Herman's Hermits rock fuckin' HARD

:)

Sometimes I do. I mean, I never dance and I like sweaters. Sometimes I wear two. Uh... why?

Vague toddler memories of even more surreal performance of "Oh You Pretty Thing" circa '71 which may or may not have had DB/Spiders backing Peter Noone.

"My Sentimental Friend" and "Years May Come, Years May Go" are in theory incredibly moving farewells to the dying 20 years of shared national innocence, though I'm not sure whether I'd ever actually choose to listen to either.

Herman got married on his 21st birthday and is still with his wife 47 years later.

That aside, I like the 'Ermits take on Donovan's song "Museum," it's a nice little groove. It was their first record that wasn't a total smasheroo in America and it failed to chart at all in the UK.

But I'd say "No Milk Today" and "There's a Kind of Hush" are their finest moments, and those two came out on the same 45 in the US, conveniently.

Such a joyful group - I can listen to them all day like a Tiger Beat reader in 1965.

the first rock band I ever heard - my father, who was a jazz guy, had some 7"s in the garage, who knows why - possibly relics of when he'd sold albums to retailers on commission for extra money - and I found "no milk today." it scared the shit out of me, all that minor key mid-tempo biz! it was b-sided with "there's a kind of hush," which I liked a little better but the bridge made me a little queasy - that long sustained chord at the end of each resolve produced a kind of visceral anxiety in four-year-old me

still I kind of liked them but considered them ominous

Love "There's a Kind of Hush"; my third favourite after "A Must to Avoid" and "Mrs. Brown."

if they play at a free outdoor event near you, do go see them. peter noone is a born entertainer. here's him yelling up to a woman who's staring down from her apartment window. "hey you up there -- i bet you're wondering who i am, right?" (woman nods.) you think you know, right? (woman nods.) "well you're exactly right! i'm tom jones!!!" (he and band break into a letter perfect rendition of "it's not unusual.")

if they olay at a free outdoor event near me, how many of them will be original hermits?

I bought an album from them at a garage sale years ago, some greatest hits thing that I never listened to. Anyway the gatefold is full of all these press blurbs about how Peter Noone is the quintessential high school heartthrob and how all the ladies went wild with lust every time he was around and then you put the record on and he sings like a chipmunk and all the lyrics are about how he's a total dipshit, it totally fuckin rules

i've seen him on the oldies / free concert circuit and he is a rip. funny as hell, spry because he started out really young. he makes the effort to incorporate local stuff into his comedy improvs which is a great touch. plus he closes with "there's a kind of hush" which is obviously the best song in the world.

saw him once at westbury music fair which is on brush hollow road, kind of a strange turn off the highways. he made some crack about "hollow bollow road" which is what i've called it ever since.

also saw him at a street fair in hoboken. there was a woman watching out her apartment window some distance away. he started talking to her: "i bet you're wondering who i am." she nodded. he said "i'm just who you think i am. i'm..... TOM JONES!!!" <<band breaks into a few bars of "it's not unusual" while he prances around the stage.>>

happy to see love for "no milk today" on here. "just two up two down." YT commenters helpfully explaining the old meaning of "gay" company to the kids. lol.

I just watched “Mrs Brown etc.” on TCM. What a weird movie. I didn’t realize it was released in 1968. It felt like it was filmed a couple of years earlier, except for the scene where the Hermit’s minus Noone do a couple of faux-Cream “heavy” instrumentals at a nightclub.

As Michael Weldon put it in the Psychotronic Guide: “the damned movie’s about dog racing!”. Indeed.

The plot just dissipates. I don’t know if SPOILERS are necessary here, but:

Noone loses his prize greyhound (Mrs. Brown) at the same time his True Love (Mrs. Brown’s – a human – daughter) leaves him for a modeling shoot in Rome. He therefore misses out on the Big Race for which the Hermits were hustling their asses at menial jobs for in London to earn the entrance fees, while the Hermit’s lose their make-or-break gig and go back to Manchester (“there’s 500 bands better than us in London”). Mrs. Brown the greyhound does return – with child (er, puppy) – and yes, Noone sings the title song to her, but Noone and Mrs. Brown’s daughter never do get back together, with Noone settling for the rather hapless girl next door (who truthfully is just as attractive as MBD). The credits roll over scenes cutting between the Hermits tooling around in a bus and MBD making like Twiggy in various Rome settings. I suppose the message is There’s No Place Like Home, but it’s strange how everything just falls apart and all the storylines amount to nothing.

The movie’s limited but real charm is in its portrayal of an England where everyone from a wealthy fruit market magnate on down to a cheeky hobo is lovably eccentric and good-natured. Even the two ostensible assholes – the Phil Spector-style promoter, and the bullying photographer – are harmless.

