rtbuck
Senior Member
Herman’s Hermits: Listen People 1964-1969
Format: DVD
Released: 2010
Label: Voyage Digital Media
Review by Bucky
In the early 90’s I attended a free concert at the Buffalo Raceway featuring Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. I wasn’t expecting much of the show but I thought it would be a fun time hearing “Henry the VIII”. The show was unbelievable & I could not believe the performance Noone put on. I also could not believe all the hits Herman’s Hermits had: “Mrs. Brown You’ve got a Lovely Daughter”, “There’s a Kind of Hush”, “Wonderful World”, “Silhouettes” …etc. but I heard them all that night. After that show I bought their Greatest Hits CD & to this day it gets played on a regular basis & I’ve seen Herman’s Hermits w/ Peter Noone 4 other times since. Noone has always put on a great performance.
The other day I was in a Borders store looking at the music section of DVD’s & noticed ‘Herman’s Hermits: Listen People 1964-1969' featuring 17 vintage performances including “Mrs. Brown You’ve got a Lovely Daughter”, “Henry VIII”, “No Milk Today”, “There’s a Kind of Hush”, “Wonderful World”, “Silhouettes”, & “A Must to Avoid”. Needless to say I quickly flashed back to those 5 shows I had seen & decided to buy the DVD. This DVD is packed! The main documentary is full of stories told by Hermit’s members guitarist Keith Hopwood, bassist Karl Greene, drummer Barry Whitwam, & of course Peter Noone (unfortunately lead guitarist Derek “Lek” Leckenby passed away in 1994 but the Hermits spoke highly of his musicianship). The one great thing about the documentary is that all 17 performances during it are complete. (They do not stop half way through a song & go back to the story). Herman’s Hermits were a fun pop band that rivaled the Beatles with hit singles during the 60’s & they remained on top until 1969 when they decided it was time to end it. Musically they felt they could have gone on & broke away from the pop style as the Stones & the Who did by the late 60’s but they felt with their band name they were only meant to have pop hits & would never be able to perform a 10 minute epic song as Herman’s Hermits so they ended. The DVD comes with an excellent 22 page booklet & bonus material on the disc which alone is worth the price of the disc. There is bonus interview footage that is phenomenal especially the stories about the Who which are one of my favorite parts of the DVD. The Bonus material also gives you the choice of just watching just the performances of the documentary & the bonus material has an 8 song TV broadcast of a concert from the Hilton in Australia from 1966. The concert is pretty wild as the audience is constantly throwing streamers at the band hitting Noone in the face a couple of times.
Overall, this is a great DVD & if you’re a fan of the many hits of Herman’s Hermits I highly recommend this because not only do you get to see great performances of the band but you also get a great insight of the whole band (not only Noone) & what went on behind the scenes.
Bucky
