This isn't a mock up picture, I do genuinely own a few James Last albums. This isn't going to be a blog about an entertainer who has just died and I say how much he meant to me because James Last means very little to me. I didn't even even know who he was until December when I did a few volunteer shifts in a charity shop when they needed their vinyl sorting out. James Last kept appearing and before I knew it I had a pile of albums by this mysterious band leader in front of me. His range was a fine line between eclectic and bizarre as he released albums ranging from traditional jazz to German bierkeller via a collection of Beatles covers. I only did a little bit of research at the time and that was mainly to find out if he was still alive. My regular charity shop record buying since then has seen me confronted by this strange man staring back at me so I tried to quell my curiosity by buying a few of these albums. Musically the albums are neither masterpieces nor rubbish but fall into a middle category, pleasant background music of the sort we used to hear in department stores before they all had their own radio stations. A CD I bought from Fopp during the Christmas holidays contains a curious collection of modern pop classics and the inclusion of 'Mambo No.5' shows that he was keeping up with the hit parade and giving the people what they wanted, or what he thought they wanted. Perhaps by 2004 (when this album came out) people's tastes had changed and only the original artist would do, the same reason why that other charity shop staple, the Top of the Pops albums also ceased production maybe? I don't know the answer I'm afraid, I'm not even sure what the question was.
My plan to turn James Last into a hipster icon didn't materialise because it was an idea that looked better when written as a piece of blog filling whimsy than it could ever have done in real life. My fascination with this man who somehow managed to release two hundred albums and epitomise cheesy lounge/supper club music extended into wanting to do something to pay tribute to him; a podcast perhaps or a club night. Maybe not a club night but possibly a Sunday afternoon in the corner of a pub playing the music of James Last while people tucked into their roast dinners. I could entice him to Nottingham to perform here, I'd interview him and write things about him while all the time I would be learning just who he was because as far as I am concerned he's just someone who pops up in charity shop record boxes and that's all I know. By strange coincidence he performed at the Albert Hall (London not Nottingham) as part of a farewell tour earlier this year but I couldn't get tickets and that indicated that he was still capable of putting bums on seats, bums attached to people with a weird taste in music but bums on seats nonetheless.
Farewell tour was an appropriate name for it unfortunately because yesterday James Last died at the age of 86. I feel sad for having just discovered him that bit too late and he doesn't really seem the type of person who will live on through his music, hopefully a BBC4 documentary is in the works.
Rest in peace my new friend, I'll see you in the charity shop.
The Sunday Alternative will return soon.
===
June housekeeping
The audio book of Bowie Day (a short story inspired by A Christmas Carol) will be released on August 31st. In the meantime the book can be downloaded to your Kindle from here.
All donations made using the PayPal button will go towards making podcasts, comedy sketches, live video sessions, documentaries, short films and more that will be made available online for free.
The Sunday Alternative bag and t-shirt (and other products) can be purchased from my shop page. All money raised will go into the fund to create free content.
steveEoliver@gmail.com
