Herman’s Hermits - The Very Best Of

Something good… still

If pop is all about the big-hitting and transient, dwell a while on the beauty of Herman’s Hermits, frequently pooh-pooh’ed as fluff, but rightly adored in their day. Mickie Most honed his production chops here selecting the material – the judiciously chosen covers that straddled the deeply cool (A Kind Of Hush, I’m Into Something Good, No Milk Today and Something’s Happening) and the deeply awful (I’m Henery The Eighth I Am, Mrs Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter), all delivered with a jaunty snap.

Peter Noone, who was about nine at the time, struck the template for the impish Mancunian in pop. There must have been at least one Hermits single in the Gallagher household. You can hear how they amplified the Ringoisms of The Beatles and the chim chiminees of Dick Van Dyke and translated perfectly to the American masses. A Must To Avoid is a lost gem, as is Noone’s solo version of Oh! You Pretty Things.

EMI | CDEMTV 200

Reviewed by Daryl Easlea
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