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Monday, April 25, 2016

Them

Hot on the heels of the recent Zombies post I give thee another British Invasion great (note: yes, I know they were actually from Ireland).....happened to hear "Here Comes the Night" on Sirius XM 21 today (Little Steven's Underground Garage, they play some pretty good stuff on there if you are unaware), and, anyway, what a great tune. All I have, actually, like the Zombies is this greatest hits kind of thing, but its worthwhile, in fact, its great (warning, it is in FLAC, how I get them is how YOU get them).....

Them, personnel wise, were singer Van Morrison, bassist Alan Henderson, drummer Ronnie Milling, guitarist Billy Harrison, and keyboardist Eric Wrixon......they formed in Belfast in 1964, and were, for a short while absolutely amazing and ahead of their times at the art of garage rock/r&b......they were a force only for a short time as Morrison left in 1966 for solo glory, yet, their influence is hard to overestimate. The single "Gloria", alone is perhaps THE seminal garage rock anthem (long, long ago I posted an entire album of "Gloria" covers, similar to the "Paint It Black" and "Louie Louie" (Brian and I tag-teamed that one) efforts I've put up since....."Hey Joe" is perhaps the only other 60's garage standard from which I could get an entire album, and I'm in no hurry to do so.

Anyway, great stuff here.....aside from "Gloria", and the aforementioned "Here Comes the Night", there is also "Stormy Monday", "Mystic Eyes" (featuring some badass harmonica from Morrison), "The Story of Them", and a handful more....you know, I really don't think (not sure) that I've EVER heard a proper "album" from them (rather than a singles comp), I know there were two, "The Angry Young Them" and "Them Again" neither of which I can recall hearing. Maybe I have, but not blazing to mind, anyone want to come to my aid here?

Anyway a fine batch of singles, nothing rare or special for this collection, just some of the finest music of the era.

THEM FEATURING VAN MORRISON-01 Gloria/02 The Story of Them/03 Stormy Monday/04 Mystic Eyes/05 Hey Girl/06 Baby Please Don't Go/07 Here Comes the Night/08 My Lonely Sad Eyes/09 Richard Cory/10 It Won't Hurt (Half as Much)/11 Turn On Your Love Light/12 I Put a Spell On You/13 Don't Look Back

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