"There's a Kind of Hush"
Single by Herman's Hermits
from the album There's a Kind of Hush All Over the World
B-side
ReleasedJanuary 1967 (US)
3 February 1967 (UK)
RecordedDe Lane Lea Studios, London, 7 December 1966
GenreBaroque pop
Length2:31
LabelMGM (US)
Columbia (UK)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Mickie Most
Herman's Hermits singles chronology
"East West"
(1966)		 "There's a Kind of Hush"
(1967)		 "Don't Go Out into the Rain (You're Going to Melt)"
(1967)

"There's a Kind of Hush" is a popular song written by Les Reed and Geoff Stephens. Originally recorded by Stephens' group the New Vaudeville Band in 1967 as a neo-British music hall number, this version of the track became a hit in Australia and South Africa. However, in the rest of the world, a near-simultaneous cover was a big hit for Herman's Hermits. The song was a charted hit again in 1976 for The Carpenters.

First recordings

The song was introduced on the 1966 album Winchester Cathedral by Geoff Stephens' group the New Vaudeville Band; like that group's hit "Winchester Cathedral", "There's a Kind of Hush" was conceived as a neo-British music hall number although it is a less overt example of that style. The first single version of "There's a Kind of Hush" was recorded in 1966 by Gary and the Hornets, a teen/pre-teen male band from Franklin, Ohio whose version—entitled "Kind of Hush" produced by Lou Reizner—became a regional success and showed signs of breaking nationally in January 1967; the single would reach No. 4 in Cincinnati and No. 3 in Erie PA.

However an expedient cover by British invasion group Herman's Hermits[1] was released in the US in January 1967 to reach the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 in three weeks and proceeded to a peak of #4—affording the group their final US Top Ten hit—with Gold certification for US sales of one million units awarded that April. The record notched two positions higher on the Silver Dollar Survey for 3–10 March 1967 on WLS,[2] for an overall rank of #26 for 1967,[3] and topped the Boss 30 for 8–22 March 1967 on KHJ.[4] In the UK Herman's Hermits' "There's a Kind of Hush" would reach No. 7. The success of the Herman's Hermits version led to the release of the original New Vaudeville Band track as a single in some territories with both of these versions charting in Australia with peaks of No. 5 (Herman's Hermits) and No. 12 (New Vaudeville Band) and also in South Africa where the New Vaudeville Band bested the Herman's Hermits' No. 9 peak by reaching No. 4.

Chart performance

Carpenters version

"There's a Kind of Hush (All over the World)"
Cover to the Carpenters' single, "There's a Kind of Hush (All over the World)"
Single by Carpenters
from the album A Kind of Hush
B-side"(I'm Caught Between) Goodbye and I Love You"
Released12 February 1976
RecordedDecember 1975
GenrePop
Length2:57
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Geoff Stephens
Les Reed
Producer(s)Richard Carpenter
Carpenters singles chronology
"Solitaire"
(1975)		 "There's a Kind of Hush (All over the World)"
(1976)		 "I Need to Be in Love"
(1976)

The Carpenters remade "There's a Kind of Hush"—as "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)"—for their 1976 album release A Kind of Hush for which it served as lead single, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and affording the Carpenters' their thirteenth No. 1 on the easy listening chart.[12]

The Carpenters' version has a notable country pop feel, but was not particularly successful for their usual standard in that time. In fact, the single's lack of comparative success indicated a drop in the Carpenters' popularity, it being the first lead single from a mainstream Carpenters' album to fall short of the Top 5 since "Ticket to Ride" from the group's 1969 debut album Offering, while the No. 33 chart peak of the A Kind of Hush album afforded the Carpenters' their first Top 20 shortfall since Offering (Horizon would prove to be their last album to reach the top 20 in the United States). "There's a Kind of Hush" would remain the Carpenters' final top twenty hit until 1981's "Touch Me When We're Dancing".

Richard Carpenter explained in the liner notes to the Carpenters' 2004 best-of compilation, Gold, that although he and Karen loved the song, he was not particularly pleased with how their remake turned out:

...one of Karen's and my favorite songs from the '60s. In hindsight, however, even though our version was a hit, I wish we'd never recorded it. Here are three reasons why: (1) The original was, and is, perfectly fine. (2) Our foray into the oldies should have ended with the medley featured on side 2 of Now & Then, 1973. (3) The use of a synthesizer in some of our recordings has not worn well with me, on this track, or just about any other track on which I used it.

Chart performance

Personnel

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bob Kostanczuk, 'Chicago Tribune,' January 28, 2016 "Herman's Hermits headline Salute to the '60s"
  2. ↑ "Silver Dollar Survey". WLS. 10 March 1967. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "Top 89 Records of 1967". WLS. 22 December 1967. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "'Boss 30' Records in Southern California! - Issue #90". KHJ. 22 March 1967. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 – ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  6. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 4/01/67". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ "Top 100 1967 – UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1967/Top 100 Songs of 1967". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1976 – 45cat". 45cat.com. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  11. ↑ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles – 1967". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  12. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 47.
  13. ↑ "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 24 April 1976. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  14. ↑ "The Official NZ Music Charts, 24 May 1976". Nztop40.co.nz. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  15. ↑ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  16. ↑ "Top Selling Singles of 1976 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 8 December 1963. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  17. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
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