Ain’t That The Shames! Now Sounds Reissues, Expands The Cryan’ Shames’ Psych-Pop LP “A Scratch In The Sky”

Put “California Girls” in a blender with “Cherish” and you might well wind up with something like “A Carol for Lorelei,” the bright, harmony-drenched pop nugget that opens The Cryan’ Shames’ sophomore album, 1968’s A Scratch in the Sky. Though the Chicago band recorded the LP in New York City, the good vibrations of the Summer of Love were clearly in the air back east for the Columbia Records artists. Whereas the band’s debut album Sugar and Spice was a blast of energetic rock and roll by way of Tony Hatch, George Harrison and Gene Clark, A Scratch in the Sky was an ambitious collection of mainly original songs on which The Cryan’ Shames used the studio as their playground. It’s just been reissued by Now Sounds in a stellar expanded all-mono edition with seven bonus tracks.

Between Sugar and Spice and A Scratch in the Sky, the band suffered a couple of key losses. Rhythm guitarist Gerry Stone was drafted, and replaced by Lenny Kerley. Bassist Dave Purple then departed, replaced by Isaac Guillory. Both Kerley and Guillory were talented multi-instrumentalists, however, and brought new possibilities for the group’s sound when they joined remaining members Jim Fairs (guitars/bass/vocals), Jim Pilster (vocals/tambourine), Tom Doody (lead vocals/autoharp/percussion), and Dennis Conroy (drums/percussion). Sugar producer Jim Golden was joined by Bob Monaco to helm Scratch, but if the producers (owners of the Destination label) were wary of their charges trying something different, it doesn’t show in the finished release featuring nine songs by the team of Fairs and Kerley and just two covers.

The Cryan’ Shames had made an impression with their first LP for strong harmonies and above-average instrumental talents. A Scratch in the Sky would take both of those qualities much further in embracing the nascent, often unpredictable sounds of psych-pop. With no slight to the Shames’ originality, they were able to distill disparate elements with invention and inspiration. Fairs and Kerley’s songs eschewed conventional song structure in large part, marrying intricate melodies, sophisticated arrangements and often impressionistic lyrics.

“The Sailing Ship” is redolent of The Byrds channeling The Beatles’ “Rain,” but goes its own way with Jim Fairs on bagpipes and Jim Pilster on backward cowbell (!). There’s a Brian Wilson beauty and bounce to the sweet, jaunty “It Could Be We’re in Love,” which preceded the album as a single release. Though it’s one of the most straightforward compositions on the album, with euphoric harmony vocals and an infectious melody, it’s still not without its quirks – such as an offbeat interlude punctuated by laughter. Both baroque and jazz styles inform the beguiling “what if” story “In the Café,” while the band runs amok with studio experimentation on the atmospheric, stylistically-shifting “The Town I’d Like to Go Back To.”

Still other productions on the album are leaner. “Mr. Unreliable” was a reworking of the Shames’ third single release, from 1967. With its tempo slowed down and the band more vocally confident, the new version oozed attitude, even if its lingering garage-rock feel and “Day Tripper”-style riff sound a bit out of place on A Scratch in the Sky. “Sunshine Psalm” isn’t what you might think based on the title; it’s actually one of the tougher rockers on the LP, with searing guitar. “Cobblestone Road,” though, has a freewheeling country feel. The hypnotic “I Was Lonely When” was another remake of a 1967 single, also to great effect. A spellbinding ballad worthy of The Association, it just might be the album’s most stunning track.

Whereas Sugar and Spice was dominated by familiar songs, only two covers found a place on A Scratch in the Sky – but they’re both choice. Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s oft-recorded “Up on the Roof” takes on a dreamy, lullaby-esque quality in the Shames’ treatment, with Pilster on French horn. “Dennis Dupree from Danville,” written by Geoff Bryan and Ron Holder of fellow Chicago band Saturday’s Children, is quite a bit more edgy and funky.

After the jump: what bonuses will you find on Now Sounds’ new Scratch in the Sky?  Plus: the full track listing and order links!

Henry Mancini’s “Who Is Killing The Great Chefs of Europe?” Inaugurates New Vintage Soundtrack Series From Varese

The 1978 film Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? billed itself as “a delicious mystery.”  Naturally, a delicious mystery would require a delicious score.  To accompany the film’s recipe of drama, suspense, comedy and action, director Ted Kotcheff turned to “top chef” Henry Mancini.  No stranger to all of those genres and more, composer-arranger-conductor Mancini crafted a score that became one of the film’s most memorable assets.  The long out-of-print soundtrack album, originally released on Epic Records and produced for records by Joe Reisman, has just arrived in its first-ever CD issue from Varese Sarabande as part of the label’s new Vintage Soundtracks series of limited editions.

Based on Nan and Ivan Lyons’ novel Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe, the movie follows renowned pastry chef Natasha O’Brien (Jacqueline Bisset) who arrives in London to aid in the preparation of a state dinner for the Queen organized by food critic Max Vandeveer (Robert Morley).  Max has recently published an issue of his food magazine highlighting his favorite chefs, and before long, they’re meeting their final fates, one by one, in grisly ways recalling their culinary specialties – i.e. the chef whose specialist is lobster gets drowned in a tank of lobsters, a baker gets offed in the oven, et cetera.  Screenwriter Peter Stone (Charade, 1776) adapted the novel with his trademark wit and ability to blend comedy with true suspense.

Mancini’s score never condescends, from the first notes of its baroque yet sprightly main title.  This cue makes it clear that the film won’t take itself too seriously.  It’s reprised in the cue “The Gathering” in humorously pompous style and again in “Fiery Finale,” which at 4 minutes, 20 seconds is the longest track here and one of the most dramatically action-packed.  Mancini’s cues reflect the European setting (“Pesce!”) and employ the composer’s typical good humor.  “The Moveable Feast,” his spoof of a television cooking show theme, is jaunty and delightfully over-the-top; in parts, it melodically recalls the supremely ironic tune crafted by John Kander for the title song to his musical Cabaret.

But despite the tongue-in-cheek moments, the score isn’t all as light as a soufflé.  “Late Night Call” is one of the cues to best showcase Mancini’s evocative writing for strings.  “Well Done Louis” underscores the death-by-oven of the Swiss chef, and reflects the maestro’s ability to create and control suspense as its eerie, subtle atmospherics build to a crescendo of terror.  The tension -packed “Italian Soup” and “They Hang Chefs, Don’t They?” further demonstrate the composer’s mastery of drama and darkness.  “The Final Feast” is a sorrowful, elegiac melody.

The urbane “Natasha’s Theme” for Bisset’s character is presented in four versions on the soundtrack album, two of which don’t appear in the final motion picture.  It’s introduced in “Bombe Richelieu,” and in “Natasha in Venice,” it takes on a haunting, music box-esque quality.  Mancini himself provides the solo piano on a lovely orchestral rendition recorded especially for the album.  “Natasha’s” isn’t one of the Mancini’s most soaring themes, however, remaining somewhat restrained and appropriately mysterious and tense.  The lush end title version wasn’t used in the film but is the most “pop” and very reminiscent of Mancini’s work on the television drama The Moneychangers from 1976.

We have more details, an order link and the track listing after the jump!