Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

At a time when most of the British Invasion groups were looked upon as just that, an invading horde of musical monsters out to somehow subvert the United States and turn the minds of American youth into tapioca, Peter Noone and his four associates offered a clean-cut, middle of the road musical alternative.

This collection includes all of their early U.S. hits, featuring the ultra-successful Mrs Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter, I'm Henry the VIII, I Am and There's a Kind of a Hush. The real strength of this disc, however, lies in what it offers beyond the big three. Noone's excellent voice and dramatic delivery are apparent in No Milk Today, Listen People and, especially, End of the World.

The mastering is a bit weak, with some minor distortions but, overall, does not really detract from the quality of the disc.

If you are willing to pay the extra and wait a while, there are imported collections that are better recorded. However, for those who listen to their music without worrying about what's going to show up on the spectrum analyzer, this collection will do just fine.

For most of the minor British-invasion bands who weren't remotely as talented as the Beatles or the Stones, the Kinks or the Who, a greatest hits collection on CD is hard to justify. There isn't an hour, or even a half hour, of songs that were actually hits, or even that I remember hearing on the radio. It was kind of a shock to come across this CD and to realize I can remember being a little kid listening to all of these songs, and they're all good. There is no filler here.

This is a guilty pleasure, and the songs are minor. This should be an exercise in nostalgia, not an attempt to uncover a hidden treasure from the 60s. While this schlock was being made, the Beatles were making Rubber Soul and Revolver. But if you were growing up then, this is the stuff of which some nice memories are made, and there isn't a song here I don't remember well. One star off because, well, after all, this isn't Rubber Soul or Highway 61 Revisited, and there have to be SOME standards for 1965.

There are reviews below about sound quality that may be important to some serious audiophiles. These songs were originally heard by most of us on AM radio and maybe 45's on a monaural record player. This CD sounds great on my stereo today, certainly way better than on the car radio 40 years ago, and I have no complaints about the technical quality of the recording.

You better buy "The very best of Herman's Hermits". Why?. Because "A must to avoid" is in full stereo (all this recordings are mono). In my opinion "The very best..." is a better compilation. Just take a look, and compare. Both CD has original recordings. Be carfull!. The market is full of HH remakes!

I assume that most people who consider buying this album are doing so because they remember Herman's Hermits from the 1960s, remember their hits ("Mrs. Brown", "Silhouettes" and others) and their sound.

The singers on this album sing all of Herman's Hermits hits ... but they're not the Herman's Hermits you'll recall from the 1960s. Peter Noone's distinctive lead voice is missing from these songs... I guess this album is some sort of re-constituted Herman's Hermits.

I suppose I should have done a thorough search before buying this album and discovered that Herman's Hermits isn't always Herman's Hermits. But I didn't think of it, and you probably wouldn't think of it either. Herman's Hermits is Herman's Hermits, right?

Wrong. Caveat emptor. I'll be deleting these horrible versions of these great songs from my own music library. A waste of money.

If you grew up in the 1960s, you remember how hard it was to dislike Herman's Hermits, even though you knew they were pretty lightweight compared to the real heavy hitters. On the other hand, they turn out to have been a little more clever than credited. Like the Beatles, they had a certain taste for American country music and were brash enough to go further into the marrow than just Carl Perkins or Buck Owens; if you've ever heard lead singer Peter (Herman) Noone's reading of Sammi Smith's weeper, "The End of The World," you know the English kid actually saved it from bathos with a strikingly mature delivery - it sounds a lot more believable coming from his throat, and guitarist Derek Leckenby throws out Smith's spoken break in favour of a strikingly phased little guitar line.

