The Complete Them & Shows # 615 & # 616

In December 2015, The Complete Them 1964-1967 was released via Legacy/Exile Productions. The set compiles all of the recordings made by Them, the band that featured a young Van Morrison. In the linear notes to this set, which were written by Van Morrison himself, he states that Them was “a way for me to sing and play the blues”. Them drew influence from early R&B and blues artists such as Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley Slim Harpo and Muddy Waters, among others. He took the raw blues sound and influence and it was applied to Them. Forming in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1964, Them began first became known for their live performances at the Maritime Hotel. The original group featured Van Morrison on vocals/harmonica, Billy Harrison (guitar), Alan Henderson (bass), Eric Wrixton (keyboards) and Ronnie Millings on drums. Them’s R&B and blues covers were executed in a musical style that would become known as garage rock. Them soon found their way to Decca Records and recorded their first session in July of 1964. They recorded songs such as “Don’t Start Crying Now”, “One Two Brown Eyes”, the popular live favourite “Turn On Your Love Light”, the future garage rock staple “Gloria” and a few others.

Soon after this recording session, the band line-up began to shuffle and Them featured numerous different session musicians on their recordings. It was also during this early point in Van Morrison’s career where he began working with producer/songwriter Bert Burns. One of his contributions to Them was the song “Here Comes The Night”, which was recorded along with a cover “Baby Please Don’t Go”. In this set’s linear notes, Morrison describes first hearing this song on an acoustic guitar. The version that was recorded features Van Morrison’s raw and soulful vocal delivery, and guitar performed by then session musician Jimmy Page. “Here Comes The Night” was Them’s third single. It reached number two on the UK singles charts and number 24 on the US singles charts when it was originally released in October of 1964. Them continued to record with varying lineups. They released several singles and two full-length albums, The Angry Young Them (1965) and Them Again (1966), all of which are included on The Complete Them 1964-1967.

Part of what makes this collection of recordings from other Them compilation releases, most notably The Story Of Them, is the fact that the mono recordings featured here are sourced from the original master tapes from Decca. In addition to this, the third disc featured in this collection features 24 songs made up of demos, alternate versions of session tracks and live recordings from BBC’s Saturday Club. Some of the alternate versions of songs featured here are drastically different. The slow build of “Turn On Your Love Light”, as mentioned earlier, a popular live favourite during the band’s live set in their early days. This version picks up to a rapid R&B rave-up pace, rivaling the previously released studio version. “Go On Home Baby (Take 4)” features more sprawling, aggressive guitar and vocals, while “I Gave My Love A Diamond (Take 8)” is drenched in tremolo guitar, staccato guitar parts and glassy sounding bass. There are numerous nuggets like this throughout this 69-song set. The name Them has often been described as being influenced by the 1954 science fiction film of the same name, but in the linear notes to this set, it is also revealed that it was partly influenced by an ad for another band in Melody Maker. Throughout this set, we can see Van Morrison develop and reveal a sound of raw, wide-eyed garage rock seeped in the blues, to a more soulful sound. It was at this point in 1967 that Van Morrison would branch off from Them and would then go onto a successful solo career.



Below are the playlists for the two most recent episodes of Revolution Rock (Download links are below each playlist):

Show # 616 (Originally Aired on June 4th, 2016):

1. Them - Baby Please Don’t Go (Take 4)
2. Them - Turn On Your Love Light (Alternate Version)
3. Them - Richard Cory
4. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Frying Pan
5. The Standells - Rari
6. The Howlies - She’s In Control
7. The Velveteins - Beach Reprise
8. The North Carolina Music Love Army - Stick To The Plan
9. Papa Ghostface - Samhain
10. Border Patrol - This World
11. Jose Contreras - Psychic Radio
12. Art Bergmann - A Town Called Mean
13. Art Bergmann - In Betweens
14. Daniel Romano - I Had To Hide Your Poem In A Song
15. White Fang - Chunks
16. Monomyth - Transmission
17. The Ronald Reagan Story - Ronnie (I Voted For You)
18. The Minstrels Of Truth - I Want Your Business
19. Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
20. The Police - No Time This Time
21. Gang Of Four - Call Me Up
22. Dee Dee Ramone & The Chinese Dragons - What About Me?
23. The Vores - Stress
24. The Bureaucrats - Grown Up Age
25. Idols - You
26. Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World
27. Old Code - Crooked Smile
28. The Mark Inside - Where You Are
29. The Mark Inside - Shark Attack (I Can See Them Circling)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 4.

