Kai Warner - Warner Plays Wagner (1971)

Well, it´s just one letter, but what a difference that makes! Warner interpretes Wagner. No other artist of the Easy-Listening crowd ever DARED to touch Richard Wagner, because he was always related to a) a gay Bavarian wannabe-king named Ludwig and b) a psychotic wannabe-worldleader named Adolf. He was their favorite composer, and they both became fanatic of him. Ludwig´s castle "Neuschwanstein", which you can visit in Disneyland (for my American guests) or in Germany, a little south of Munich, had all paintings of scenes from Wagner-operas in it. One favorite track of Richard Wagner was featured in the "Blues Brothers" movie too, namely the "Ride of the Valkyries", when Henry Gibson flew away in his car...

Despite all those negative connotations, Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) was one of Germany´s best composers. And Kai Warner (whose real name was Werner Last, and who was a brother of James) was one of Germany´s best bandleaders, so what could have gone wrong? Nothing! Nevertheless, this LP doesn´t feature Wagner´s "boombastic" opera sound. Most people can hardly stand a three-day opera like "The Ring of the Nibelungs", so Mr. Warner took the melodic stuff of Richard Wagner like "Winterstürme", "Abendstern" or "Am stillen Herd" to please the crowd on this great album from 1971. It´s VERY rare, because many Germans didn´t like it in 1971, and it wasn´t a million-seller back then...