Album cover for The Angry Young Them

Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard Gloria and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career.  The original five member band consisted of Morrison, Alan Henderson, Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison and Eric Wrixon.  The bands name was taken from the 1954 horror film Them!  The group was marketed in the United States as part of the British Invasion. Them scored two UK hits in 1965 with Baby, Please Don't Go (UK No.10) and Here Comes the Night (UK No.2; Ireland No.2).  The latter song and Mystic Eyes were Top 40 hits in the US. Van Morrison quit the band in 1966 and went on to a successful career as a solo artist.  Although Them had a short-lived existence, the Belfast group had considerable influence on other bands, such as The Doors whom they giged with at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in California.

Them Again, album cover

On 14 April 1964, an advertisement in a Belfast newspaper asked: Who Are?  What Are, THEM?.  Similarly curious advertisements followed until the Friday before the gig (17 April 1964) announced that Them would be performing that evening at Club Rado at the Maritime Hotel.  Attendance at the two hundred capacity venue quickly grew with a packed house by the third week. Them performed without a routine, fired by the crowd's energy: Morrison ad libbed songs as he performed and Gloria, the classic song he had written at eighteen years old, took shape here and could last up to twenty minutes. One fan's recording, of Turn On Your Love Light, the group's most popular number, made its way to Mervyn and Phil Solomon, who contacted Decca Records' Dick Rowe, who then traveled to Belfast to hear Them perform.  Rowe and Phil Solomon agreed on a two-year contract with the members of the band then signed up to Solomon.  Morrison, at eighteen had to have his father sign for him.  Within a few weeks, the group was taken to England and into the Decca's recording studio in West Hampstead for their first recording session.

The Angry Young Them 2nd US cover to feature Gloria

Them's first recording session took place in London on 5 July 1964.  Turn on Your Love Light and Gloria were recorded during this session as were both sides of their first single, Don't Start Crying Now and One Two Brown Eyes.  This session was remarkable in its employment of two drums tracks, which can be clearly heard in the stereo mixes of Gloria and One Two Brown Eyes.  Rowe used session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ and Bobby Graham on second drum kit.  At this late stage it became clear that the parents of Eric Wrixon, a minor in law, would not sign the contract on his behalf so he was replaced by Pat John McAuley.  The single, released in August, did not prove successful. Their next single, Big Joe Williams's Baby Please Don't Go substituted Andy White on drums, Phil Coulter on second keyboard, and added Jimmy Page on rhythm guitar.  Lead guitar was the work of Billy Harrison.  It was released in November with Gloria as its B-side.  In December 1964, Them made their television debut, joining The Rolling Stones, on Ready Steady Go!.  Their manager, Phil Solomon got the track used as the show's signature tune and within two weeks it was at No.26 on a UK Singles Chart, finally peaking in the Top Ten. Their next release was Them's biggest hit in the UK, Here Comes the Night.  On 11 April 1965, Them made a guest appearance at the NME Pollwinners Concert at Wembley Empire Pool: Jimmy Savile was MC for this event, which also included The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Searchers, The Moody Blues and Dusty Springfield.  The bands had been expected to keep to their current hits, but Them audaciously segued from Here Comes the Night into a seven-minute version of Turn on Your Lovelight.  After the performances, NME's Derek Johnson commented that Morrison had more genuine soul than any of his British contemporaries.

KRLA’s Beat, May 6, 1967 press release

The band released their first album, The Angry Young Them, in June 1965 (UK) and it appeared in the USA on Parrot Records in July.  But Them's next single, One More Time, chosen by Phil Solomon, failed – according to Billy Harrison because it never constituted single material.  In July 1965, the band added drummer Terry Noon and lead guitarist Joe Baldi but they left in September.  Their second album, Them Again, was released in January 1966 in the UK and in April 1966 in the USA. The group was marketed in the United States as part of the British Invasion.  Them Again had charted in the US (later that year Mystic Eyes, released as a single, reached No.33) and so they began a tour in May 1966.  From 30 May to 18 June, Them had a residency at the famous Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles.  For the final week The Doors opened for Them and on the last night the two bands and Morrisons jammed a twenty-minute version of Gloria and a twenty-five minute version of In the Midnight Hour.  Them went on to headline at The Fillmore in San Francisco and then to Hawaii, where disputes erupted among band members and with management over money resulting with The band broken apart. Van Morrison went on to great success and fame as a solo artist, but Them's combination of garage rock and blues proved a major influence on the next generations of rock musicians, and the group's best-known singles have become staples of rock and roll.  The band's 1964 recording of Gloria was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Wanderin' Spirit
January, 2015
"Them"

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