Ahhh, it's Them. I must say, it has been a while since I had Them on the turntable. Too long. So how sweet it was when, just the other week, I pulled out some of my US label Parrot Records-stamped Them 45's, a few O'Dell's IPA beers, and had a grand old time playing records at ear splitting volumes.
Understandably, Them is often recognized for only two things: 1) being the first band of the 5'4" musical giant that is Van Morrison, and; 2) being the originators of the garage band standard,Gloria, a Van Morrison penned flip-side to the stellar cover of Baby Please Don't Go. But Themwere much more than that. The Belfast boys put out two excellent records and a healthy amount of solid 45's. Them albums sounded different than most of their "British Invasion" brethren. Certainly part of it is their Irish homeland influence, but most of it can be traced to the multi-instrumental ability of their frontman and predominant song composer, Van Morrison. He brought Irish folk, American folk, American Jazz, American blues and rock-n-roll influences, and mixed them all together in a wonderful little stew. Only Manfred Mann albums had as much diversity as did the two albums by Them.
Today's SoTW comes from
Them's first album, the excellent 1965 release,
The Angry Young Them.The song seems to be neither a cover nor an original, but rather a song brought to the group. Perhaps by sometime
Them producer and songwriter,
Bert Berns. (See an old post on a bitching
Garnett Mimms song he produced, As Long As I Have You). The song for the week is
I'm Gonna Dress In Black. Thematically and musically, it has a certain feel similar to
The House of the Rising Son as performed by
The Animals. The organ dominant song features some of the most unexpected chord progressions, mixing up minor and major chords nicely, you're likely to hear out of song from this era.
Van Morrison is, as always, exceptional on the song. You can really feel the
Ray Charles influence in his performance. But it is really the organist who shines on this. Who that organist is, we just can't say. You see,
Them was really a revolving cast of musicians with only bassist
Alan Henderson and
Van Morrison remaining constant. Additionally, it is very evident that studio musicians were employed generously on
Them recordings. Question me on that? Just watch a live performance of
Them and you'll hear a great difference in ability from stage to record. Whomever the musicians were, the song is killer.