Show # 615 (Originally Aired on May 28th, 2016):

1. Fire Engines - Discord
2. Walrus - Fur Skin Coat
3. The Burning Hell - Nostalgia
4. Simply Saucer - Dance The Mutation
5. White Lung - Dead Weight
6. Supermoon - Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves
7. Frankie Cosmos - Sinclair
8. Car Seat Headrest - Fill In The Blank
9. Adriean Teacher And The Subs - Terminal City
10. Outrageous Cherry - Sign Of The Times
11. Shotgun Jimmie - Province To Province
12. John Lennon - Crippled Inside
13. Bob Dylan - As I Went Out One Morning
14. Bob Dylan - Melancholy Mood
15. Bob Dylan - That Old Black Magic
16. The Velvet Underground - Coney Island Steeplechase
17. The Modern Lovers - She’s Cracked
18. By Divine Right - Que Paso?
19. Radiohead - Identikit
20. John Cale - Barracuda
21. Leonard Cohen - Tonight Will Be Fine
22. Dead Ghosts - That Old Feeling
23. Them - Mystic Eyes
24. Them - Gloria (Demo)
25. Them - Here Comes The Night (Take 2)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for May 28.

The Angry Young Them & Show # 395

Them are often overlooked when considering at the career of Van Morrison, but with Them Van Morrison treaded his early R&B influenced Garage Rock roots. Coming from Belfast in Ireland, Them’s first full length album was released in two different versions in the US and the UK. The UK version of The Angry Young Them features a different track listing and cover than the one that was featured on the US version. The UK version of the album features fourteen songs. Songs found on the UK Decca release that were not found on the US release of the album are “You Just Can’t Win” an organ filled Bob Dylan influenced R&B Garage ballad about a gold digger, “Just A Little Bit” a slow and raucous shouter that would give any early Rolling Stones song a run for its money, “I Gave My Love A Diamond”, “Bright Lights, Big City”, and “My Little Baby”. In addition to these five tracks that were featured on the UK Decca release of The Angry Young Them, the cover also features the band in a standard 60s Rock album pose, not unlike album covers released by The Rolling Stones, it also has no titles or indication of the name of the band or album title.

The US version of The Angry Young Them was amended to add Them’s single “Here Comes The Night” a slow catchy ballad, “One Two Brown Eyes” the erratic Garage track which was originally the B-side of Them’s first single “Don’t Start Crying Now”, and another Them single entitled “One More Time” Now this wasn’t a strange thing for UK and US releases of the same album to have different track listings. In the US albums were often modified to better market the band based on their current charting singles. The cover of the US version of The Angry Young Them, is a more classic looking cover featuring the words Them in giant orange letters not unlike the style you would find on B-Horror movie posters. It also originally was released saying that the album featured the song “Here Comes The Night”. Following the release of the Them single “Baby Please Don’t Go” with “Gloria” as the B-side, the album was re-released with a similar cover advertising the song “Gloria”.

Despite these differences in the track listings of The Angry Young Them, the album is a statement, the first album to be released by song writer Van Morrison, it introduced the world to him. The album also serves as having historical Rock music status due to the fact that it features many studio musicians, as part of the bands ever changing line up, with the exception of Van Morrison, the album features many studio musicians including future Led Zeppelin and Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page. The Angry Young Them features the now iconic, Garage Rock standard “Gloria”. This simple chord structured song was originally released as the B-side to the “Baby Please Don’t Go” single, a cover song. Ironically the cover, while it is a standard and Them’s version is most definitely of high quality, was overshadowed by “Gloria”, which is now considered a standard, but was not a at the time. The single charted at number ten on the UK singles charts and number 102 on the US singles charts. Additionally the album contains the song “Mystic Eyes”, which is a highly regarded Them gem that was generated from a ten minute jam the band did in the studio while recording. The album is notable for its unique placing of R&B covers juxtaposed with Van Morrison originals for a debut album that is often compared and contrasted to debut albums released by The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Beatles. The Angry Young Them is an uninhibited, pure Rock and Roll album, often falling under the category of Garage Rock, making it a strong debut not only for Them, but for Van Morrison who would go onto further musical acclaim.
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It is Jammy Award time again. Every year CJAM FM holds an annual award ceremony in which programmers at the station can receive awards for the work they put into their shows every year. My program Revolution Rock is nominated for two awards in two different categories, best indie/alternative//rock/punk show and best on air personality. Vote for it here:

http://jammies.cjam.ca/index.php?sid=15639&lang=en

This Week's Play List:

