Hey, Have you heard THEM?

The Story of Them featuring Van Morrison-1964-1966

At some point, I will try not to review albums that have stigmas attached (because our parents love them or listened to them when they were young). However, when they say that your parents are always right, sometimes musically speaking I would have to agree.

Van Morrison, for some falls into that category. I can just picture my own mother driving along singing Brown-Eyed Girl and Moondance out of key while weaving in and out of traffic. These songs have made lists like Rolling Stones Magazines top 500 songs of all time, and are still played frequently on the radio. However, one thing that my mother and a lot of other people don’t know is that Van Morrison’s career started with a Northern Irish garage rock band, called Them in the mid 1960’s.
As a nineteen year old in 1964, Van Morrison’s vocal career began when he corresponded to an ad for musicians to play at an R&B club, where he formed the group called The Gamblers (later named Them after the famous 1950’s horror movie). Them was known for their performances because Morrison frequently improvised vocals, allowing the band to create songs as they went.

I don’t usually recommend a band’s collection of songs, versus individual albums because I feel that many songs go over looked. However, they were known for playing covers as well as their own songs so I think the collection of songs ‘The Story of Them featuring Van Morrison’ beautifully portrays their unique sound as a group, staying true to their original concept. The album sums up the two year long reign from 1964 to 1966, with their chart topping singles.
Aesthetically, the album ‘The Story of Them featuring Van Morrison’ is a melting pot of many different genres of music neatly wrapped together in a wonderful treat for the ears. Though regarded as a ‘garage rock band’, there are many different elements in their songs, that make that genre classification almost obsolete. The simple catchy lyrics of some cover songs like Go on Home Baby, “Her hair hangs down so straight/When she moves she looks so great” are very reminiscent of the British pop invasion. On the same album, tracks written by the band like If You and I Could Be as Two create a more somber feel, allowing more analytical thought with words like, “Was on a Sunday/And the autumn leaves were on the ground/I kicked my heart/When I saw you standing there in your dress of blue/The storm was over my ship sailed through.”

Listening to it mature later in his solo career, Van Morrison’s youthful scrappy voice, gives all of the songs an innocent quality on this album. Backed by heavy bass lines, poppy guitar parts, and in some songs synthesizers, harmonicas and tribal drum beats this album is reminiscent of the Rolling Stones, and also the pyschedelic rock sound of that time period. Many songs from this album went on to inspire bigger acts, which in itself is worth checking out the band. For example, their song Gloria (one of my favorites) was later covered at live concerts by The Doors, Bruce Springsteen, U2, David Bowie and was also reinvented and included on albums by Patti Smith and Jimi Hendrix.

Track Listing *= personal favorite
Note: The C.D version comes in 2 discs, however I only included the version available for download

1. 
   

1. The Story of Them Parts 1 & 2- 7:18

2. Don't Start Crying Now- 2:03

3. "Gloria"-2:35*

4. "Philosophy"- 2:35

5. "One Two Brown Eyes"-2:34

6. "Baby Please Don't Go"-2:40

7. "Here Comes the Night"-2:46*

8. "All for Myself"-2:47

9. "One More Time"-2:48

10."Little Girl"-2:47

11. "I Gave My Love a Diamond"-3:02

12. "Go on Home Baby"-2:32*

13. "My Little Baby"-2:00

14. "Mystic Eyes"-2:41*

15. "Don't Look Back"-3:20

16. "If You and I Could Be as Two"-2:51

17. "I Like it Like That"-3:16

18. "I'm Gonna Dress in Black"-3:29

19. "(Get your Kicks On) Route 66"-2:22

20. "Just a Little Bit"-2:21

21. "You Just Can't Win"-2:21

22. "Bright Lights, Big City"-2:30*

23. "Baby What You Want Me to Do"- 3:26

24. "I'm Gonna Dress in Black" (Alternate)-3:34

25. "One More Time" (Alternate)-2:45

26. "Little Girl" (Alternate)-2:47