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Post by moorlock2003 on Oct 11, 2018 1:26:36 GMT
I looked at Peter Noone's bio on his website and couldn't help noticing that there is absolutely NO mention of his former bandmates. It seems Peter Noone became famous AS Herman's Hermits, according to the copy. And currently his live back up band is Herman's Hermits. So he is claiming to be both Herman's Hermits and not Herman's Hermits. The ego seems to have really exploded.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2018 12:25:06 GMT
I've never met him, but he seems like a great guy to me. When I was looking for someone to write a foreword for my book, he was the first person I approached (I wanted someone well-known to both US and UK 60s music fans). He couldn't have been more helpful, being both enthusiastic and humble, despite the fact that I was a previously unpublished writer.
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Post by moorlock2003 on Oct 12, 2018 23:06:32 GMT
I've never met him, but he seems like a great guy to me. When I was looking for someone to write a foreword for my book, he was the first person I approached (I wanted someone well-known to both US and UK 60s music fans). He couldn't have been more helpful, being both enthusiastic and humble, despite the fact that I was a previously unpublished writer. He's quite a talker. I only wish he were less egotistical and would give credit to his former band members. Herman's Hermits was not a solo act.
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Post by anthony on Oct 12, 2018 23:33:06 GMT
I've never met him, but he seems like a great guy to me. When I was looking for someone to write a foreword for my book, he was the first person I approached (I wanted someone well-known to both US and UK 60s music fans). He couldn't have been more helpful, being both enthusiastic and humble, despite the fact that I was a previously unpublished writer. He's quite a talker. I only wish he were less egotistical and would give credit to his former band members. Herman's Hermits was not a solo act. He does seem like a nice guy, shame if he doesn't give credit to his old band mates.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2018 7:44:34 GMT
I believe there has been disagreements with the drummer, who uses the Herman's Hermits name in the UK. Nothing uncommon with bands of course (look at The Hollies with Eric, Terry, etc, and so often ex-members such as Alan Coates are almost written out of official histories).
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Post by cameron on Oct 13, 2018 10:07:13 GMT
Herman's Hermits were an odd band in that producer Mickie Most really doted on Peter Noone particularly. Later on, Mickie would even record whole backing tracks without the band, just for Peter to come and lay his vocals down on. That was the key factor in Peter going solo, because he effectively was already. I should think that his former bandmates would hold a huge amount of resentment towards him for that, it's not as if they couldn't play, quite the opposite, they were a competent live outfit. But the fact that their career progressed in this direction was perhaps what fed Peter's ego back then.
To bring it back around to the Hollies, there's that interesting footage of the Hollies and Herman's Hermits in America in 1966/67, with Graham Nash having a heated debate backstage with Peter Noone about using their status as musicians to help stop wars. Of course, Graham Nash was VERY egotistical around this time, believing he'd change the world, one 'On A Carousel' at a time! But the poignant thing was that around this time, Peter Noone was quoted as supporting the Vietnam War. This was directly against the emerging counterculture 'summer of love' mantra, perhaps being a key turning point in pushing the Herman's Hermits out of fashion, along with the fact that they never actually progressed musically really.
It must have been frustrating for the Hollies that Herman's Hermits broke America in the way that they did. Herman's Hermits were certainly below the Hollies in rankings back in their Manchester days, but once the Hollies got signed to Parlophone and moved down to London, so to speak, the Herman's Hermits took up a lot of the Hollies' big residencies. Suddenly, they overtook the Hollies when it came to breaking America, even if pretty much every American can't get their head around the fact that his name is Peter, not Herman!
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Post by gee on Oct 13, 2018 10:38:01 GMT
I have heard that a part of Hermans Hermits American success was due to the fact that looks wise Peter Noone reminded the Americans of the late President John F. Kennedy !
- America then was still mourning the loss of JFK in 1964 when Hermans Hermits rose to fame and when they went to the USA Peter's cheerful wide smile and friendly persona registered with many Americans who took him to their hearts as he had a resemblance to JFK
his happy go lucky style and grinning while he sang struck a chord while the group appealed across the generations unlike say The Rolling Stones who were firmly youth culture
Peter clearly was very much liked by Ed Sullivan and that besides the cheerful nature of their hits made them in the USA where Peter's 'Britishness' doing comedy tracks such as 'I'm Henery The Eighth I Am' (a big USA hit that did nothing at home) and 'Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter' sung in a 'mockney' voice plus his chirpy deilvery of Ray Davies song 'Dandy' etc made HH big stateside where 'Hermania' briefly was the rage
- just look at the teen fan reaction on USA TV shows - nothing like that here in the UK for the band even tho' they were well liked at home and had regular UK chart hits from 1964 right up to 1972...!
