Customer Reviews

Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison

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You would not believe just how bad the music scene in Ireland was during the sixties. While the UK and USA had R&B groups we in the South had showbands and massive dance halls controlled by the Church. In Northern Ireland the halls were smaller but were not controlled by the Catholic Church but as every thing was closed on Sunday weekends were somewhat limited. However they had "THEM" one of the best R&B bands ever but the people of Northern Ireland were not over impressed by their good fortune.

The problem was that the band was not popular in Belfast, their hometown, because of resentment due to the rate at which personnel changed. During performances the audience threw pennies at the band members ... a way of showing displeasure.

Things in the studio were not much better and rumour has it that band members other than Van Morrison never played on the early singles and that musical backing was supplied by "Zoot Money and His Big Roll Band" (may not be exact name). Apparently "Mystic Eyes" one of the best recordings ever made by Them happened by accident ... the band turned up for a session with no prepared material and while they were engaged in an argument about who's fault it was (a bit like Spinal Tap) Van took out his Harmonica and started playing with some unknown musicians jamming in the background and fortunately the engineer had left the tape running. Music historians may claim that all the above is nothing but urban myth but I did see the band in action and can confirm that they lived up to their reputation.

Them were booked to perform in the Stella Ballroom in Mount Merrion. Mount Merrion was a wealthy middle class area in South Dublin and as the Stella was not controlled by the Church the management was adventurous and often booked groups rather than showbands (people such Larry Addler's son Peter who's band was pretty good). Because of our age myself and my friends could not gain admittance but we discovered an open emergency exit at the side of the stage and we were able to see and hear everything.

To the best of my knowledge this was the 16Th version of the band and the line up was as follows Alan Henderson, Van Morrison, Jim Armstrong, Sammy Stitt (Van's Cousin)

The show started about an hour late (not unusual in Ireland) and the band was terrible. They were so drunk that they thought they were still in the US (they had recently returned from a tour) each member appeared to be performing a different song and the drummer was on a different planet ... we were huge fans so we were shocked, horrified and very upset especially because they were showing that our parents had been right all along. After about forty minutes of total disaster Van (who was totally sober and focused) managed to gain control and saved the day by performing more-or-less solo and he was brilliant. He gave an incredible performance of "Mystic Eyes".

During an interval Van Morrison came out to where we were standing and totally ignored us (this is unusual for a performer from Northern Ireland or any part of Ireland ... they are usually very friendly and talkative) he took out a cigarette without taking the pack and lit it. When he was finished it he threw it on the ground and tried to stub it out but as it was dark he stood on my foot instead. He then turned and went back in without saying anything . We assumed that he was so rude because of the band was a disaster but to be honest I never had any heroes since then. This time last year I picked up a book in a second hand book shop and in it Van Morrison was described as the man you would lease want to be stuck on a desert island with and based on my experience I can understand the comment.

Since then I adopted the approach that it is the music and not the character or lifestyle of performer which is important so despite the fact that "THEM" was a badly flawed band from Belfast they managed to produce some of the best urban R&B singles ever recorded and they acted as a platform for Van Morrison to launch his very successful solo career. Unlike most other music fans I preferred the early Morrison, his latest material does nothing for me.

Now that you know something about the band it is time to tell you about the album.

Even though the band was totally self destructive they (or somebody) produced some of the best urban R&B music ever made available to the record buying public and no matter what album you buy there will be enough really good stuff to really delight you. But as none of the albums have a theme or an overall sense of unity there is no reason to waste money buying original albums if you can get all or most of the worthwhile tracks on a "best-of-collection".

Van the Man was responsible for writing most of the original Them material, including "Mystic Eyes"and the much covered "Gloria" (excuse the unintended pun), a rock anthem for generations to come but for me the best track is, without a shadow of doubt, "Baby Please Don't Go" with a guitar solo performed by Jimmy Page (could be a myth, the facts are not readily available) and I believe that it is worth getting the album just for this track alone. However, there is plenty more really good stuff such as "One Two Brown Eyes", "Just A Little Bit" and "Here Comes The Night"

If you like the Animals, The Stones, the Pretty Things or Punk Rock you cannot fail to be impressed by Them. They were Irish lads but they really understood Black music.

