The Cry - The Cry

I managed to score a sealed copy of The Cry's 1980 debut. I'll admit I knew nothing about them before snagging the album. It had an interesting cover and the back cover photo seemed to exude some pretty serious new wave vibes. Skinny ties and striped shirts and tight pants.

From the first cut this was indeed new wave keyboard / organ pop that was blending the first wave of post punk. That same year The Kings would be mining the same musical vein with their debut. The difference is you've likely heard of The Kings and their one-two punch of "This Beat Goes On" and "Switchin' to Glide," and you have no idea who The Cry were. It doesn't help at all that The Cry are nowhere to be found on any of the streaming sites. This is actually really, really good stuff, and this would have been right at the forefront of what was going on.

As expected, there was very little out there about The Cry, at least this version of The Cry. There were a couple of other iterations that shared the name. However, poking through Discogs coughed up a little more information, but not muxh. The band released three albums in quick succession, all of them on or distributed by RCA. This was major label stuff at least, which makes it hard to fathom why this is so obscure.

What really surprised me was the realization that The Cry's frontman Kimball Fox was actually Kim Berly. Yeah, that Kim Berly, the singing drummer from Stampeders. This was a bit of a head bender. Now, I'm the first to admit I have a real soft spot for them, and I even have a copy of their maligned 1979 release Ballsy (that didn't have Rich or Kim), which was a bit of an odd duck. There wasn't anything in the band's back catalogue that hinted at what Kim had up his sleeve for his second act.

The Cry was fresh. This was a band that was hungry, and they were forging their way into the future. I suppose that's why Mr. Meyer went with a different pseudonym and decided not to sit on the throne and got up behind the mic.

I'm really loving this one. There isn't a dud in the bunch, and there are some absolute killers on the album. "Something Like That" is a blistering power pop song, and the album's closer "Who Cares" is an amazing mid-tempo angst-filled masterclass. Yeah, I'm probably going a little over the top, but my goodness this is really good stuff. Even the cover of the Kinks classic (I'm being generous, I never really thought much of this song) "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is really good. Unlike the whiny original, this version had teeth and swagger.

As good as this is, we all know how things worked out for The Cry, and a host of other early '80s new wave bands (Yeah, I'm thinking of The Kings) with skinny ties. Adapt or perish. Most didn't make it, and I have no idea if The Cry would have managed to reinvent themselves, likely not, but they at least deserved to be remembered.

Eventually Rich and Kim and Ronnie would get back together, and are still out there showing the kids how it's done. The Cry is much more than a footnote or an asterisk beside Kim Berly's name. He's a Canadian icon.

I know I like to go on about lost classics and buried treasures, but this, this is one of those rare finds that makes me sad to think is just locked away somewhere.

Shame. 

You may be thinking to yourself, "He's stopping there with shame? He stopped there? Goodness, Jehosephat in a red sippy cup, there was a Crying closer right there ... RIGHT THERE."

That's right. Who's crying now?

Dang, I'll see myself out.

Shame.