Complete Them 1964-1967

This box set goes deeper into Them's music than the 2 CD "Story of Them With Van Morrison" set. Included are singles, demos, alternate takes, live BBC, and previously unissued rare tracks. For people from later generations who may not be familiar with Them, the albums released after Morrison left are not included. The band splintered into two bands one called Them and the other the Belfast Gypsies, both which had a different sound. This set focuses on the years 1964-1967, when Them was a tough r&b/blues/rock band. The remastered sound (both mono and stereo) has cleaned up the music, which (to my ears) sounds cleaner and a bit more open without any compression that destroys the original sound. The 15 page booklet has commentary from Morrison himself--apparently this set was licensed from his Exile Productions, Ltd. company, unlike the recent solo albums reissued on the Warner's label. Disc 1 (1964-65) has Decca singles ('64-'65), a Decca EP ('65), and the album "Them" ("Angry Young...") ('65). Disc 2 (1966-67) has the album "Them Again", Decca and Major/Minor singles ('66-'67), and two tracks from a Decca Netherlands EP. Disc 3 (1964-67, '74) has previously unreleased tracks (1-10, 12-24 including BBC tracks, singles and alternate tracks), track 11 from (possibly) "The Long Taverner's Charity " album on Decca ('65), Parrot singles from '66 (tracks 21-22), and a track from London Records' "Backtrackdirt" (sic) album ('74). The15 page booklet includes a five page essay on the band by Van Morrison which gives us a more personal view of the band and the music, plus period photos and other ephemera and a complete track list. The discs snap into trays inside the quad-fold cardboard packaging with a slot for the booklet. A band with a tough sounding guitar/organ/rhythm section (with occasional honking sax) , and an equally tough sounding Van Morrison on vocals (at times sounding like a cross between early Eric Burdon/Animals and Howlin' Wolf at his least feral), Them began in Ireland championing the American blues which influenced them. They released a few singles (all included here) like "Here Comes The Night", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Mystic Eyes" (a personal favorite), and the classic "Gloria" (check out the version by one of my favorite '60s era garage bands, the Shadows of Knight) which was fairly big in the U.S. The band's personnel seemed to change with regularity, but their sound (often augmented by studio players) never moved too far away from their original influences. The first album"The Angry Young Them" (the U.S. version had a different title and track listing) was, at it's best, as tough sounding as any band of the period. The focus is on lean, no-nonsense performances--similar to the very early Rolling Stones/Pretty Things. This set of tunes is (arguably) their most exciting collection of songs, with all their influences showing. The band's second and last album with Morrison, "Them Again", isn't quite up to the same intensity and excitement as the first album, but still has that period excitement. The band was disintegrating and Morrison and studio musicians (like Jimmy Page) filled out the band. But it was Morrison's voice that really carried the album. "Soul" is the main thrust here, something that Morrison had in spades. Them's music was lumped into the "British Invasion" sound of the period, but they split apart before they could capitalize on their singles and tour the U.S. at length and gain wider acclaim. But their best songs had a tough, stripped back, garage sound and feel that has influenced countless bands that came after them. The Seeds, The Litter, The Standells, Love, Count Five, the Shadows of Knight, and many other bands, heard on box sets dedicated to the garage-rock sound, were influenced by the sound and feel of Them. But if you already own the previous 2 CD set (like I do) you may think you want to pass on this edition. But if you do you'll miss out on the third disc's goodies that deep Them fans will want, listed above. And finally, personally, I've always thought that Them's music sounded best blasting out of a car radio with the dashboard vibrating slightly from the tough beat. That's where this music really belongs. And I'm glad I got to experience that feeling firsthand. But if you missed out on that, this fine set--turned up--will set you straight. At it's best it's exciting, slightly menacing music all at once. And that's what real rock 'n' roll is all about. In their short life Them can lay claim to being one of the better bands of that whole era.

