Bert Kaempfert Albums (28)
'Wonderland by Night'
Release Date 9/8/2003
Tracks 38
Label Universal/Polydor
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What The Critics Say
Wonderland by Night was Bert Kaempfert's first big international success -- propelled by the presence of the number one charting title track, a moody, wistful instrumental authored by Klaus Gunter-Neumann that recalled the late big band era, it also reached the top spot on the American charts and became a favorite of middle-brow listeners just getting into the new innovations of hi-fi and stereo. Today it all seems tame, mostly because it was safe retro-pop-instrumental music executed with a great deal of elegance, which overcomes the sappiness of material such as "Tammy." The title track is the most recognizable piece here, but all of the album will sound familiar, pieces like "The Aim of My Desires" and "This Song Is Your Alone" having become the stuff of "respectable" pop-instrumental music -- the American big band sound recycled by its German admirers -- until the mid-'60s. It all sounds like stuff that you've heard, probably because, if you were born before 1956, you likely did, in those moments when your parents settled down after dinner (assuming that you lived in someplace like the Cleaver household on Leave It to Beaver). But seriously, this is nicely executed, safe, uncompelling but appealing pop music wallpaper from that period when the 1950s were ending but the 1960s hadn't really begun. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'Orange Colored Sky'
Release Date 5/9/2000
Tracks 16
Label Polygram International
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What The Critics Say
It's amazing how little Bert Kaempfert's sound changed over the years. In the early '70s, when his easy listening contemporaries had already reached the saccharine realm of Beautiful Music radio, Kaempfert managed to stay contemporary without succumbing to the slick artificiality that characterized so much of the music of his competitors. Perhaps that organic strain is what precipitated his downfall, because 1971 -- the year Orange Colored Sky was released -- was the end of his chart career after years of tapering success. Orange Colored Sky leads off with Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie," probably because Kaempfert's version of "Sweet Caroline" was a fair seller the previous year, but otherwise offers originals (half the album is composed by Kaempfert with Herbert Rehbein) and pop oldies such as the title track and an excellent rendition of "(I'll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time." Some of the arrangements are less inspired than those of Kaempfert's early days, but Orange Colored Sky is a respectable album from this veteran of orchestral pop. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
'Latin Feeling, Vol. 6'
Release Date 12/28/1999
Tracks 16
Label Polygram International
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'Love That Bert Kaempfert'
Release Date 6/30/1998
Tracks 16
Label Polydor
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