Us And Them

A few weeks ago Brian made a great post about one of the best bands from the early 60's. The Kinks and especially Ray Davis were one of my first love in music and guided me to a lot of other bands from this era. All this bands swashed over the Atlantic ocean in the mid 60's as the so called British invasion to show the natives how to play their very own sound. A lot of songs are borrowed by American blues legends or singer/songwriter but played with full enthusiasm. We don't have to discuss about their influence to the successive generations of musicians and bands because their legacy is well known and undisputed. I ask myself why Them was never featured at this place because I was always addicted to their very unique music. Originally another garage band from Belfast but blessed with one of the most soulful voices ever. Van Morrison made the difference to all the other bands and it was unavoidable that he quit the band to start a career of his own. Their legacy was only a few records under the name of Them and young people may not know that they was a band and Van Morrison was 'only' the voice.

Many artists covered their songs and this shows how great these songs are. Them made a great version out of a song originally written by Bob Dylan and the Bunnymen did it even better at the hight of their creative power.

Them - It's all over now Baby Blue
Echo and the Bunnymen - It's all over now Baby Blue

A simple three-chord song made it great. G-L-O-R-I-A seems like to be the blueprint of many songs from the post-punk era.

Them - Gloria
The 101er's - Gloria
Patti Smith - Gloria

Them - Here comes the night
David Bowie - Here comes the night

The Rivals, a British punk band from Kent, covered this song as well thinking that it was originally written by David Bowie

The Rivals - Here comes the night