenbach's opera "Orpheus In The Underworld." No matter what your taste is, YESTERDAY AND TODAY, a collection of truly classic instrumental works, offers something for everyone.
Four attractive bonus tracks enhance this CD, all of which are taken from the US album GALLERY from 1974. Written by Anita Kerr and Rod McKuen, For Bert is an homage which was included in an album by the Anita Kerr Singers and dedicated to Bert Kaempfert. In turn, Kaempfert rendered his thanks for this honor with an instrumental version. Two classics constantly in demand are My Blue Heaven and The Entertainer. The latter number attained renewed popularity through the film "The Sting." Ho Ho Ha Ha is an original composition whose particular charm lies in the humorous arrangement for trombones.