Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra - Lights Out, Sweet Dreams & Living It Up! (1999) FLAC

Two of Kaempfert's primo LP outings on one CD, 69 minutes of thoroughly enjoyable and elegant, spirited early-'60s pop tunes, all in glittering sound and presence -- the remastering makes the stereo effects stand out even better. The notes are minimal but the music -- assuming you like this sort of thing -- speaks so well for itself that not much more is needed. Beyond the singles ("Gentleman Jim," "Don't Talk to Me"), which never charted, there's so much more good here that it's not surprising that the LPs did better than the 45s. Some of it isn't much more than early kitsch, but even those slightly weaker tracks are about as well-executed as any light pop music of the period. -- Bruce Eder