Album review : THE CRYIN’ SHAMES – Please Stay, Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes

Cherry Red [Release date: 12.04.24]

The Cryin’ Shames were late to the Merseybeat party, and departed almost as soon as they arrived.

This a 2 CD reissue of every recording made by the band in its various guises. 48 tracks in all.

They were a very young band who had been taken under the wing of music production innovator, Joe Meek, in 1966. He produced the band’s minor hit, ‘Please Stay’. A song written by Burt Bacharach, and originally a US hit for the Drifters in 1961.

After turning down a management offer from Brian Epstein (gulp!), the band splintered, reforming after some key line up changes.

Again they recorded with Meek, and again they chose another classy song as their next single. ‘September In The Rain’, was written by the Tin Pan Alley pair, Warren and Dubin for thirties’ movie musical ‘Melody For Two’, and had now become a “standard”.

Maybe the effect had been diluted … the song had been covered by so many artists, from Peggy Lee to Brenda Lee. From Frank Sinatra to Rod Stewart, and by a few dozen others. To their credit, the band, guided by Meek in the studio, managed to bring the nostalgia at the heart of the song to life.

Much of the rest of this 2 CD anthology will be of huge interest to aficionados and pop music historians.

The artists who broke through in the sixties were creating a new normal for popular music, worldwide. No surprise then that the Cryin Shames’ audition tape covers many of the songs charting around that time: ‘She Belongs To Me’ (Bob Dylan, 1965); ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ (The Byrds, 1965); ‘Gloria’ (Van Morrison/Them, 1964); ‘Land Of 1000 Dances’ (Wilson Pickett, 1966); ‘My Girl’ (Smokey Robinson, 1964); ‘As Tears Go By’ (The Stones, 1964), and so on.

These complete the first CD.

And for die-hard followers, the second CD is where the real treasure lies.

It’s chocka with multiple edits of the singles released by the band in its short lifetime. A paradise for fans, bringing new meaning to the words “thorough” and “complete” (and maybe “obsessive”). ‘Please Stay’ has 3 versions: a “no overdubs”; an “overdubs only, Take 2”, and an “alternate version”.

There are two versions of the band’s Freakbeat classic, ‘Come On Back’, and four versions of ‘Nobody Waved Goodbye’, which we won’t list. All well documented online.

The icing on the cake though, is three tracks that have survived the years since they appeared on BBC Radio’s Saturday Club. Two of them, ‘Circles’ and ‘Shake’, in 45 RPM vinyl have unsurprisingly become collector’s items.

Memories are made of this. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)