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Kurt Sampsel
Reviews:
September,
2003
The
Cryan' Shames
Sugar and Spice
(Columbia 1966/Sundazed 2002)
Proudly hailing from suburban
Chicago, Illinois, the Cryan' Shames emerged in 1966 and went
on to become one of Chicago's best remembered groups from
the era. Their debut single "Sugar and Spice" was
an instant success, and established the group almost overnight.
Originally done by British Invasion group the Searchers, "Sugar
and Spice" was an immediately infectious and utterly
irresistible pop song. Although the single proved to be their
greatest success in commercial terms, the Shames surpassed
it many times artistically. This debut album of the same name
was released later in 1966, and its fusion of harmony-based
pop and lush, Byrds-inspired folk/rock proved a powerful combination.
Sugar and Spice features
both sides of their breakthrough debut single, and while "Sugar
and Spice" is certainly a powerful pop song, its B-side,
the frantic "Ben Franklin's Almanac", is no slouch
either. Much of the rest of the album is filled out by a number
of well-chosen and -rendered covers, including the Byrds'
"She Don't Care about Time", George Harrison's "If
I Needed Someone", and an interesting version of the
obligatory "Hey Joe". Sugar and Spice also
boasts a few original compositions which sit very comfortably
alongside outside material even written by some of the best
songwriters of the era. The best of the originals include
the poppy "We Could be Happy", the aforementioned
"Ben Franklin's Almanac", and "I Wanna Meet
You", which was released as the equally good, but less
successful follow-up to "Sugar and Spice". Perhaps
the best original composition on the album however was the
sublime "July", a harmony-infused folk/rock masterpiece
with excellent lead guitar and bass work, clocking in at an
excruciatingly short 1:37.
"July" probably
represented their fusion of harmony pop and Byrds-ian folk/rock
at its very best. To supplement the original Columbia album,
Sundazed has added six bonus tracks (half of which are previously
unreleased) which add strength to what was already a pretty
strong album. The three previously released bonus tracks are
both sides of their third single "Mr. Unreliable"/"Georgia"
(the A-side of which is another excellent original composition),
and a version of the Beatles' "You're Gonna Lose That
Girl" which was released on a rare compilation LP called
Early Chicago. The unreleased tracks, "It Don't
Matter to Me" (originally done by Bread), "Bits
and Pieces", and "The Road", while excellent,
were recorded a full three years after the Sugar and Spice
album. For this reason, these three songs sound a bit out
of place alongside the Shames' 1966 material. Still, this
CD is a great reissue: the liners are attractive and informative,
the bonus tracks are unquestionably valuable, and the CD is
thoughtfully split between stereo and mono rather than presented
in either rechanneled stereo (as was the 1966 LP) or all mono.
It's obvious that a lot of care went into this reissue, as
well as the reissues of the Shames' other two fine albums
A Scratch in the Sky (1967) and Synthesis (1969).
Sugar and Spice is absolutely a reissue worth adding
to one's collection.
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