1.  Mystics – Wasting Time
2.  The Famines – The First World War
3.  Vivian Girls – Such A Joke
4.  The Clean – Anything could Happen
5.  Mother’s Children – Dance To The Rock and Roll Band
6.  Beach Blankets – Greatest Hit
7.  The Diodes – Action Reaction
8.  Terminal Sunglasses – Could That Be People Crossing My Lawn
9.  Hunx – Private Room
10. Silent Movie Type - Pastels
11. BA Johnston w/ The Moby Dicks - McDonald's Coupon Day
12. Them – I Like It Like That
13. Them – I'm Gonna Dress In Black
14. Jack Oblivian –Rat City
15. The Libertines – Up The Bracket
16. Buzzcocks – Harmony In My Head
17. Generation X – Wild Youth
18. MC5 – High School
19. The Sonics – Dirty Robber
20. Deja Voodoo – Rock Therapy
21. Young Rival - Workin'
22. The Mark Inside - House of Cards
23. Long Weekends - Shame On You
24. Radio Birdman – Anglo Girl Desire
25. The D4 – Omerta

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for March 13. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Don't Look Back..The Story of Them and Show # 202

Them are known for creating the garage rock staple/standard "Gloria" and for being the first band of Van Morrison. Coming from Belfast in Northern Ireland, Them originally started out as The Gamblers, playing at a R&B club in Ireland. The band contained Van Morrison (vocals/harmonica), Alan Henderson (bass), Eric Wrixton (keyboards/piano), Billy Harrison (guitar), and Ronnie Millings on drums. The band changed their names from The Gamblers to Them in 1964; The name came from a science fiction horror film titled Them.

Them would build a following playing at The Maritime Hotel. The band was known for their unique live shows. They are said to have gotten their energy from the various members on stage and the audience. Morrison would often make up lyrics and songs on the spot (that is how he came up with many songs) and play covers. The band would also sometimes do a twenty minute version of the song "Gloria", which was born on stage. When a fans recording of Them performing "Turn On Your Love Light" made it's way to Dick Rowe of Decca Records, he went to see the band live. Signing Them to Decca records, Rowe quickly put the band in the studio to start recording right away. To sign the two year contract the band members parents were required to sign and when Eric Wrixton's parents refused, he was replaced by another member. The band moved to England to correspond with their two year Decca recording contract.


Them first recorded in London, England in July of 1964. Studio musicians would be brought in for the records (a pattern that would occur through out Them's brief career). "Don't Start Cryin' Now" was the bands first single. It was released in August of 1964 and was backed with the song "One, Two, Brown Eyes". The single was not successful, so Dick Rowe and Them's band manager Phil Soloman brought in a different set of session musicians, which included the likes of Jimmy Page. The band's next single was a cover song it was "Baby Please Don't Go". This song got them an appearance on the Ready Steady Go UK TV show; The song charted at #26 in the UK. The B-side to the single was the song "Gloria", which would bring the band into the UK Singles Chart at number 10. The song charted higher when it was covered by the band Shadows of Knight.

The band's first album came out in 1965 and was titled The Angry Them. The band released their second and final album Them Again in in 1966. During this time the band also played live and had more hits in the UK with songs such as "Here Comes The Night" and in the US with "Mystic Eyes". In June of 1966, Them secured a three week residency at the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. At this time The Doors would play their first show and even perform a twenty minute version of "Gloria" together. Shorty after this in 1966, Van Morrsion broke up Them due to a dispute with the band and management over financial situations. The band would turn into the band The Belfast Gypsies and Van Morrison would go on to have a very successful solo career. Them were known for the blue print they left on rock. They used R&B and Soul influences along with rock to create a sound some would call garage rock. The bands two albums consisted of songs written by Morrison and cover songs of R&B and Soul songs.

The Play List:

1. MC5 - Call Me Animal
2. Ugly Ducklings - Nothin'
3. Marble Index - Anytime
4. Hentchmen - Psycho Daisies
5. Undertones - Teenage Kicks
6. Iggy & The Stooges - I Got A Right!
7. Them - Gloria
8. Them - You Just Can't Win
9. The Who - The Goods Gone
10. Munks - Long Time Waitin'
11. Great Scots - Ball and Chain
12. Collectors - We Can Make It
13. Ride Theory - Truce
14. Velvet Underground - Temptation Inside Your Heart
15. Golden Hands Before God - Communist Party
16. Revolvers - Shuffle
17. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blues
18. Mint Chicks - Walking Off a Cliff Again
19. Clap Clap Riot - Thief
20. White Stripes - Bone Broke
21. Luger Boa - What is Real?
22. The Hives - I Can't Give it to You
23. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Arms Aloft
24. Bob Dylan - New Morning
25. Compulsive Gamblers - Two Thieves