Them were one of the very best R&B acts to come out of the U.K. during the British Invasion era, as tight, wiry, and potent as their contemporaries the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Pretty Things. But as good as they were, their greatest strength was always their lead singer and main songwriter, Van Morrison, who even in his earliest days boasted a style that was raw and unapologetic but full of street smarts and imagination. Morrison's run with Them lasted a bit more than two and a half years, but it laid the groundwork for his wildly idiosyncratic solo career as well as setting a standard that the band would never equal after he left to strike out on his own.
There have been plenty of collections devoted to Morrison's tenure with Them, but The Complete Them: 1964-1967 is not only comprehensive but has Van's seal of approval, as it was assembled by Morrison's own team and features liner notes from the man himself. Sequenced chronologically, The Complete Them devotes its first two discs to the group's two albums of the period, Them (aka The Angry Young Them) and Them Again, as well as non-LP single and EP tracks. Disc two is devoted to demos, alternate takes, and some live tracks cut for BBC Radio, nearly all of them previously unreleased. According to Morrison's notes, Them's lineup was never consistent, especially in the studio, as the group's producers often brought in studio musicians (including Jimmy Page) to beef up the performances, but the product was both consistent and strong, with razor-sharp guitars and swirling organs dominating the arrangements and Morrison's vocals sounding nearly possessed. Having essentially all of Them's studio recordings in one place is great, but the bonus material offers a glimpse of their power as a live act, and the outtakes and alternate versions reveal the growing sophistication of Morrison's approach over the course of 24 tracks. Morrison's essay offers as much opinion as it does fact, but given his well-documented reticence, the fact he wrote the notes at all is impressive, and when he sums up his notes with "I think of Them as good records...there's a lot of good stuff here," he's absolutely right. As a history of an underappreciated band's greatest era or the first steps of one of rock's most individual artists, The Complete Them: 1964-1967 is essential listening.
Disc 1 (1964-1965) (64:16)
01. Don't Start Cryin' Now (2:05)
02. One Two Brown Eyes (2:44)
03. Baby Please Don't Go (2:44)
04. Gloria (Mono Version) (2:40)
05. Philosophy (2:37)
06. Here Comes The Night (2:47)
07. All For Myself (2:50)
08. One More Time (UK Single Mono Mix) (2:50)
09. How Long Baby (3:39)
10. Mystic Eyes (Mono Version) (2:46)
11. If You And I Could Be As Two (Mono Version) (2:57)
12. Little Girl (Short Version Mono) (2:28)
13. Just A Little Bit (2:23)
14. I Gave My Love A Diamond (Version 1 Mono) (2:52)
15. You Just Can't Win (2:25)
16. Go On Home Baby (Mono Version) (2:41)
17. Don't Look Back (Mono Version) (3:25)
18. I Like It Like That (Mono Version) (3:21)
19. I'm Gonna Dress In Black (Version 2 Mono) (3:37)
20. Bright Lights, Big City (2:35)
21. My Little Baby (Mono Version) (2:13)
22. (It Won't Hurt) Half As Much (Mono Version) (3:10)
23. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 (Mono Version) (2:27)
Disc 2 (1966-1967) (63:47)
01. Could You Would You (3:11)
02. Something You Got (Mono Version) (2:34)
03. Call My Name (2:21)
04. Turn On Your Love Light (2:22)
05. I Put A Spell On You (2:39)
06. I Can Only Give You Everything (2:42)
07. My Lonely Sad Eyes (2:31)
08. I Got A Woman (3:15)
09. Out Of Sight (2:23)
10. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (3:50)
11. Bad Or Good (2:08)
12. Hello Josephine (2:07)
13. Don't You Know (2:26)
14. Hey Girl (3:02)
15. Bring 'Em On In (3:45)
16. Richard Cory (Version 1 Single UK Mono) (2:47)
17. Friday's Child (True Stereo) (3:47)
18. The Story Of Them, Pt. 1 (3:53)
19. The Story Of Them, Pt. 2 (3:42)
20. Baby What You Want Me To Do (3:28)
21. Stormy Monday Blues (Mono Version) (2:43)
22. Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough (Mono Version) (2:13)
Disc 3 (Demos, Sessions & Rarities 1964-1967) (74:15)
01. Don't Start Crying Now (Demo) (1:36)
02. Gloria (Demo) (3:03)
03. One Two Brown Eyes (Demo) (2:40)
04. Stormy Monday Blues (Demo) (5:12)
05. Turn On Your Love Light (Alternate Version) (4:46)
06. Baby Please Don't Go (Take 4) (2:41)
07. Here Comes The Night (Take 2) (3:01)
08. Gloria (Live on BBC's “Saturday Club” March 1965) (2:51)
09. All For Myself (Live on BBC's “Saturday Club” March 1965) (3:08)
10. Here Comes The Night (Live on BBC's “Saturday Club” March 1965) (2:48)
11. Little Girl (Version One) (2:49)
12. Go On Home Baby (Take 4) (2:37)
13. I Gave My Love A Diamond (Take 8) (3:09)
14. (It Won't Hurt) Half As Much (Take 2) (3:11)
15. My Little Baby (Take 1) (2:17)
16. How Long Baby (Take 1) (3:38)
17. One More Time (Take 14) (2:53)
18. Gloria (Live on BBC's “Saturday Club” March 1965) (2:39)
19. Here Comes The Night (Live on BBC's “Saturday Club” March 1965) (2:53)
20. One More Time (Live on BBC's “Saturday Club” March 1965) (2:54)
21. Call My Name (Single Version) (2:23)
22. Bring 'Em On In (Single Version) (3:17)
23. Mighty Like A Rose (4:00)
24. Richard Cory (Alternate Version) (3:50)
