Herman's Hermits - Introducing Herman's Hermits (1993)

Herman's Hermits' first album followed a common cash-in strategy for new hot groups of the time: a few hits, a few oldies covers, and a few lightweight British Invasion pop tunes that sounded pretty hastily written. In this case, the big hits were the first smash, "I'm into Something Good," and "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" -- the latter of which, even though it became a number one hit and is probably the song with which the group is most often associated, actually hadn't charted at the time of this LP's release. Since those are the first songs on the album, it's a letdown thereafter, since the oldies aren't very creative or (in comparison to the better British Invasion groups) forcefully performed, and the pop numbers sound like filler Merseybeat. True, there are a couple of obscure songs by Gerry Goffin and Carole King (writers of "I'm into Something Good"), "Walkin' with My Angel" and "Show Me Girl," but they aren't very memorable. This didn't stop the record from being a big hit, reaching number two in the U.S. charts.