There's a Kind of Hush

"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 "Gaslight Street" (UK)
"No Milk Today" (US)
Released January 1967 (US)
3 February 1967 (UK)
Format 7" single
Recorded De Lane Lea Studios, London, 7 December 1966
Genre Baroque pop
Length 2:31
Songwriter(s) Geoff Stephens
Les Reed
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)

"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 which was a hit in 1967 for Herman's Hermits and 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 proponent 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 "A 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 Herman's Hermits was released in the US in February 1967 to reach the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 in three weeks and proceed 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. 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

The 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 The Carpenters
from the album A Kind of Hush
B-side "(I'm Caught Between) Goodbye and I Love You"
Released February 12, 1976
Format 7" single
Recorded December 1975
Genre Pop
Length 2:57
Label A&M
Songwriter(s) Geoff Stephens
Les Reed
Producer(s) Richard Carpenter
The Carpenters singles chronology
"Solitaire"
(1975)		 "There's a Kind of Hush (All over the World)"
(1976)		 "I Need to Be in Love"
(1976)

"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.[7]

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 Carpenter 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

Notable cover versions

In the summer of 1968 Karel Gott reached No. 7 in Czechoslovakia with his rendition of "There's a Kind of Hush" (sung in English); a Czech rendering of the song entitled "Požehnej, Bože Můj" would be featured on Gott's 1970 album Poslouchejte! Karel Gott Zpívá Lásku Bláznivou A Další Hity.

As "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)" the song made a C&W chart appearance with a No. 42 peak in 1972 via a recording by Brian Collins.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  2. ↑ http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19670401.html
  3. ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.100151&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=dtlhqtcdftn9t40n27r4hds2h0
  4. ↑ "Top 100 1967 - UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  5. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1967/Top 100 Songs of 1967". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  6. ↑ http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1967YESP.html
  7. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 47.
  8. ↑ The Official NZ Music Charts, 24 May 1976
  9. ↑ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Top Selling Singles of 1976 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1963-12-08. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
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