A Whale of a Tale - Sourmash (Herman's Hermits Unreleased)

A Whale of a Tale! And Others — Sourmash a.k.a. Herman's Hermits

When Peter Noone left Herman's Hermits in 1971 to go solo, the remaining members — Keith Hopwood, Derek Leckenby, Karl Green and Barry Whitwam — carried on without him, recruiting singer and multi-instrumentalist Pete Cowap and recording under the alias Sourmash. In the spring of 1972 they went into Strawberry Studios in Stockport with Eric Stewart of 10cc producing, and cut what was intended as the band's first post-Noone album for RCA Victor.

The results were a world away from the pop hits that had made the Hermits famous: a loose, warm blend of folk, country-rock and blues, with Pete Cowap taking most of the lead vocals and Karl Green stepping up to sing on "Awake for the Morning," "All Over the World" and "Maybe." Tracks like "Lubbock Lights," "Indian Brave" and "Bluegrass" show a band stretching toward the Americana sounds coming out of the early-'70s West Coast, while "Witchazel" and "Autumn Country" lean into a gentler, pastoral English folk mood.

RCA shelved the record and it sat unheard for almost thirty years, until Keith Hopwood finally issued it himself on his own Pluto label in December 2000 as A Whale of a Tale! And Others — a genuine lost album from one of Britain's best-loved '60s groups, heard here for the first time as it was originally recorded.