Post by cofi on Aug 8, 2007 21:51:29 GMT
Now here is a band i was into in a big way back in the 60s 
Their take of "Baby Please Dont Go" was amazing, that song used to get played like crasy in the pub where we used to meet at,
Later on it was it was this song and "Freebird" two classic songs
Them
Them was a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, best known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's career. The group was marketed as part of the British Invasion.
The band featured Van Morrison on vocals and harmonica, Billy Harrison on guitar (born William Harrison, 14 October 1942, in Belfast, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland), Eric Wrixon on piano and keyboards (named the band, but never played on any published albums or toured the States), Alan Henderson on bass (born 26 November 1944, in Belfast), Raymond Sweetman on bass (born Dermot Robert Sweetman, 1 January 1948, in Holyhead, Anglesey, North Wales) and Ronnie Millings on drums (born c 1937, in Belfast), with other musicians replacing or contributing during the life of the band.
Formation of the band
When Van Morrison formed an R&B club with the entrepreneurs Jimmy Conlon, Jerry McKenna and Gerry McCurvey (known as the "3Js") at the Maritime Hotel in April 1964, he gave notice to the Golden Eagles, the group he was performing with at the time. This left him without a band and with the projected opening night for the new R&B club approaching he set about finding his ideal line-up. He had recently been introduced to an East Belfast group The Gamblers that had been formed in 1962 by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison and Alan Henderson. Still a schoolboy, Eric Wrixon had been recruited as piano player and keyboardist. Morrison soon joined up with this group playing saxophone and harmonica and sharing vocals with Billy Harrison. The group rehearsed together in a room over a bicycle shop in preparation for their debut at the Maritime. Deciding on a name change they followed the suggestion of Eric Wrixon and rechristened themselves Them after a fifties horror film.
Recording with Decca and touring
The first recording session took place in London England in Decca Records' studios in West Hampstead on July 5, 1964. Dick Rowe had brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ and Bobby Graham on drums. They recorded six songs during this session which were: "Groovin'", "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover", "Turn on Your Love Light", "Don't Start Crying Now", "One Two Brown Eyes", "Philosophy" and "Gloria".
The group released its first single "Don't Start Crying Now" b/w "One Two Brown Eyes", in August 1964. The single was unsuccessful. The band's manager Phil Solomon and Dick Rowe then hired session musicians, Jimmy Page, Peter Bardens, and Bobby Graham to back Morrison on a cover of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go". (Though Page was present, the lead guitar playing was the work of Billy Harrison.) It was released in November 1964, and in December, Them first appeared on television making their debut on Ready Steady Go where The Rolling Stones were also on the same bill. Solomon used his connections to have it played as the weekly signature tune for the television show and within two weeks it was #26 on the charts. The single, which featured the now-legendary "Gloria" as a B-side, was a smash hit in the UK, finally peaking at #2 on the UK Singles Charts and #24 on the US charts..
In January 1965, Them toured England for the second time where they stayed at the Royal Hotel, which disc jockey Jimmy Savile used as his London base. As with many other groups of the time, Savile helped to promote the band with write-ups in his column for The People. Them needed good publicity by this time as they soon had earned a reputation for bad manners and sarcasm in their interviews. Billy Harrison said the attitude problem may have been caused by anti-Irish sentiments on the continent at the time but when they were interviewed by a reporter from the Irish Independent the reporter remarked, "They were the most boorish bunch of youngsters I'd come across in my short career." Even an attractive female reporter was treated with arrogance causing Phil Coulter who witnessed this interview to remark, "They would just sit and mutter monosyllabic grunts to themselves and give her off the wall answers." (Van Morrison as a solo artist would later raise these tedious and combative interviews to a "negative art form".)
Their record label Decca released an EP with a recording of "Philosophy" from earlier recording sessions. This release was followed up by Them's biggest hit in the UK, "Here Comes the Night" b/w "All for Myself". Phil Solomon had brought in Bert Berns, an American, who had co-written the hit "Twist and Shout". Berns hired session musicians Phil Coulter on keyboards and Andy White on drums to play on this song which was one of his own compositions. Three weeks after it was released it charted at #2 in March 1965 in the UK and it went to #24 in the U.S. that same May. Their management promoted Them by scheduling appearances on Ready Steady Go! and on Top Of The Pops where they were expected to mime and lip snyc. Morrison said of this appearance, "It was ridiculous. We were totally anti that type of thing...and we had to get into suits and have make-up put on and all that.. " He also revealed how the band had previously considered the programme a joke and then Them had to appear on it.
