High Bias refreshed

THE CRYAN' SHAMES
Sugar & Spice
A Scratch in the Sky
Synthesis
(Sundazed)
Chicago's Cryan' Shames were one of the 60s' hottest regional bands, pretty much ruling the Midwestern charts from 1966-1969. The sextet scored only one national hit, the bubblegum MOR single "Sugar and Spice," a nauseating trifle of a song that fully exploits frontman Tom "Toad" Doody's distinctive reedy voice and the band's creamy harmonies. That song leads off the Shames' 1966 debut album, which is the usual smorgasbord of covers expected out of a mid-60s combo fresh out of the garage. The Shames' takes on the Leaves' "Hey Joe," the Beatles' "If I Needed Someone" and the Byrds' "She Don't Care About Time" are certainly competent, but they don't compare to the originals. The band's attempts at R&B, covering Martha & the Vandellas' "Heat Wave" and the Animals' "We Gotta Get Outta This Place," fall into Pat Boone territory. The best tracks here are the originals, mostly penned by lead guitarist Jim Fairs; the jangly, humorous "Ben Franklin's Almanac" is a minor classic. But overall Sugar & Spice is hardly an auspicious debut. (This edition includes half a dozen bonus tracks, including a faithful reading of David Gates' soft rock staple "It Don't Matter to Me" and songs by future Shame Lenny Kerley, including the country-rockin' "Bits and Pieces.")

A Scratch in the Sky, the 1967 followup, is a whole 'nother trip. It's just as poppy as the previous platter, but personnel adjustments and the changing musical landscape of the Summer of Love inspire the Shames to mutate into something more than just another 60s garage band. The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, the first stirrings of the baroque pop of the Left Banke and the continuing innovations of the Beatles left a heavy impression of these young musical minds. The album goes way out there, man, almost immediately with "The Sailing Ship," the kind of psychedelic epic most bands save for the final track. "The Town I'd Like to Go Back to" starts as one of the band's soft rock treatises but floats off into the ether during the bridge. "Dennis Dupree From Danville" sounds Beatlesque without sounding like the Beatles while the rocking "Mr. Unreliable" takes its inspiration from the Who's "I Can See For Miles." The Shames still have an MOR jones; "A Carol For Lorelei" and "It Could Be We're in Love" wouldn't sound out of place on a lite 'n' easy radio station, and the cover of "Up On the Roof" would make the Association proud. But even the lightest songs here, like "Sunshine Psalm," are saved by strong hooks and winning melodies. The exquisite attention to songcraft, willingness to experiment and quantum leap in material (most of it written by Fairs and Kerley) makes the Cryan' Shames suddenly a contender for the great lost 60s band. (The bonus tracks for this version are mainly single versions of album tracks, some of which are considerably different.)

Synthesis, the band's 1968 third and final album, starts off with the clever, catchy "Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith & Jones," a tongue-twisting folk rocker built around a muscular guitar riff; it's probably the greatest thing the band ever did. Then the Shames spin off into self-conscious eclecticism. Another lineup shift seems to have caused a lack of focus, as the group starts to sound like several groups. A cover of Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole" goes for lush baroque pop, then "It's All Right" heads down a dusty country rock road, then "Your Love" wallows in strings and MOR treacle, etc. The band errs on the softer side more often than not; "First Train to California" would be a charming road song in the tradition of Simon & Garfunkel's "America" if its Fifth Dimension melody wasn't slathered in orchestration. This isn't too say that several tracks aren't any good. The first three cited above all stand out, "Sweet Girl of Mine" is a nice pop tune and the goofy "The Painter" is another winner. But when the Shames clumsily work with a Latin beat on "20th Song" and earnestly cover the Youngbloods' already-moldy hippie anthem "Let's Get Together" (AKA "Get Together"), the record goes off the rails. The bombastic closer "Symphony of the Wind" is either the record's shining moment of glory or its final, vertebrae-shattering straw. Either way the return to the uneven quality of the first LP is disheartening. The band must have thought so too, as this was its last record. (Again, the bonus tracks are mostly 45 versions of album tracks, plus a more polished take on "Bits and Pieces." But what's up with the sex noises?)

The Cryan' Shames will never attain the status of a classic band, but there's much worthwhile music here, especially A Scratch in the Sky. Fans of mid-60s American pop will find these albums a treat. Michael Toland

For fans of: the Hollies, the Left Banke, the Witch Hazel Sound