Composer, arranger, and band leader Hans "James" Last was born in Bremen, Germany and began playing piano at age 10. He later switched to the bass guitar and was voted the best bass guitar player in Germany three years running from 1950 to 1952 – which incidentally is the only guitar in Last's band. While a studio conductor at Polydor, Last formed his first orchestra which was originally designed to be a studio orchestra. Last recorded his first album with this orchestra in 1965. Since that first album Last has released nearly 200 albums; received numerous awards including over 300 silver, gold, and platinum album awards; and sold over 100 million albums world wide.While Last calls his group of musicians an orchestra, the name is a bit of a misnomer. The James Last Orchestra is somewhere between The Boston Pops and Chicago. The orchestra is comprised of strings, drums, percussion, horns, keyboards, a bass guitar, singers, and of course James Last as leader. While members are not dressed in jeans and a t-shirt they stop short of the traditional black time attire. In fact, while some members are dressed in the same outfit others are not. Something else that sets James Last's merry band of musicians apart from the typical orchestra is their demeanour on the stage – they have fun. James Last is a household name in his native Germany and very popular in a 150 countries
When James Last and his Orchestra returned home from a European tour in 1982 their performance in Berlin was recorded. The resulting DVD contains 12 numbers from that concert and lasts nearly two hours. Last's orchestra's performances are not really a concert, they are more of a show – a gig that would rival any rock concert.
On "Live in Berlin" Las and his orchestra show that not only that it can be fun playing in an orchestra; but it can also be fun attending one of their shows. Last even turns occasionally to conduct the audience. An audience of casually dressed fans gathered for this outdoor performance. While band members clapped, waved instruments, danced around, and generally enjoyed themselves; the audience showed that not all of Germany was a stuffy lot. Just like the band fans danced, clapped, sang along, and rocked out to the assorted tunes in the set list. The program included country bluegrass tunes like "Turkey in the Straw' and "Orange Blossom Special"; fun tunes like the chicken dance song and "The Hokey Pokey"; waltzes, and pop tunes including a wonderful version of "The Long and Winding Road" sung by the bass player. (For those to young to remember Sir Paul McCartney was the lead singer and bass player for the Beatles).
"Live in Berlin" was a concert of fun had by all. The show concluded with the original James Last tune "Games that Lovers Play". Last spoke to the audience giving thanks and a fireworks show accompanied the song.
The DVD also includes a bonus feature of the band's trip to the Soviet Union in the early seventies. Last and his orchestra was one of the first western musical acts to perform in the former communist country. The feature includes the performances of a few songs during concerts, but it is mostly comprised of the band's sight seeing and off stage activities including attending a wedding and a trip to the Kremlin.
If you can imagine the fun of a Brian Setzer show combined with the pop music concert of The Boston Pop then you might have a clue of what a show by James Last and his Orchestra is like, but seeing is believing on "Live in Berlin".