On April 11, 1965 Them made a guest appearance at the NME Pollwinners Concert at Wembley Empire Pool. Jimmy Savile was MC for this event and perhaps responsible for their appearance as their newfound fame was too recent to have figured into that years's readers' polls. The 1965 concert remains the finest gathering ever of British pop acts with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Searchers, The Moody Blues, Dusty Springfield, etc.. The bands were expected to keep to their current hits but Them audaciously segued from "Here Comes the Night" into a seven minute version of "Turn on You Lovelight". Derek Johnson with NME said at the time that the lead singer of the band Them "generates more genuine soul than any of his British contemporaries."
The next single by Them was "One More Time" chosen by Phil Solomon and released in June 1965. This single "bombed" according to Billy Harrison because it was never single material. The band released two albums—The Angry Young Them released by Decca in June 1965 (UK) and by Parrot Records (US) in July 1965, and Them Again released in January 1966 (UK) and April 1966 (US). Later that year "Mystic Eyes" released as a single in the US reached #33. Them Again had charted in the USA and so a tour was set up beginning in May 1966.
In June of this two month tour, Them had a three week residency at the famed Whisky a Go Go. Jim Morrison and The Doors were the opening act on the final week, and on the last night the two bands and the two Morrisons jammed together on a twenty minute version of "Gloria". Them headlined at the The Fillmore in San Francisco, California, and then in Hawaii where things began to go wrong and disputes broke out between band members and with management over financial arrangements. The band broke apart and Van Morrison and Alan Henderson returned to Belfast, while Ray Elliot and David Harvey decided to stay in America.
Van Morrison has said about the reason Them broke up: "There was no motive behind anything you did [back then]. You just did it because you wanted to do it and you enjoyed doing it. That's the way the thing started, but it got twisted somewhere along the way and everybody involved in it got twisted as well, including me." (1967) "You can't take something like that, put it in a box and place a neat little name on it, then try to sell it. That's what they tried to do. That's what killed Them.(1973)
Post Morrison
In mid 1966, Van Morrison left Them to pursue a successful solo career. The rest of the band continued on into the early 1970s, releasing four albums and touring steadily after relocating to California around 1967. Two of these post-Morrison albums, Now And Them and Time Out! Time In For Them, found the band experimenting with psychedelia. Van Morrison went on to greater success and fame as a solo artist, but Them's combination of garage rock and blues proved a major influence on the next generation of rock musicians, and the group's best-known singles have become staples of rock and roll.
Them reunited briefly in 1979 without Morrison
Their take of "Baby Please Dont Go" was amazing, that song used to get played like crasy in the pub where we used to meet at,
Later on it was it was this song and "Freebird" two classic songs
Them
Them was a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, best known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's career. The group was marketed as part of the British Invasion.
The band featured Van Morrison on vocals and harmonica, Billy Harrison on guitar (born William Harrison, 14 October 1942, in Belfast, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland), Eric Wrixon on piano and keyboards (named the band, but never played on any published albums or toured the States), Alan Henderson on bass (born 26 November 1944, in Belfast), Raymond Sweetman on bass (born Dermot Robert Sweetman, 1 January 1948, in Holyhead, Anglesey, North Wales) and Ronnie Millings on drums (born c 1937, in Belfast), with other musicians replacing or contributing during the life of the band.
Formation of the band
When Van Morrison formed an R&B club with the entrepreneurs Jimmy Conlon, Jerry McKenna and Gerry McCurvey (known as the "3Js") at the Maritime Hotel in April 1964, he gave notice to the Golden Eagles, the group he was performing with at the time. This left him without a band and with the projected opening night for the new R&B club approaching he set about finding his ideal line-up. He had recently been introduced to an East Belfast group The Gamblers that had been formed in 1962 by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison and Alan Henderson. Still a schoolboy, Eric Wrixon had been recruited as piano player and keyboardist. Morrison soon joined up with this group playing saxophone and harmonica and sharing vocals with Billy Harrison. The group rehearsed together in a room over a bicycle shop in preparation for their debut at the Maritime. Deciding on a name change they followed the suggestion of Eric Wrixon and rechristened themselves Them after a fifties horror film.
Recording with Decca and touring
The first recording session took place in London England in Decca Records' studios in West Hampstead on July 5, 1964. Dick Rowe had brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ and Bobby Graham on drums. They recorded six songs during this session which were: "Groovin'", "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover", "Turn on Your Love Light", "Don't Start Crying Now", "One Two Brown Eyes", "Philosophy" and "Gloria".