Read the other reviews...most are spot on, but there's some problems with this reissue.

5 of the tracks are horribly rechanneled with "stereo" percussion on one channel that was added for a 1970's US Parrot 2-LP set:
"Mystic Eyes"
"Don't Look Back"
"I Like It Like That"
"Route 66"
"Little Girl" (alternate)

None of these bits of percussion are on the original mono versions and since all of the above tracks are rechanneled, you can see the error (who at US London back then allowed this to happen?...and why are all of the subsequent reissues containing these songs using these horrible rechanneled "stereo" versions??)

Also, there are an additional 5 tracks that are rechanneled for stereo:
"Turn On Your Love Light"
"Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough"
"Stormy Monday"
"My Lonely Sad Eyes"
"I Can Only Give You Everything"

"Stormy Monday" and "Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough" have always been rechanneled, but the other three were only issued this way on the US Parrot "Them Again" vinyl LP and nowhere else in the world. Even the "Them Again" CD from the 1990's had these three in mono.

The remainder of the tracks are either clean mono or terrific stereo.

Oh yea, finally, "Philosophy", an amazing and obscure track, was recorded at the same stereo session as "Gloria" and "One Two Brown Eyes", yet it's mono here. That, too, is a disappointment.

So...everything good about this 2-CD set written above is right, but these errors are very annoying and you have a right to know up front.

"Them" is basically Van Morrison. This two-CD album contains a compilation of his music from his early days, when he was playing with Them. It is heavily blues influenced, but a lot of the music is also very upbeat and fast paced. The songs are a lot of fun to listen to, and Van Morrison's voice is well-utilized in this genre of music--indeed, the power of his voice makes the music. If you like Van's early music, such as the compilation Bang Masters, then you should love this. You've already heard Van's early hits -- many of which are here -- but this album should really be bought for those songs which SHOULD have been hits, but for some reason didn't make it. Yes, it is pricey, but I do believe it is worth it for any Van fan.

This 2 CD compilation of Van Morrison's Them at first sight seem to contain everything a fan of Morrison's early recordings with the various incarnations of his band "Them" could wish for.

The music is digitally remastered and the large majority of the tracks sound great. All the group's singles, their two albums, their EP-tracks - in short everything seems to have been to be included - with one single exception: My favorite track from the 1976 collection "Rock Roots" - "Mighty Like a Rose" is not here. Is this an oversight? No, the notes can tell that "the demo "Mighty Like a Rose" has been excluded from this album". I wonder if Morrison himself has decided that this should be left out - justifying it by calling it a demo? It can be difficult to see logic in this - the sound "Roots Rock" is definitely good - better than several of the other tracks on that album. I think the song is among the best Morrison wrote to the group, and his vocals are top notch. Could there be something in the lyrics which makes him feel embarrased? I find the lyrics somewhat akin to the classic "Brown Eyed Girl".

Well, no more of the deficiencies. This really is a nice release, and Them recorded along with The Pretty Things, The Animals and the Rolling Stones some the best r&b music which was released in Britain in the mid-Sixties.

Most famous probably are "Gloria," "Mystic Eyes" and "Here Comes the Night" - but most of what is here is of very high quality and no songs could be called outright weak. Morrison's vocals are in themselves a scoop - especially on melodic blues ballads like "One More Time," "I Gave My Love a Diamond", "If You and I Could Be As Two", "I'm Gonna Dress in Black, "" You Just Can not Win "and" My Lonely Sad Eyes ".

Lesser known tracks like "Friday's Child" and "Call My Name" are other of my favourites.

There are disco-graphical notes on all tracks and many rare photographs and covers. A real biography is missing, however.

This, of course, is minor thing, and the CD is highly recommendable.

What is amazing to me is that Van Morrison put out some of the most loudest and raunchy songs (if there is any true "father of punk rock" Van or Pete Townshend would have to fight for it...) and then did something amazing like "Astral Weeks" just a few years after they broke up (although there are a few hints here and there...)

The boys from Belfast somehow managed to make it in the US as part of the "British Invasion", but wound up collapsing in a short period of time, but the legacy left behind makes the 2 albums they did (a majority of which is on this collection minus a song or 2) as important as anything the Stones, Animals, Kinks, and Who did around that time.

