All The Best From Germany: 43 German Favorites
This collection of German standards is so determinedly lighthearted you could go snow-blind just listening to it. Disc 1 wanders from brass band music with a cheery chorus to a pop-friendly combo armed with electronic keyboards and what sounds suspiciously like a drum machine. "Kornblumenblau" gets a reverential glee club treatment, while "Heute Blau und Morgen Blau" erupts with ersatz yodels that are as close as this set gets to Alpine vocal antics. The Mexican ay-yi-yi-ing on the calypso-flavored "Nach Hause Geh'n Wir Nicht" shows how far such collections have come from the days of "The Happy Wanderer," though the unnamed musicians toss that ditty in as well. Disc 2 ups the oompah-band quotient a couple of notches, putting a head on the lusty singing guaranteed to put the gemütlichkeit into your own private Oktoberfest.--Bob Tarte