The Cryin' Shames

Liverpool's the Cryin' Shames ranked among numerous acts guided by producer Joe Meek, though the group endured only long enough to issue two singles during 1966. Meek applied his signature otherworldly production approach to the haunting ballads "Please Stay" and "Nobody Waved Goodbye," while the B-sides mirrored period trends through echoes of Dylan and Merseybeat. The band fractured soon after those releases yet endured for decades via compilation appearances. The anthology Paul & Ritchie & the Cryin' Shames: Please Stay reached the market in 2024.

Earlier, throughout the initial years of the 1960s, the lineup operated as the Bumblies until a December 1965 reconfiguration that added guitarist Ritchie Routledge to the existing roster of bassist George Robinson, drummer Charlie Gallagher, keyboardist Phil Roberts, and vocalists Joey Kneen and Charlie Crane. Their debut single, a reading of the Bacharach-penned ballad "Please Stay" overseen by Joe Meek, advanced to the number 26 position on the U.K. charts. The achievement prompted an approach from Beatles manager Brian Epstein regarding representation, which the musicians rejected. Active incidentally at the same moment as Chicago-based psychedelic pop group the Cryan Shames, the Cryin' Shames recorded one additional single with a revised lineup, "Nobody Waved Goodbye," then altered both name and personnel to release the Meek-produced "September in the Rain" as Paul & Richie & the Cryin' Shames in 1996. Crane and Routledge now led this configuration, supported by an entirely new set of backing players. The various members scattered into separate projects across the remainder of the 1960s and through the 1970s, while the Cryin' Shames' limited tracks later supplied material for garage and freakbeat collectors. In 2024 Cherry Red Records released the two-disc anthology and rarities collection Paul & Ritchie & the Cryin' Shames: Please Stay within its Joe Meek's Tea Chest Tapes series, assembling every commercially issued track plus abundant unreleased and unfinished recordings along with songs from one-time member Derek Cleary's later group Friendly Persuasion.