After Peter left the band, the other members joined up with an old friend from Manchester - Peter Cowap. Peter was a renowned singer/guitarist from Manchester and had achieved some recording success with his band The Country Gentlemen. He had also written and co-written tracks for Herman's Hermits' 1967 album Blaze.
The Hermits' first release was She's a Lady/Gold Mandela. After this song the band started to write all their own material, resulting in a single The Man/Effen Curly, and went on to record A Whale of a Tale under the new moniker Sour Mash.
Recording took place in Strawberry Studios, Stockport, in late 1971, and was produced with Eric Stewart, later of 10cc. Record company politics struck however, and the album was never released.
This new CD contains demos and pre-production recordings of the album, along with other tracks from the same period. Sadly, Peter Cowap died in 1997...
