THE SHAPIROS
16 July 2006 | Por 360 grados | Categorías: 90's, Grupos
It’s supposed that, all through the years, you end up admiring some artists who have always gone with you. But, as any other feeling, it doesn’t know about objective reasons, so, years pass and you leave ,thoughtlessly, those groups with greater merit to hold this privileged place in your thoughts. This way,since a long time ago, I have turned some artists into my friends, although I don’t know them at all. I think about people as Ruth Miller (Po!) , my favourite voice, or Julian Henry (The Hit Parade) , pop genius and wise of any time. Also, I have unfairly forgotten other artists who have given me so many satisfactions.
Pam Berry is one of the better examples of the unfair oblivion, not only personal but collective. It’s difficult to think about a more lively person and a more extensive career (talking about Indie Pop). Probably, the final balance referred to quantity of songs, is not exaggerated, but, all through the years, Pam Berry has entertained us with her projects. We could discover her with Black Tambourine, her most noisy project, they were precursors of American Indie Pop in the first 90’s, but, since then, she has taken part in a lot of groups, from Belmondo to the indispensable Glo-Worm, Veronica Lake (the most beautiful name of a group in the world), The Castaway Stones or her last signs of life, The Pines or Snowdrops, all of them are groups indispensable for fans of that anorexic Pop which has given good results with our heroine.
But, among every groups of Pam Berry, I think The Shapiros is my favourite one. They got the best results. It’s Surprising if we think about the brief existence of a group active only during three weeks. The quartet was created during a visit to U.S.A, Mark Cummings (Cat’s Miaow) joined together with Pam Berry, Scott kelly (Veronica Lake) and Trish Roy (Heartworms) to bring the shapiros to life, and during a brief period of time, they had enough time to enjoy, record a few songs and ever acting in a pair of occasions.
The sound of The Shapiros is not very different from other Pam Berry adventures, perhaps it’s even softer and more delicate that other groups as Glo-Worm, who were more strident. This way, The Shapiros are similar to proposal as Cat’s Miaow, the group of Mark Cummings. Pan voice is more convincing then never before with the only company of se the instrumental simplicity of guitars, bass and drums. Her voice and the marvellous melodies turn each song into treasures of eternal melancholy.
In proof of The Shapiros existence, there are a pair of 7” in Fantastic Records and Popfactory, there are also a few themes in compilations of Drive In and Library Records. All of them are properly compilated together with some new theme in the Cd The Shapiros which was published (and It’s even available) in Library Records in 2001. It’s expected to be bought by all Pam Berry fans. The record contains 12 themes: 3 beautiful versions of Beat Happening, 14 Iced Bears, The Shirelles , and 9 new themes. In this case, the 7” doesn’t add something new to the digital format, so there is no extra-musical surprise.
The compilation Cd about the career of The Shapiros is available in the web of Library and also in well known shops which deal with Indie pop.
[…] Pamela Berry. Pam Berry. Este nombre es sinónimo de una de las voces más elegantes y privilegiadas del pop independiente y de singles maravillosos e inolvidables. Hace tiempo hablé de su grupo más conocido quizás, los Glo-worm, pero como ya comenté, Pam ha estado en muchos otras bandas, todas de vida efÃmera. De ellas, mi favorita son sin duda The Shapiros, grupo que apenas tuvo un mes de vida, concretamente septiembre de 1994. El caso es que coincidió que un amigo australiano de Pam, ni más ni menos que Bart de los Cat´s Miaow –una de las primeras bandas que traté en el blog-, pasaba el verano en los Estados Unidos y se acercó a Washington DC, donde entonces vivÃa Pam; y a su vez, Scott, otro amigo que tocaba en el grupo enigmático Veronica Lake –qué actriz, qué mirada- también se habÃa traslada hasta la capital. Total, que pensaron que serÃa una gran idea componer algunas canciones y grabarlas como recuerdo, acompañados de Trish, una amiga de Pam (es que es muy tÃmida, se lo digo yo que la vi en Londres hace unos años :). Y eso es lo que hicieron durante dos o tres semanas bajo los controles de Archie, de Velocity Girl y mil grupos más (otro que tal). De entre todos los temas que surgieron de esas sesiones, se quedaron con doce, uno de ellos una brillante versión del clásico Will you still love me tomorrow de Gerry Goffin y Carole King, y que fueron apareciendo en algunos singles y recopilatorios y, años más tarde, en un disco resumen de toda su “carreraâ€. Desde entonces los finales de verano, las tardes aburridas de domingo en las que uno se pregunta cuándo aparecerá ella o aquellos momentos en los que uno espera esa llamada que nunca llega ya tienen la música que los ilustre. Quien no se conforma es porque no quiere. […]
Hola!
Esta semana he recibido el último disco de Bart And Friends y a colación he recuperado los dos recopilatorios que tengo de The Cat’s Miaow. Estaba convencido de que Pam Berry era la que ponÃa las voces en este grupo, pero al no verla en los créditos he hecho una búsqueda en google (cómo no, aparece tu blog entre las primeras entradas) y veo que no es asÃ, que ella sólo colaboró junto a Bart Cummings (supongo que es una errata el Mark de tu artÃculo) en The Shapiros.
Vamos, que llevo unos pocos años totalmente equivocado :-((((
No te entiendo, Rubén. ¿En qué me he equivocado?
Manuel Soleado