THE CRYAN’ SHAMES – Sugar & Spice – (Columbia) – 1966

It’s nice to get some straight ahead rock every now and then.

It’s also nice to play an entire album by a US garage band. Normally you only get to hear the singles or selected tracks on garage compilations.

With the Cryan’ Shames that was exactly the case – I’d only really heard their singles from the nuggets and associated compilations.

For some reason I’d always assumed they were a full on garage rock band (perhaps the Nuggets comp through me off).

There is no doubt that the Cryan’ Shames are a garage band but they are more from the pop side of the garage spectrum – they are less chaotic and more melodic. There is a distinctly clear mix of English Beat and Byrds like folk jangle.

This isn’t surprising as it was 1966 and the Cryan’ Shames were a working band. You gotta give the people what they want …..

Wikipedia: The Cryan’ Shames is an American garage rock group from Hinsdale, Illinois. They originally formed as The Travelers, with founding members Tom Doody ("Toad"), Gerry Stone ("Stonehenge"), Dave Purple ("Grape") of The Prowlers, Denny Conroy and Jim Fairs from The Roosters, Jim Pilster ("J.C. Hooke", so named because he was born without a left hand and wore a hook), and Bill Hughes. In 1966, upon learning that another band already had the name The Travelers, they needed to find another name; J.C. Hooke remarked that their difficulty in doing so was "a cryan’ shame," and thus named the band.

After signing with Bob Monaco, the promotion manager for Destination Music, their first hit single was "If I Needed Someone", which was not released in the US (but included on their debut album). It was soon followed by "Sugar and Spice," a Tony Hatch song that was a hit in 1963 for the English group The Searchers. The Shames’ version reached #49 in the USA (while reaching #4 on local radio WLS).

They signed to Columbia in 1966, and while they never were to become a national success, their singles and albums continued to sell well in the Chicago area.

The group disbanded in December 1969, but reunited again and continues to tour. Jim "J.C. Hooke" Pilster and Tom Doody (Toad) are the only remaining original members in the current lineup. Two members of The Cryan’ Shames have since died: bassist Dave Purple in June 2001, and his replacement Isaac Guillory, on December 31, 2000.

What is always impressive is that the band (6 members) are all aged between 18 and 21, and they all paly their own instruments.

They are quite proficient and manage to work up quite a good 60s groove that doesn’t really transcend it’s time and place but if you are locked into hat sound then there is more than enough to enjoy.

If any point of comparison is required I would say they are similar to The Turtles – they are very California for a band from Chicago.

This is superior folk garage rock..

For more on “garage rock” google the same in this blog.

Tracks (best in italics)

• Sugar and Spice – ( Nightingale )- gentle, bouncy and actually quite distinguishable from The Searchers hit – it is beat pop tune but there is a nice undeniable underlying energy which maybe even outdoes The Searchers …(and I’m quite partial to The Searchers)
• We Could Be Happy – (Fairs)  – very gentle, very light and poppy…it predates and anticipates Sunshine pop.
• (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave –(Dozier, Holland, Holland ) – soul – a credible white pop facsimile of the hit. It might work live though it’s a bit redundant on vinyl. They are a “working band” so the odd song popular at the time is not surprising.
• We’ll Meet Again – (Charles, Parker) – more Byrds doing the old standard about saying goodbye. Shouldn’t this be sequenced as the last track?
• Ben Franklin’s Almanac –(Fairs)-  a great original though it is very Byrds sounding.
• She Don’t Care About Time-(Clark)- a Byrds song at last – after a number of songs that sounded like the Byrds!
• Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) –(Roberts) – a credible version of the song forever associated with Hendrix from 1967 ….though in 1965 and 1966 it was recorded by The Leaves, The Standells, The Surfaris, Love, The Music Machine, The Byrds and others.
• If I Needed Someone-(Harrison) – The Beatles done a la Byrds
• July – (Fairs)- another Byrds sound alike – not bad. Very short though.
• I Wanna Meet You – (Fairs) – The Beach Boys meet The Byrds. You have to cover the bases.
• We Gotta Get Out of This Place – (Mann, Weil) – a cover of the 1965 Animals hit. It’s made to sound like it’s done live but I doubt it ….the song is introduced in faux British accents suggesting it was written by Ho Chi Minh. Despite the silliness and the fact that it’s not as hard edged as The Animals it is quite passable.
  

And …

There are a lot of influences in here and not too many original thoughts but one can’t help liking this album because the level of enthusiasm in the music is palatable …. I’m keeping it.

Chart Action

US

Singles

1966 Sugar And Spice The Billboard Hot 100 #49

1966 I Wanna Meet You The Billboard Hot 100 #85

Album

#192 1967

England

Singles

Album

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Sounds

Sugar and Spice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe7RlzkVS3U

live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvaCSAKdSvE

We Could Be Happy

Live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FfmHjszUIo

Ben Franklin’s Almanac

Attached

Cryan Shames – Ben Franklin’s Almanac 

Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Sfla2LAAg

If I Needed Someone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puaNTa155wE

Wanna Meet You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7KLpW9bu20

Others

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Review

http://www.allmusic.com/album/sugar-spice-r34380/review

Bio

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-cryan-shames-p16746 \

Website

http://www.cryanshames.com/

Trivia

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