Van proves his worth as a songwriter with originals "Gloria", "One Two Brown Eyes" and "Mystic Eyes", but also dives into Bob Dylan and Paul Simon material (amazing covers of "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" and "Richard Cory") doing it the only way Them do it... and tips a nod to Americans like Jimmy Reed and Fats Domino with "Bright Lights Big City" and "Hello Josephine") as well as hit classics "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Here Comes The Night", the band pulls off the songs (and years later Van would do 2 of the songs with John Lee Hooker(!).

Surprisingly, Them didn't have the hit with "Gloria" in the states. That band was Shadows of Knight, providing the first of many covers that people have done of Van's songs.

All this and he hadn't even done "Brown Eyed Girl" yet! Let alone "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance"...

This to me is a must-own for fans of 60s music or if you picked up the "Nuggets" box set and love the rawness of 60s garage rock, you'll truly love this one. A lot of it holds up 40 years later when most music out today barely makes it past 1 month. If you love Northern Soul music, The Animals, Kinks and The Who's early stuff and want proof that Ireland had a great band long before U2 and Thin Lizzy, look no further.

This is Van's true "Philosopher's Stone".

Classic rock to the bone. Don't buy it for the hits -- buy it for the B-siders you might not have heard. It has all the benefits of Morrison's soul and blues influences. But, the main oomph comes from the classic garage-band rock feel.

Normally the price that companies ask for such compilations is ridiculous. After all, these tapes have been sitting around for decades. You think producers and artists would give consumers a break. This collection is probably worth the asking price, though. Plenty of good material. Not too many "alternate takes." Also, for once we don't get pages and pages of liner notes explaining the importance of the music by some rock "journalist." Primitive Van Morrison doing what he used to love to do (before he started taking himself way too seriously). My only complaint was the decision to leave off the great "Mighty Like A Rose." A fantastic cut supposedly left off because Morrison felt it was a demo and did not belong. I suspect, the somewhat religious Morrison of today now objects to the thick sexual-and-drug references that fill the song. Too bad for the fans.

"Them" was just a little before my time but I have been a fan of Van Morrison since the release of "Brown-Eyed Girl". Of course I'd heard "Gloria" and that was never a particular favorite. Even so I was unfamiliar with other "Them" songs, my love for Van's music is such that I was willing to purchase a related album that was receiving rave reviews in the music press. Certainly I'm glad I did. Many "best of" compilations contain a couple decent songs with a lot of second-rate filler and even pure crap thrown in to constitute an "album". Happily, "The Story of Them, Featuring Van Morrison" did not. I still don't like "Gloria", but that aside, this album is eminently listenable and filled with one good song after another. Fans of Van Morrison can close their eyes and envision his future greatness as the album plays through. Now there is nothing "great" on this album, but when seen in the context of its times, the music, though primitive to modern ears, is very advanced. My favorites are the almost narrative "Story of Them" (a good story, indeed, filled with youthful angst and bravado), "Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough", "Here Comes the Night", and the cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Richard Cory". Shades of the Animals are heard in "I'm Gonna Dress In Black" and in "Bright Lights- Big City". All in all, this is an album worthy of any Van Morrison fan or of anyone who likes an unpretentious non-commercial mid-sixties sound.

First off, "The Story of Them" is a great album. You haven't heard Van Morrison until you have heard "Mystic Eyes" (currently only available on the first "Sopranos" soundtrack) and Van's take on "Richard Cory." It's a shame that this album is currently out of print.

The good news is that Van Morrison's official website states that this album will be remastered and re-released this year, along with 28 other vintage Van Morrison albums.

Don't be gouged for an overpriced used copy when you can buy a new one in a few short months! When I wrote this review, someone was actually asking $175.00 for this. . .

This is great stuff! If you like good old, 50's and 60's rock and r&b with an edge you'll love this. Similar to early Stones records! I've had all the various out of print original Them albums for quite a while, but this package is great not only because it gathers all their stuff on two discs, but also because it sounds much better due to remastering. This is what early rock is all about. Enjoy!