The group released its first single "Don't Start Crying Now" b/w "One Two Brown Eyes", in August 1964. The single was unsuccessful. The band's manager Phil Solomon and Dick Rowe then hired session musicians, Jimmy Page, Peter Bardens, and Bobby Graham to back Morrison on a cover of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go". (Though Page was present, the lead guitar playing was the work of Billy Harrison.) It was released in November 1964, and in December, Them first appeared on television making their debut on Ready Steady Go where The Rolling Stones were also on the same bill. Solomon used his connections to have it played as the weekly signature tune for the television show and within two weeks it was #26 on the charts. The single, which featured the now-legendary "Gloria" as a B-side, was a smash hit in the UK, finally peaking at #2 on the UK Singles Charts and #24 on the US charts..
In January 1965, Them toured England for the second time where they stayed at the Royal Hotel, which disc jockey Jimmy Savile used as his London base. As with many other groups of the time, Savile helped to promote the band with write-ups in his column for The People. Them needed good publicity by this time as they soon had earned a reputation for bad manners and sarcasm in their interviews. Billy Harrison said the attitude problem may have been caused by anti-Irish sentiments on the continent at the time but when they were interviewed by a reporter from the Irish Independent the reporter remarked, "They were the most boorish bunch of youngsters I'd come across in my short career." Even an attractive female reporter was treated with arrogance causing Phil Coulter who witnessed this interview to remark, "They would just sit and mutter monosyllabic grunts to themselves and give her off the wall answers." (Van Morrison as a solo artist would later raise these tedious and combative interviews to a "negative art form".)
Their record label Decca released an EP with a recording of "Philosophy" from earlier recording sessions. This release was followed up by Them's biggest hit in the UK, "Here Comes the Night" b/w "All for Myself". Phil Solomon had brought in Bert Berns, an American, who had co-written the hit "Twist and Shout". Berns hired session musicians Phil Coulter on keyboards and Andy White on drums to play on this song which was one of his own compositions. Three weeks after it was released it charted at #2 in March 1965 in the UK and it went to #24 in the U.S. that same May. Their management promoted Them by scheduling appearances on Ready Steady Go! and on Top Of The Pops where they were expected to mime and lip snyc. Morrison said of this appearance, "It was ridiculous. We were totally anti that type of thing...and we had to get into suits and have make-up put on and all that.. " He also revealed how the band had previously considered the programme a joke and then Them had to appear on it.
On April 11, 1965 Them made a guest appearance at the NME Pollwinners Concert at Wembley Empire Pool. Jimmy Savile was MC for this event and perhaps responsible for their appearance as their newfound fame was too recent to have figured into that years's readers' polls. The 1965 concert remains the finest gathering ever of British pop acts with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Searchers, The Moody Blues, Dusty Springfield, etc.. The bands were expected to keep to their current hits but Them audaciously segued from "Here Comes the Night" into a seven minute version of "Turn on You Lovelight". Derek Johnson with NME said at the time that the lead singer of the band Them "generates more genuine soul than any of his British contemporaries."
The next single by Them was "One More Time" chosen by Phil Solomon and released in June 1965. This single "bombed" according to Billy Harrison because it was never single material. The band released two albums—The Angry Young Them released by Decca in June 1965 (UK) and by Parrot Records (US) in July 1965, and Them Again released in January 1966 (UK) and April 1966 (US). Later that year "Mystic Eyes" released as a single in the US reached #33. Them Again had charted in the USA and so a tour was set up beginning in May 1966.
In June of this two month tour, Them had a three week residency at the famed Whisky a Go Go. Jim Morrison and The Doors were the opening act on the final week, and on the last night the two bands and the two Morrisons jammed together on a twenty minute version of "Gloria". Them headlined at the The Fillmore in San Francisco, California, and then in Hawaii where things began to go wrong and disputes broke out between band members and with management over financial arrangements. The band broke apart and Van Morrison and Alan Henderson returned to Belfast, while Ray Elliot and David Harvey decided to stay in America.
Van Morrison has said about the reason Them broke up: "There was no motive behind anything you did [back then]. You just did it because you wanted to do it and you enjoyed doing it. That's the way the thing started, but it got twisted somewhere along the way and everybody involved in it got twisted as well, including me." (1967) "You can't take something like that, put it in a box and place a neat little name on it, then try to sell it. That's what they tried to do. That's what killed Them.(1973)
Post Morrison
In mid 1966, Van Morrison left Them to pursue a successful solo career. The rest of the band continued on into the early 1970s, releasing four albums and touring steadily after relocating to California around 1967. Two of these post-Morrison albums, Now And Them and Time Out! Time In For Them, found the band experimenting with psychedelia. Van Morrison went on to greater success and fame as a solo artist, but Them's combination of garage rock and blues proved a major influence on the next generation of rock musicians, and the group's best-known singles have become staples of rock and roll.
Them reunited briefly in 1979 without Morrison
