Albums I Wish Existed: Herman's Hermits

Friday, January 8, 2021

Herman's Hermits - The London Look (1968)

Herman's Hermits undoubtedly had their biggest success in the early to mid 60's, and with the onset of psychedelia towards to end of the decade they started to sound a bit out of step with the emergent psyche bands of the time. They did their best to try to keep up, and released their 'psychedelic' album 'Blaze' in the US in 1967, but while it was critically acclaimed in America, it didn't even warrant a UK release at the time. Although it did contain a couple of proto-psyche songs like 'Moonshine Man', most of it wasn't really that different from some of their previous work, and so wasn't a threat to the genuine psyche bands. I think the release of the soundtrack album to the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' confirmed to many that their heart wasn't really into competing with this new style of music, although there were a few random songs scattered around on singles, b-sides, and their albums which could have held their own in a psychedelic battle of the bands. I've picked what I think are the best examples of the band trying to keep up with their peers, after The Beatles kick-started the whole thing with 'Revolver' in 1966. While some of them still have that bubblegum pop feel that they couldn't seem to shed completely, they were trying their best, and even covered Nirvana's 'Wings Of Love' in 1968, so overall this shows the band maturing and looking forward to a new direction. Unfortunately they weren't able to consolidate on this new-found maturity, as Peter Noone left the band in 1970, going on to some solo success covering David Bowie's 'Oh! You Pretty Things', while the rest of the group gamely carried on, but struggled to find success without their lead singer.