Games That Lovers Play by James Last - Romantic Music Album for Couples, Date Nights & Relaxation

In the middle 1960s—when our forebears eagerly supported the quaint, harmlessly enjoyable music genre called MOR—each of the leading Europop bandmasters (Kaempfert, Pourcel, Legrand, Mauriat) enjoyed a golden era of self-composed hit singles tied to catalogue albums that have sold into infinity: despite guitar rumblings out of Liverpool, their MOR dance party seemed, in their decade, nonstop and permanent. Maestro Last (1929-2015), inventor of "happy music" and "nonstop dancing," was predictably central in the friendly Continental music fray. He composed "Games that lovers play" (originally "Eine ganze nacht"), had a Polydor singles smash with it, and his romantic ballad went global, having American hit covers by Vic Damone, Connie Francis, Eddie Fisher and Wayne Newton (its most sophisticated vocal cover, however, is Anglo-Canadian: Edmund Hockridge's, included on Decca’s INTERNATIONAL SONGS FOR LOVERS).The title ballad is catchy and danceable, fitting the enduring James Last-nonstop formula exactly: His biggest original hit, it reliably climaxed his live gigs with giddy swayalongs, hand-waving and feelings of true German gemütlichkeit. In this sparkling digital remix (a crisp reminder that Germany invented magnetic tape recording) Last's drummist is shamelessly prominent, really driving the "you must dance, nonstop" beat. The new songs are particularly true to their period (especially the imperative "Make this night last forever"), so too the echt-60s standards and film songs. And—speaking of period Europop—Last's spiffy programming of "This is my song" pays tribute to three formative giants of international song: Tony Hatch, Petula Clark and Sir Charles Chaplin.We've no wish to relive the turbulent, confusing 1960s (except perhaps through Julie London albums), but listening to this smoothly engineered set brings back indelible memories, its music guaranteed to set you dancing with happy feet (nonstop if need be). Last laid down some 199+ albums across all genres—polka, rock, disco, ABBA, country, pseudoclassical—awaiting your urgent attention, and GAMES THAT LOVERS PLAY is one of his very best.