Customer Reviews

Mrs Brown You've Got Lovely Daughter

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This third Herman's Hermits CD on the German Repertoire label gives us the group's soundtrack album from the 1968 MGM movie, «Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter», plus ten bonus tracks, three of which are lifted from the «Best Of Volume 3» MGM LP from 1968. The remaining seven tracks are singles from 1969-70, which were not released in the States due to contractual problems with MGM, who were obviously going through a bad patch at the time and stopped promoting the group. Graham Gouldman (later of 10cc) originated four songs for the «Mrs. Brown» movie, including «It's Nice To Be Out In The Morning», the Hermits' homage to their hometown of Manchester. Other noteworthy tracks are «Regardez Moi», Peter Noone's French version of «Here Comes The Star», the reggae styled «Bet Yer Life I Do» written by Wilson-Brown of Hot Chocolate, and «Searching For The Southern Sun» a number written by Green-Hopwood-Leckenby with bassist Karl Green on lead vocals, the latter pointing out a new, slightly heavier direction for the Noone-less Hermits. The selfpenned instrumentals «Daisy Chain Parts I & II» are also bit unusual in style for the group, but as always the Hermits delivered the goods. Intended to be released as a single at the time, «Wings Of Love» is an excellent attempt at psychedelic pop with a lot of work laid down on the vocal harmonies. All this is adding up to a great CD, and with the Repertoire label's usual top quality packaging - gatefold digipak cover with a reproduction of the original album sleeve, plus informative booklet - this is a must for all Herman's Hermits fans!

In 1965 the only group to chart more singles than Herman's Hermits were the Beatles. The Hermits placed six songs in the Top Ten: "Can't You Hear My Heart Beat" (No. 2), "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" (No. 1), "Silhouettes" (No. 5), "Wonderful World" (No. 4), "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" (No. 1) and "Just a Little Bit Better" (No. 7). And they're all here--along with their debut single from 1964, "I'm Into Something Good." Essentially this is a repackaging of the Hermits' first two U.S. albums Introducing Herman's Hermits and Herman's Hermits On Tour. [Note: "Kansas City Loving" from their debut is missing, but it does show up on Repertoire's Both Sides of Herman's Hermits which essentially repackages the Hermits' third and fourth album. I know, it doesn't make sense to me either!]

This is lightweight pop to be sure, but remember that when they released their first single Peter Noone was only 16 and all of the Hermits were still in their teens. [Although there are conflicting birth dates for the late Derek Leckenby. On the original album notes his birth date is listed as 5-14-43; the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia and the All-Music Guide list the birth date as 1945 and the reference book Rock Movers & Shakers lists it as 1946.]

Introducing Herman's Hermits was one of the first five albums I ever bought and I was thrilled to be able to get it on CD. I only wish the original artwork from the U.S. albums had been used, like with Capitol's two-fer reissues of the Beach Boys. It should also be noted that although the Hermit's enjoyed chart success in the UK ("I'm Into Something Good" went to No. 1 in 1964), they had two albums released in the U.S. before they released an LP in Britain!

While I enjoyed EMI's excellent 25-track anthology The Very Best of Herman's Hermits, this Repertoire release gives you not only seven of their biggest hits, but album tracks too. You get wonderful covers of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat," Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World," Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise," the G-Clefs' "I Understand" and Ernie K-Doe's "Mother-In-Law." Sure, the Hermits were infrequently used in the studio, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying these pop gems from the early days of the British Invasion. RECOMMENDED

The basis for this German CD on Repertoire Records is the group's 12-track debut album released in the UK/Europe in 1965. The CD-insert is an informative booklet with biography, discography and photos, and the original LP sleeve photo is used on the front cover. Herman's Hermits' first album is a charmingly simplistic set of songs recorded at Kingsway Studios, London. It includes the big US hits «I'm Henry The Eight, I Am» and «Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter», the latter recorded in a hurry as the last track on the album. Little did they know that it was to become their biggest ever selling US single. The Hermits also perform entertaining covers of Buddy Holly's «Heartbeat», Cliff Richard's «Travelling Light», The Yardbirds' «For Your Love» and Skeeter Davis' «The End Of The World» to name but a few. Two selfpenned numbers by Hopwood-Leckenby, «Tell Me baby» and «Don't Try To Hurt Me», are also good. With 13 bonus tracks, mostly hits, this CD simply gives you the best of the early years by Herman and his bandmates.

Great soundtrack! Actually, I have the album and have yet to buy the CD, but I will. Yes, it is silly, but so what? Herman's Hermits were simple yet satisfying. I hope that the other soundtracks are released: "When the Boys Meet the Girls" (only stereo version of 'Listen People' that I know of), Hold On. Anyone know of the actual movies being re-released? Thanks.