That may sound like either a skeptics question or will we find more of the same songs rehashed over and over again. While I hope that there are more tunes in a vault, this could be the real end to the saga of THEM. Just received this set in the mail today and I will tell you this "I REALLY HOPE THERE IS MORE. The first 2 discs need no more explaining as two reviewers already listed the songs. However, this set is COMPLETELY far superior to the other two disc set in both sound quality and the tune content on disc 3. I really found the different version of Turn on Your Love Light was WOW and a real turn on! The live tracks performed on the BBC were unbelievable and the demos were really quite good. There are also different versions of "Gloria", "Baby PLease Don't Go" and "How Long Baby?" that will blow you away. Morrison.s voice is top-notch on a lot of the different versions as well as the originals. This set is something more than I expected. I do know there are more tunes because a quite long while back I had found a blog,that no longer exists, that had a few other tunes that were 'live' by not only THEM, but a lot of other artists as well. I heard them but they were kind of rough mixes or just plain bootlegs. So, I hope that someday soon I will be writing another review and I will title it THEM AGAIN ALL RIGHT - MORE!

By the time I thought of buying something by Them, several years ago, there wasn't much good on CD in the stores anymore. One guy at a record shop told me to be patient, that an anthology was in the works and would be released soon. That's this one. And it's great. I'd only ever heard the most well-known songs herein: "Mystic Eyes"; "Here Comes the Night"; "Baby Please Don't Go"; and "Gloria," so this is a great treasure trove of music. 69 tracks. Disc 1 covers 1964-67; Disc 2: 1966-67, and Disc 3 is has two dozen demos, alternate takes, and 6 live performances from the BBC (always good sound quality); it's all been remastered with top notch sound. The packaging is excellent, and the booklet contains great period photos including handbills, title, credit, and release date info for each track, and a long, detailed essay about the whole history of Them by Van Morrison himself, including the band's Belfast origins, lineup changes, session musicians, etc. I've never heard great cuts like "Richard Cory" or "Don't You Know," or "You Just Can't Win," and they're totally thrilling. An awesome anthology, all for $20+ tax.

Come sempre amazon velocissima nelle consegne, pacco perfetto, sul CD chiaramente deve piacere il genere !

Raw. Totally raw. Better than early Stones and Animals in my view. I used to have a shorter compilation. This covers it all. Bobby Bland, Brother Ray, Hooker, Waters, and other early Van influences. Even more here than The Story of Them, as I recall my older brother’s 2 disc now out of print album (he still has it!). Hard to believe the jump to Astral Weeks shortly after Van left Them. To think that Van “peaked” at something like age 21-24, but continued on doing great work, like Orson Welles.

Muss man habe der die 60er Jahre liebt.

attention, j'ai été obligé de demander au vendeur de me changer ce coffret car il y a un problème de fabrication. Le vendeur Zoreno me l'a changé sans problème et sans m'embêter à me le faire retourner bref, sans frais, bon vendeur: le souci est que les cds 2 et 3 sont trop serrés dans leur logement, j'ai cassé un cd en tentant de le sortir! Or le coffret reçu en échange pose exactement le même problème! Je les ai sortis mollo mollo la 2ème fois et changé les supports. Bref. Il y a là de la musique indispensable, le livret avec le texte écrit par Morrison est très intéressant. On y voit que les Them n'ont pas été une équipe vraiment stable surtout dans les disques de studios: les magnifiques parties de guitare solo de STORY OF THEM et BABY PLEASE... sont d'un musicien de studio (Jimmy Page pour le dernier): Morrison était souvent convoqué seul au studio! On peut supposer que les Them originaux apparaissent surtout dans les Saturday Club, les sessions live de la BBC. J'aurais aimé avoir des infos sur les personnels mais c'est absent. Seul Alan Henderson le bassiste a été dans le groupe du début à la fin.

ビートルズマニアの私でしたが、３年前にとある評論家殿よりTHEMおよびVan Morrisonの紹介を受け、先ずはVan先生のライヴ盤(魂の道のりⅠ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ)を聴き、そのあとEssentialを聴いてから購入しました。詳細はよくわからないのですが、Van在籍時代のTHEM作品は全て網羅されているのではないですか？コンピレーションアルバムとは思えないぐらい音も良いです。特に低域がズンズンしていていいですね。肝心のVan先生のヴォーカルについてですが、まだ二十歳そこそことは思えないぐらいの貫録と声質で野獣のような咆哮が随所で楽しめますよ。最後になりましたが、海外のディストリビュータより購入し、品質に不安がありましたがそちらのほうも全く問題なかったことを追記しておきます。