Liverpool’s Cherry Boys were a brilliant sixties band stuck in the eighties. They saw little success in the UK, but “Kardomah Café” made the top 50 chart in Spain. The band consisted of John Byrne (aka John Cherry) on vocals & guitar, Keith Gunson on vocals & bass, James Hughes on vocals & keyboards, and Howie Minns on drums. Icicle Works drummer Chris Sharrock was part of the band early on and appeared on their first single “Man to Man.” Hughes and Minns went on to form Exhibit B (most famous for their “It’s Hypothetical” single).
Listen to The Cherry Boys – Kardomah Café (12″ version)
[dewplayer:http://www.shelflife.com/mp3-bin/b_thecherryboys.mp3]
Discography:
“Man To Man” b/w “So Much Confusion” 7″, Open Eye (1981)
“Only Fools Die” b/w “Come That Day” 7″, Cherryoza (1982)
“Kardomah Café” b/w “Airs and Graces” 7″/12″, Crash (1983)
“Shoot The Big Shot” b/w “Falling” 7″, Crash (1983)
“Shoot The Big Shot” b/w “Falling” & “Dont Leave Me That Way” 12″, Crash (1983)
“Kardomah Café” b/w “Airs and Graces” & “Plead Sanity” 12″, Satril, (1984)
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Heard the 2nd half of this track on radio 2 the other night- couldn’t date it or place it- didn’t know if it was a new release or a 60’s relic. Timeless and haunting.
Comment by Adrian — 6 Apr @ 12:00 pm
have the 12 inch vinyl red, would love to have the mp3 of it can you help thanks Ste
Comment by Ste — 26 Apr @ 2:27 am
wow i love this song – i herd it on radio 2 and have been looking for it for weeks haha is it a download single?
Comment by Carl — 4 May @ 4:43 pm
this brings back good times – i remember this was playing all the time in the summer of 83′ one of my fav songs of all time for sure
Comment by dave — 4 May @ 4:45 pm
This is my favourte song
Comment by Joe — 11 May @ 6:22 am
wheres this from?
Comment by dave — 19 May @ 10:23 am
Just so you know the third track on the 12″ of ‘Shoot the big shot’ is called ‘Dont leave me that way’
Comment by joe — 18 Jun @ 5:17 pm
Thanks, I updated the discog above. I need to track down that 12″
Comment by ed — 18 Jun @ 5:25 pm
yer its deff worth getting its a red disk not black – the version of k’ cafe you have on here is from the 12″ record the 7″ is shorter without the pro longed intro
Comment by joe — 18 Jun @ 9:22 pm
I got confused just then i was thinking you didnt have the kardomah 12″ haha – but the big shot one is worth finding – cos the track is also longer and dont leave me that way is great also
Comment by joe — 18 Jun @ 9:26 pm
Ed, Glad you posted this! I was going to write a bit about them but never seem to get around to it. They are one of my favourite Liverpool bands and Kardomah Cafe is such a brilliant song. I first discovered them on a cassette, which I have forgotten the name of, that featured many lesser known Liverpool bands like The Glass Torpedoes, Freeze Frame and others and fell in love with this song. I searched for stuff by them for a while and finally tracked down a single and 2 of the 12″ ep’s in Montreal. I got a copy of the “Only Fools Die” single at Shake Records, here in Ottawa but I think I am missing a few of the variations. Someone from the UK told me he had a promo cassette by them but I still have not been able to track this down. Some of the mp3’s of their songs can be found at the Ism’s site.
Comment by Wally — 23 Jul @ 5:07 pm
Here is the link for the music isms site – http://music-isms.blogspot.com/2008/02/cherry-boys-some-recordings-1981-83.html
I also didn’t realize that Chris from The Icicle Works was in the band.
Comment by Wally — 23 Jul @ 5:12 pm
The cassette is called ‘Give it rice’ for above comment :)
Comment by joe — 1 Aug @ 6:45 pm
The cassette mentioned by Wally was called Crackin Up At The Pyramid. My name is Steve Byrne and I had the good fortune to be the singer in Freeze Frame. Kardomah Cafe is a top tune and sounds as good now nearly 30 years on as it did then. My email is sjb1606@aol.com if anyone wants to stay in touch.
Comment by Steve Byrne — 12 Aug @ 2:24 pm
Have’t heard this for long time but has always stuck in my mind, a great somg no matter what time it came out . Reminds me of when Janice Long was on radio Merseyside
Comment by ged — 12 Sep @ 4:26 pm
Have a signed single of Man to Man, would love to have the rest of the rest of The Cherry Boys recordings on mp3
Comment by Paula — 16 Dec @ 2:04 pm
Loved them since hearing their Peel session as a kid alone in my bedroom. Wish they never stopped. Why don’t you write?
Comment by Roshni — 1 Feb @ 11:18 am