Them

Originating in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Them honed a gritty R&B approach before relocating to England in 1964 once they secured a recording contract with Decca Records. Boiling organ riffs, lean guitars, and the raw delivery of frontman Van Morrison defined their intense sound, with his contributions to the group standing among the strongest British Invasion performances on record. Morrison also supplied the band with strong original songs, even as its roster shifted repeatedly throughout a short career. Commercial success proved limited: “Here Comes the Night” and “Baby Please Don’t Go” reached the Top Ten in England, while “Mystic Eyes” and “Here Comes the Night” entered the U.S. Top 40, yet the group’s reach extended far beyond those singles. During a Los Angeles residency, Them shared bills with the Doors, an encounter that occurred shortly before Morrison exited in 1966. The band’s most lasting track, the driving three-chord number “Gloria,” appeared as a B-side, though the Shadows of Knight later scored an American hit with a polished, close cover.

Morrison later spoke of his time in Them with resentment, claiming that image-driven label decisions had dismantled the core lineup and that session players, among them Jimmy Page, frequently contributed to the recordings. Beyond the chart entries, the group issued a pair of solid albums along with several unsuccessful singles that blended Morrison originals, R&B and soul covers, and occasional material supplied by outside writers such as Bert Berns, composer of “Here Comes the Night.” Once Morrison departed, the remaining members fractured: one faction, the Belfast Gypsies, produced an album that closely echoed Them’s early work aside from the vocals, while another retained the Them name and issued four psychedelic LPs that bore scant resemblance to the hard-edged mid-’60s recordings.