It’s a dumb movie, but I will admit to getting a shiver when “There’s a Kind of Hush” (among the loveliest of UK invasion songs) starts up during the inevitable falling-in-love montage, and frustrated when the score teases “No Milk Today” several times, but never delivers.

Well I'm sold.

For those who have always wondered what the Hermits got up to on their tours in the 1960s, the group's former manager Harvey Lisberg has a new memoir coming out in March which promotional copy describes as "uproarious, frank, and moving."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4RQdhfBXRc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlbH8MRF2WY

They had three great songs (that I know of). I don't know how hard they actually rocked, though.

They achieved Maximum Heavy Hermanosity!

Who knows, Herman's Hermits could have rocked hard. Harvey Lisberg offered them Graham Gouldman's 'For Your Love', but producer Mickie Most turned it down as a single and on the song went to The Yardbirds.

Mickie Most also turned down Rice & Lloyd Webber's 'Any Dream Will Do' for Herman's Hermits, pre-Joseph & His Technicolor Dreamcoat, so there could have been a very different trajectory for Noone & Co.

Speaking of different trajectories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSxv8n5OpzQ

Just think...Hermie Stardust and the Hermits From Mars

Total Hermanosity, yes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsYsHuzqZy4

Their Psych-adjacent LP Blaze from '67 has hit streaming/digital in Stereo & MONO...

...and even as programmed with the ten songs in stereo followed by a repeat in mono, the thing is still just under 47 minutes in length.

Recognize the cover very well. We had a store in Toronto, Sam the Record Man, with a famous sale annex; used to see it up there for years for $0.99. Of course I stupidly never bought it.

this bump is making me nervous 😰😰😰...... is it safe to assume that noone from herman's hermits has just passed away?

Peter No-one has not passed away

ah, thanks for clearing that up!

Recognize the cover very well.

I've seen this one many times before years ago and didn't know til today what it was. Maybe it was at the local library.

We had a store in Toronto, Sam the Record Man, with a famous sale annex

My regret is not buying up the 70s Van Morrison albums they had up there for $6.99.

The vinyl copies of Knee Deep in the Hoopla can stay, though.

A couple Blaze standouts both written by three band members not named Peter Noone

"Moonshine Man": Somebody's spent some quality time with Revolver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJc3v5mC8hk

"I Call Out Her Name": Somebody's spent some quality time with some Buck Owens singles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIO9OAegTiE

Is it Green Street Green that has them choogling before Creedence became established?

I kept hearing Blaze as a blueprint for the Stone Roses for ages when the Manchester scene was happening.

Got a copy for like 60p in like 1981. Played it a lot at the time. Got the Repertoire CD remaster when I got a chance.
Need to stick it on when I get home.

Well they were Mancs after all.

If there is actual choogling on that album who is doing it? John Paul Jones, Davey Graham…? Don’t imagine Derek Leckenbie with all due respect.

I meant Bobby Graham, sorry

Right, it's Moonshine Man not Green Street Green

…written by Leckenby and other Hermits so maybe they are the chooglers

No Milk Today is like an accidental pop masterpiece, I mean not to disrespect Herman and his Hermits but they weren't exactly aiming that high, and yet this song I think is on par with anything from the Beatles or the Beach Boys

^^Written by Graham Gouldman, later of 10cc, and during the '60s author of hits like "For Your Love" and "Heart Full of Soul" for the Yardbirds, "Look Through Any Window" and "Bus Stop" for the Hollies, and some other Herman hits like "Listen People" and "East West".

Yes, I give Graham Gouldman most of the credit for that one!

oh and "There's a Kind of Hush All Over the World Tonight" is amazing too - this was the inspiration for Nick Lowe's "tonight" correct?

Do you know "A Must to Avoid"? Their masterpiece, I'd say.

oh yeah. its the last song on the comp I have. felt it sounded a bit like They Might be Giants, in a good way of course

My favorite thing about Herman's Hermits is when they would do the Freddie.

The previous revival of this thread inspired me to listen to Blaze, fearing either overwhelming tweeness (which is certainly part of their sound, though not the defining factor) or incompetent psych-sploitation (which doesn't really happen til the last minute of the final song). Though I didn't love any of the songs, they were quite able to produce Hollies or Kinks-lite material without getting sappy or tasteless.

yeah it's like Pisces-era Monkees but the melodies are just barely not quite as good

i have a soft spot for these guys but had never heard "No Milk Today" -- great track. "Upstairs, Downstairs," off BLAZE, is another great Graham Gouldman HH track