a very underrated group (like The Dave Clark Five also were) whom some of those music revisionist critics / writers later dismissed as 'nothing' BUT who were a 'name' group back in the sixties HH covered songs by Ray Davies, Donovan, Hot Chocolate - and Peter successfully covered David Bowie's 'Oh You Pretty Thing' later in 1973 - plus Bruce Woodley of The Seekers besides Graham Gouldman songs etc HH made some excellent pop music
their powering cover of the old Frankie Laine hit 'Jezebel' was terrific as was 'My Reservations Been Confirmed' (which I think featured both future Led Zep guys Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones)
they did use session players tho' drummer Barry Whitwam (who holds the UK rights at least to the band name HH) has said they themselves DID play on about 70% of their recordings and session players were mostly used when needed rather than as the norm - probably over 1967 to 1970 when additional accompaniment began to be added to their recordings
whatever, the late Derek 'Lek' Leckenby (who rather than JFK looked something like the later Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major !) WAS an excellent guitarist - his solo on 'Henery' live on Ed Sullivan Show proved that !
on the youtube replies one guy asks; 'who's listening in 2018 ?'
someone points out the posting has had since 2016 some 229,699 views so far
- so that's his answer !
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Post by moorlock2003 on Oct 13, 2018 23:49:47 GMT
Herman's Hermits did very well here in the US; that is, until The Monkees came along and pretty much took their audience away. I like their later stuff, Museum and Moonshine Man particularly. Just as they were getting more creative, their teenage fans turned to other acts. Same thing happened to Chad & Jeremy and others.
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Post by cameron on Oct 14, 2018 9:20:15 GMT
Herman's Hermits did very well here in the US; that is, until The Monkees came along and pretty much took their audience away. I like their later stuff, Museum and Moonshine Man particularly. Just as they were getting more creative, their teenage fans turned to other acts. Same thing happened to Chad & Jeremy and others. The only Herman's Hermits record that I really enjoy is "Blaze" from 1967, as they'd began to move away from the slightly twee music they'd become famous for. I've always felt like the psych-tinged "Museum" should have been a huge hit for them. But they were so out of favour by 1967, that "Blaze" wasn't issued in the UK properly at the time, just mainly an American import. That said, one of my favourite LPs is a mega rare Columbia export copy of "Blaze". Parlophone used to press tiny quantities of the Beatles' American LPs on the yellow and black Parlophone labels, complete with the original artwork on a flipback sleeve. This version of "Blaze" is the same, almost identical artwork (now with a title on the cover) and pressed on the blue Columbia label. These export LPs are really rare, though I doubt that this HH LP is particularly valuable. I've never seen the Hollies get the same treatment, though.
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Post by eric on Oct 14, 2018 11:08:42 GMT
Notwithstanding one’s musical preferences, Herman’s Hermits were nevertheless one of the most successful Sixties groups in Australia in terms of Top 40 chart longevity. They occupied the Adelaide, Australia, Top 40 charts for 250 weeks and were only headed by The Beatles with 586 weeks, The Shadows 268 weeks and The Rolling Stones 256 weeks. HH were followed by The Animals/Eric Burdon & The Animals 199 weeks, Easybeats 180, Hollies 180, Dave Clark Five 177, Monkees 176, Manfred Mann 174, Seekers 166, Gerry & Pacemakers 158, Bee Gees 152 and The Who 147, to name a few.
They were keeping pretty good company!
Although The Hollies were on the charts for fewer weeks than HH, the quality of their singles gave them 13 Top 10 hits compared with HH’s 10.
Herman’s Hermits, however, like other Sixties bands, failed to carry their success into the Seventies. They had no chart entries in Australia in the 70’s, although Peter Noone made no. 45 in July 1971 with “Oh, You Pretty Thing”. To their credit, The Hollies continued to carve out a successful chart career into the 70’s with a further 10 Top 40 hits, including three of their biggest Australian hits “Too Young To Be Married”, “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress” and “The Air That I Breathe”. The 10 year Australian chart success of The Hollies, coupled with the high quality of their songs and performances, have enabled them to tour Australia many times from 1970 to 2019. Quite an achievement!
As an aside, during the Sixties, international artists were mostly seen on Australian TV when they appeared on local shows during their tours of Australia. There were some exceptions though most notably being The Beatles “Around the Beatles” ITV special and The Beatle’s Melbourne performance (for Shell) from their 1964 tour. There was no Ed Sullivan or Top of the Pops here, regrettably.
This was the pre-video era so fans bought records based purely on the record’s appeal and the artist’s appeal gleaned from fan magazines and record covers. The following may sound inconceivable from a 2018 perspective, but as late as 1966, there was a very popular television show here where locals mimed the international hits of the day, including “Bus Stop”. No wonder the Hollies had an identity and image issue here in the early years of their career. We did get to see them “live” eventually on their “Sing Dylan” TV special and a performance on Australian Bandstand.
A DVD is available from Umbrella (https://www.umbrellaent.com.au/) featuring The Hollies and Herman’s Hermits performances on Australian Bandstand from 1969/1970.
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