That song was also the flip of "I'm Henry VII, I Am," which was no novelty but a longtime staple of legendary British music hall routines. The Beatles often get cited as occasional revivalists of that style in some of their music, but the Hermits beat them to it by a season with this one, and their churning version of it turned out to have an influence beyond its own chartbusting run; the Ramones all but made a career out of compressing the sensibilities they gleaned from the likes of the Stooges and the Shadows of Knight into "Henry VIII"'s churn, amplified exponentially, of course. (They also nicked Noone's "second verse, same as the first" for their debut album's "Judy Is A Punk".) It wasn't their first foray into making the British music hall hip for awhile; that honour goes to the oddly charming "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" (and check out the manner in which Leckenby mutes his guitar to sound like a slightly muffled banjo).

Otherwise, Herman's Hermits were about as amiable a pop group as you could have. (They were doing something right: in 1965, their American concerts were outdrawn only by the Beatles.) They actually cut some pleasant singles, from the hammily spry "I'm Into Something Good" to the swinging "I've Gotta Dream On" (kicked off by Barry Whitwham's reverbed rimshots and Leckenby's Duane Eddy-ish lead); from the breezy "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" (with a rather smart break from Leckenby and rhythm guitarist Keith Hopwood) to the breathless ascension of their last big hit, the lovely "There's A Kind of Hush". Like about two-thirds of the British Invasion superstars, Herman's Hermits were just about through by the time that record broke the Top Twenty in 1967, but in retrospect they had quite a bit more in their favour than just the amiability of the band and the boyish good looks of their singer.

The music holds up and gets you dancing around the house,bopping in your car or wherever you may be.

I had forgotten how great this album was.

Highly recommended.

Herman's Hermits were always much more pop and less serious than British Invasion contemporaries like the Beatles, but that doesn't prevent this from being a thoroughly enjoyable collection of music. None of their singles were original material and producer Mickie Most sometimes enlisted session musicians to play on their records. Nonetheless the band was musically competent, as revealed by existing live film footage, and the overall result was satisfying.

With lead singer Peter Noone at the forefront, Herman's Hermits logged well over a dozen top 40 hits from late 1964 to early 1967--many of them landing in the top 10. This CD is filled with music from that period. It was geared to top 40 radio, so all the songs are brief, catchy and very listenable. The longest track, the masterfully arranged "End of the World," clocks in at just 3:02. There are no hidden messages here, nothing weighty and meaningful--just clean fun.

From the cockney-inflected "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" to the pensive and beautiful "Listen People," this CD will have you humming along in no time. It's hard to resist tapping your toes to songs like "Silhouettes," "Dandy," "Wonderful World" and "Just a Little Bit Better." There really isn't a weak track on the CD, though I've always felt the arrangement on "This Door Swings Both Ways" could have been much better. While not musical heavyweights by any means, neither should there be "A Kind of Hush" about Herman's Hermits. They deserve more appreciation than that.

I recommend this CD to anyone interested in Herman's Hermits in particular or the mid-60s British Invasion generally.

This CD has 15 of the Hermits best, however the mastering of the CD itself is often muddy and sometimes distorted. You would be better off with one of the excellent sounding (and better compiled!) import cd's. And where in the world is "Mr. Moonshine Man" available?

Herman's Hermits may have tried to be a Beatles imitator, but their songs are just as infectious as the Fab Four. Listeners of oldies radio will know most of the songs.

"No Milk Today" has always been personal favorite of their hits. It has the rich bells. The bluesy sad "End of the World" is balanced by the entirely perky "Henry the VIII, I Am" and the hopeful "I'm into Something Good."

Seeing two silhouettes on the shade in "Silhouettes" feels as disconcerting as could be. "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" presents an innocent passion, very different from the Stones, Kinks and Tommy James.

Remakes of "Mrs. Brown" never do justice. Only Peter Noone can sing it right. Though he has more of a Davy Jones voice, and not as much of a Paul McCartney voice, his style projects a good time more than either for these songs.

Buy this album, play it with your Monkees and Lovin' Spoonful ones, and sing along. There's plenty of fun to found.

I fully recommend "Herman's Hermits - Greatest Hits."

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This CD has great sound quality, which is important to get across the wonderful vocal workings of Peter Noone. The songs on here are classics, and this CD is crucial to ever British Invasion collection!