Album Notes

One might cheekily observe that it was approximately twenty years ago today (or rather, this year) –that Richard X. Heyman released his first indie disc, Actual Size, a collection of six of his finest songs recorded on an 8-track Tascam machine in a home studio, the same one on which Richard would subsequently record his classic album Living Room!! Included on that EP was the winsome tune “Hoosier” which caught the ear of British Invasion superstar Peter Noone, lead singer of Herman’s Hermits (Herman himself!). He and Richard entered a studio together and put down the version which opens this 2000 EP, Heyman, Hoosier & Herman, with Richard on drums, Nancy Leigh on bass and Andy Resnick on guitar, and everyone singing along with Herman. "Hoosier" is a lost love ode to a first girlfriend. Richard first met Peter Noone when they were both both signed to Cypress Records in 1990. The recording remained unreleased until the realization struck that it deserved to be heard by pop aficionados everywhere and why not accompany it with worthy songs that had fallen by the wayside from the Cornerstone sessions? There were lots of other leftovers from Richard’s third album Cornerstone, as Richard recorded roughly sixty songs in the seven years between Hey Man! and that release. At a certain point in assembling the final track list for Cornerstone, Richard sensed an emerging theme, of tunes having to do with love relationships. That criterion led to the deletion of many beautiful tracks, which lay dormant until the 2000 release of the Heyman, Hoosier & Herman.

Goldmine has called Heyman, Hoosier & Herman "easily a candidate for best (take your choice) a) album b) EP c) CD of (your choice again) 1) 2000 b) 2001 c) the whole damn new millenium...it had to be a tough choice when it came to crossing them off the Cornerstone collection. Fortunately for Heyman devotees, they're given a welcome return here." Said Rollingstone.com, "these songs don't sound like outtakes, with hooks galore and ebullient melodies...revealing the emotional power that pop can pack into its brevity."