This CD is an excellent starting point for the novice that wants to start a Herman's Hermits collection. All the songs from their first two American MGM LPs are included with the exception of "Kansas City Loving" which can be found on the Both Sides CD. The 3 additional songs on the disc are Just A Little Bit Better, Wonderful World and Take Love , Give Love which was penned by Peter Noone (Herman). There are a total of 25 songs on the disc of which 7 were huge hit singles (I'm Into Something Good, Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter, Wonderful World, Can't You Hear My Heartbeat, I'm Henry the VIII I Am, Silhouettes and the above mentioned Just A Little Bit Better). In December of 1965 their Best Of LP was released with 11 songs (all of them included in this collection) and remained on the US Billboard LP charts for an astounding 157 weeks! In 1965 they released 3 LPs and 7 45s outselling everyone including The Beatles. If you like Herman's Hermits you'll want to buy this disc and then get Both Sides which contains most of the Hold On sountrack LP and all but one song of the MGM Both Sides LP with additional bonus tracks.

I am pleasantly surprised to see this album available on CD, and with bonus tracks. I don't have it, but I DO remember it. I've only ever heard this album on one format back around 1971. I was about 8 years old at the time. Yes it was an 8-track tape! This album was pretty much all I listened to that summer. I really liked "It's Nice to be Out in the Morning," "Holiday Inn," "Lemon and Lime," "Daisy Chain," (both parts) and "The World Is for the Young." Like another reviewer I thought some of these songs were kind of out of step for Herman's Hermits too, but the times they were a changin'. I especially thought the way they segued part 1 of "Daisy Chain" into part 2 was really cool. Were Page and assorted other Zeppelinites still doing session work for Mickie Most at that time? (1968, same year as first Zeppelin album) Did Most produce this album? I think this is a great album!

To be clear, this 20-song album entitled "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" is a re-release of the original soundtrack for the 1968 movie with 10 bonus tracks. There is a 25-song collection, also entitled "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter," which is really a collection of songs that the group put out circa 1964-65, noted for an interesting cover of "For Your Love." I actually saw the movie when it came out and it was loosely based on the hit song that gave the film its title in that Mrs. Brown was the name of a greyhound that the boys wanted to race, but they need money to get the dog entered so they start performing songs in public. One of the reasons that everybody thought lead singer Peter Noone was supposed to be Herman was that in this movie he played a character named Herman Tulley, just to add to the general confusion.

The first ten tracks compromise the original soundtrack, ending with the title track (which is sung to a litter of newly born puppies at the end of the film) and featuring another Herman's Hermits hit with "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)." Part of the problem is that by the time the movie came out, Herman's Hermits were pretty much history, so besides the two recycled hits there is nothing really great here, although "It's Nice to Be Out in the Morning" is a pleasant enough tune about Manchester and the two-part instrumental "Daisy Chain" is something of a change of pace for the group. If you like Herman's Hermits, and there was a time when they were the second most popular British invasion group after the Beatles, then chances are you will find these tracks passable.

The title song has a special place in my memory because I am pretty sure it was the first song I ever played on a jukebox (you know how memory wins out over truth as the years roll along). The song, written by Trevor Peacock, was written for a television play starring Tom Courtenay, and originally sounded like it should be performed in an English music hall. But for Herman's Hermits the song was stripped down to a simple banjo accompaniment in order to better feature Noone's simple and rather shy vocals, complete with his Manchester accent. Ironically, the song was not released in the United States but disc jockeys started playing it and a single version was rushed out.

I have read that "Mrs. Brown You Have a Lovely Daughter" had the highest chart debut in history up to that time, hitting #1 on the Billboard charts within a month, which I find rather hard to believe given we are talking 1965 a.k.a. the year after the Beatles exploded on this side of the pond and they sold 250,000 units of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in three days and one million in two weeks. Anyhow, "Mrs. Brown You Have a Lovely Daughter" ended up as the 19th best selling single of 1965. The thing is, you should already have a copy of the song without needing to pick up this album to have it in your music library.

The bonus tracks represent mostly the singles and B sides that Herman's Hermits released in 1970, right before Noone left the group. That would be "Years May Come, Years May Go"/"Smile Please," "Bet Yer Life I Do"/"Searching For the Southern Sun," and the best of the bunch, "Lady Barbara"/"Don't Just Stand There." Regardez Moi" is actually a French version of "Here Comes the Star," and while you can find "Big Man," "Wings of Love" and "Mum and Dad" on "Best of Herman's Hermits, Volume III," as near as I can tell this is the only place you can find the rest of the songs, so for Herman's Hermits fans there are a few things here that they might not have which are worth the having.