Biography
The Belfast Gypsies surfaced as a gritty U.K. R&B ensemble whose aggressive style echoed the tougher garage rock currents of the era, their saga standing out as one of the oddest chapters in the British Beat years. Formed as a splinter from the Irish blues veterans Them, the outfit never gigged under the Belfast Gypsies name and had already dispersed by the moment their only album reached stores solely in Sweden during 1967. That lone LP, peculiarly titled Them, nonetheless developed a cult reputation among admirers of raw blues-wailing 1960s sounds and gathered a modest yet devoted audience long before the group’s tangled background surfaced among rock listeners.
Pat McAuley and his brother Jackie McAuley steered the Belfast Gypsies. Their roots lay in a contentious 1965 personnel rupture inside the Irish R&B act Them, famed for introducing Van Morrison, after the band had shifted base to London. Disputes fractured Them into competing factions, one anchored by vocalist Morrison and bassist Alan Henderson, the other by keyboardist Pat McAuley and guitarist Billy Harrison, each claiming the Them identity for live work. The McAuley/Harrison camp also featured singer Nick Wymer, bassist Mark Scott, and drummer Skip Alan. A legal decision awarded Morrison and Henderson sole U.K. rights to the name, yet left McAuley and Harrison free to bill themselves as Them across Europe and the Netherlands while using the Other Them tag at home. Further instability followed when Skip Alan left to join the Pretty Things and was temporarily replaced by former Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince.
By the middle of 1966 the Other Them had stabilized as a quartet, with Pat McAuley switching to drums, Jackie McAuley taking lead vocals, keyboards, and harmonica, Ken McLeod handling guitar, and Mark Scott remaining on bass. American producer Kim Fowley, then seeking acts in London, spotted their promise and booked studio time. Two tracks cut under Fowley, “Portland Town” and “People, Let’s Freak Out,” surfaced in the United States in 1966 on the Warner Bros. subsidiary Loma Records under the name Belfast Gipsies, since the band was barred from using Them there. Island Records issued a separate 1966 single in Britain, “Gloria’s Dream” b/w “Secret Police,” also credited to the Belfast Gipsies. That single was expanded into a four-song EP on the French label Disques Vogue with the addition of “The Crazy World Inside Me” and “Aira of the Fallen Angels,” now billed as the Belfast Gypsies. Scandinavian touring had meanwhile built an audience for the Other Them (or Them, as they were known locally), leading to Copenhagen sessions whose results Sonet Records agreed to pair with the earlier Fowley recordings for a Swedish release.
Before the close of 1966, however, the Other Them/Belfast Gypsies had split, and the album appeared roughly nine months later. Sonet titled the 1967 LP Them, prompting stores to file it under the original Them and causing some listeners to assume the act was called Them Belfast Gypsies. With no active band to promote it, the record went largely unheard. A final Island single, released under the name Freaks of Nature, marked the end of the Belfast Gypsies story. Renewed interest in Them later prompted R&B and Beat collectors along with various crate diggers to rediscover the album, which finally received a U.K. reissue in 1978. The British reissue label Rev-Ola later issued an expanded edition, and Grapefruit Records delivered a definitive remastered version in 2020.
Pat McAuley and his brother Jackie McAuley steered the Belfast Gypsies. Their roots lay in a contentious 1965 personnel rupture inside the Irish R&B act Them, famed for introducing Van Morrison, after the band had shifted base to London. Disputes fractured Them into competing factions, one anchored by vocalist Morrison and bassist Alan Henderson, the other by keyboardist Pat McAuley and guitarist Billy Harrison, each claiming the Them identity for live work. The McAuley/Harrison camp also featured singer Nick Wymer, bassist Mark Scott, and drummer Skip Alan. A legal decision awarded Morrison and Henderson sole U.K. rights to the name, yet left McAuley and Harrison free to bill themselves as Them across Europe and the Netherlands while using the Other Them tag at home. Further instability followed when Skip Alan left to join the Pretty Things and was temporarily replaced by former Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince.
By the middle of 1966 the Other Them had stabilized as a quartet, with Pat McAuley switching to drums, Jackie McAuley taking lead vocals, keyboards, and harmonica, Ken McLeod handling guitar, and Mark Scott remaining on bass. American producer Kim Fowley, then seeking acts in London, spotted their promise and booked studio time. Two tracks cut under Fowley, “Portland Town” and “People, Let’s Freak Out,” surfaced in the United States in 1966 on the Warner Bros. subsidiary Loma Records under the name Belfast Gipsies, since the band was barred from using Them there. Island Records issued a separate 1966 single in Britain, “Gloria’s Dream” b/w “Secret Police,” also credited to the Belfast Gipsies. That single was expanded into a four-song EP on the French label Disques Vogue with the addition of “The Crazy World Inside Me” and “Aira of the Fallen Angels,” now billed as the Belfast Gypsies. Scandinavian touring had meanwhile built an audience for the Other Them (or Them, as they were known locally), leading to Copenhagen sessions whose results Sonet Records agreed to pair with the earlier Fowley recordings for a Swedish release.
Before the close of 1966, however, the Other Them/Belfast Gypsies had split, and the album appeared roughly nine months later. Sonet titled the 1967 LP Them, prompting stores to file it under the original Them and causing some listeners to assume the act was called Them Belfast Gypsies. With no active band to promote it, the record went largely unheard. A final Island single, released under the name Freaks of Nature, marked the end of the Belfast Gypsies story. Renewed interest in Them later prompted R&B and Beat collectors along with various crate diggers to rediscover the album, which finally received a U.K. reissue in 1978. The British reissue label Rev-Ola later issued an expanded edition, and Grapefruit Records delivered a definitive remastered version in 2020.
Albums