The Cryin' Shames / Paul & Ritchie & The Crying Shames / The Bumblies Please Stay

“‘Please Stay’, by The Cryin’ Shames, was the last song by producer Joe Meek to enter the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 26. Released on 18 February 1966, the song should have reached the top, but its progress was held back by the fact that the Decca record label had not pressed enough copies to meet demand. The collaboration should have been long and successful for both of them, but the Cryin’ Shames story is cursed with bad luck and, sadly, within a year of the success of ‘Please Stay’ the band broke up and Joe Meek died. This compilation brings together a first part of the material collected by Cherry Red on the double CD ‘The Tea Chest Tapes’ . The group began as The Bumblies, formed in Liverpool in 1963 by bassist George Robinson and singer Joey Kneen who had previously been in a band called The Calderstones, that included Tom Evans, who later went on to form the group Badfinger. The Bumblies’ name was taken from a television series of the same name featuring Michael Bentine. The rest of the line-up included Charlie Crane (vocals, harmonica), John Bennett (guitar), Phil Roberts (keyboards) and Charlie Gallagher (drums). Charlie Crane would be known in addition as ‘Carl’ or ‘Paul’ to avoid confusion with the other Charlie in the group. Joe Meek didn’t like the band’s choice of name so they changed it to The Cryin’ Shames. Ritchie Routledge replaced Bennett (guitar) after the recording of their debut single ‘Please Stay’. Derek Cleary (bass/guitar) replaced Robinson in time to play on their second single ‘Nobody Waved Goodbye’. After the original Cryin’ Shames fell apart, Routledge and Crane formed a group known as Paul And Ritchie And The Crying Shames with new members Brian Norris (bass), Mike Espie (guitar), Pete Byrne (organ) and Paul Commerford (drums). They released one single, ‘September In The Rain’. The group (as The Bumblies) auditioned for Joe Meek in late October or early November 1965 - the exact date cannot be ascertained because Meek’s tapes contain very little information, and only one or two of the more than seven hundred tapes actually bear a recording date...” (liner notes extracted from the Cherry Red’s booklet made by Mr. Craig Newton)