The Cryan' Shames
Synthesis [2002 Reissue] (1968)
Label:   
Length:  57:57
    Track Listing:
      1.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith and Jones    2:16
      2.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Baltimore Oriole    4:31
      3.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - It's All Right    2:10
      4.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Your Love    3:28
      5.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - A Master's Fool    3:40
      6.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - First Train To California    2:57
      7.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - The Painter    2:51
      8.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Sweet Girl Of Mine    2:26
      9.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - 20th Song    2:07
      10.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Let's Get Together    3:27
      11.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Symphony Of The Wind    3:24
      12.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - A Master's Fool - Single Version    3:40
      13.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - First Train To California - Single Version    2:59
      14.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith and Jones - Single Version    2:19
      15.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Your Love - Single Version    2:56
      16.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - 20th Song - Single Version    2:13
      17.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Let's Get Together - Mono Version    2:34
      18.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Bits and Pieces    2:36
      19.  
      		 The Cryan Shames - Rainmaker    5:14
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      This pegs the group's interest as drawing from both American West Coast pop groups like the Mamas and Papas, as well as stars like the Beatles, to make relatively adventurous pop-rock. Synthesis follows Scratch's technique of featuring songs in a variety of styles, but suffers from the loss of Fairs. He contributed one of Synthesis's two standout tracks: "First Train to California", a nice sunshine pop song drawing from squeaky clean acts like Mamas and Papas and the Beach Boys. The other is "Greenberg, Glickstein, David Smith and Jones", a full blown psychedelic rock song, with instruments turned up, phased production, and everything. While I give them marks for trying, Guillory may have discovered drugs, because his two pop epics ("A Master's Fall" and "Symphony of the Wind") close out both sides of the album. They sound like the band was emulating the Moody Blues' grandiose approach, but the melodies and lyrics flop. The chorus of his regular psych-pop song "The Painter" is also close to a parody: "I'm the funny painter man (he's the funny painter man)." A couple of pop songs are decent enough ("Baltimore Oriole" and "Sweet Girl of Mine"), but the rest of the album is pretty flat (curdling ballads, a Caribbean rhythm tune, etc). While they did not have horns tacked onto every track and avoided Paul Revere's mimeographed pop stylings, Synthesis is a disappointing final entry from the group.
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