Them
The Angry Young Them

“Gloria”...

“Gloria” opens “Horses” by Patti Smith. Some esoteric piano notes, “Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine,” then it goes headlong.

But Gloria is by Van Morrison. And it is a sort of rock'n'roll archetype...

It represents the magic of the beginning. And nothing, nothing is more important than the beginning. Nothing.

I don't know, think about the first time you saw your beloved. Or the elegance of that number ten running with his head held high when you were ten. Well, that's the beginning...

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The beginning...

And I remember my first musical bible, namely: “A Good Homemade Pudding, Almost Official Story of the English Beat”

Not bad as a title, right? And even better was what it said about the Them...

“Moments of quick joy, bad and scratchy pieces, precise insults to all the Beatles' crystal and our search for sweet music.”

The author of such prose would later change his mind about the Beatles. After all, speaking ill of the Beatles is like speaking ill of blueberry jam.

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The beginning...

Blues, R&B, and soul driven by an unprecedented fury, the harmony giving way to expressive urgency, the feeling that anything could happen...

And, of course, not only the Them, but the whole British invasion, even the sugary and dreamy one.

Years later, that beginning still takes your breath away. Also because almost everything we love took its start from there. And it often returns there...

Especially in certain cases of severe anemia when a blood transfusion is urgently needed. Right, Aunt Patti?

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That Aunt Patti's idea was to preserve the myth of rock'n'roll.

Nothing better then than returning to the holy sources. And “Gloria,” well, “Gloria” was perfect.

Her partner thought so too, that Lenny Kaye who was a few years earlier the compiler of “Nuggets,” a garage rock anthology from the American sixties.

“Nuggets,” the dirty sound, the B-series and the almost punk of a myriad of bands that followed the Them canon but declined it in a more primitive form.

Then, okay, Aunt Patti added her feverish poetry. Lenny Kaye and company moved it into Velvet territory. But Gloria is by Van Morrison...

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Van Morrison...

There are photos of him young where he looks like Johnny Rotten.

Same red hair, same frown.

Same dark energy concentrated in the eyes, same look of a mischievous sprite.

You know, the redheads (or reddish) are like cats slinking at the feet of witches, especially if Irish, especially if devoted to rock'n'roll.

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Ah, gentlemen, the Van, for me, is that look of a punk goblin...

That's why it's easy for me to imagine the chaos of the Maritime Club in early sixties Belfast.

With our guy, magnificently angry, entrusting to music that is half hell and half paradise his fabulous Irish black idiom.

A kind of Rotten slightly overweight with the voice of a god.

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Listen here:

“The only Them are those from the Maritime club, the records are crap” (Van Morrison)

And why, Van? Because of too many session musicians employed? Because the live fury is just barely felt?

Because some improvisation-born tracks would have required a robust duration and not the usual three minutes three?

Because the final result does not resemble your old Rotten face?

Oh dear Van, look it doesn't matter. Does the Pistols album really capture that magical live chaos sensation?

Really, it doesn't matter. Also because your albums with the Them are beautiful. And you find everything you need there: the fast-running instruments, the pre-psychedelic organ pumping, the sky of soul ballads...

And your voice...your damn voice

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Shall I quote you some pieces?

I don't know, the opener “Mystic Eyes” is a wild R&B with fabulous harmonica and talking guitar

“You and I Could Be a Two,” or the already mentioned sky of the soul ballad.

“Little Girl,” tight and dry with a lyrical organ going mad as it chases Van's screams. “You got into my soul!!!”...“YOU GOT INTO MY SOUL!!!” “YOU GOT INTO MY SOUL!!!” The

“You Just Can't Win,” hyper-ballad that speaks to the mysterious hormone of melancholy and has a strange classic feel almost like Nick Cave's “Kicking Against the Pricks.”

A few excellent covers...

And “Gloria,” but what can I tell you about “Gloria?”

Aloha...