The Angry Young Them

The Angry Young Them is the first album by the Northern Irish rock and roll group Them, whose lead singer and songwriter was Van Morrison. The album was released in the UK in June 1965. In the U.S., the album was released as Them with partly different tracks.

The Angry Young Them
Studio album by
Them
Released11 June 1965
Recorded1964–1965
StudioDecca Studios, West Hampstead, North London, England
Genre
Length35:26
LabelDecca
Producer
Them chronology
The Angry Young Them
(1965)		 Them Again
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Record Mirror[4]
Them
Studio album by
Them
ReleasedJuly 1965 (1965-07)
Recorded1964–1965
StudioDecca Studios, West Hampstead, North London, England
Genre
Length34:17
LabelParrot
Producer
Them American chronology
Them
(1965)		 Them Again
(1966)

Cover

As with several Decca releases of the period, the name of the group was conspicuously absent from the front cover. On the back of the LP they were introduced as The Angry Young Them with an essay on this theme declaring: "These five young rebels are outrageously true to themselves. Defiant! Angry! Sad! They are honest to the point of insult!"

Release history

Six of the songs on the album were Morrison originals, including the famous garage band anthem "Gloria". Another song on the album, "Mystic Eyes", was a spontaneous creation that came out of the band just "busking around" in Morrison's words and after seven minutes of instrumental playing he impulsively threw in the words of a song he had been working on. The lengthy versions of "Gloria" that the band performed at the Maritime and the ten-minute recording of "Mystic Eyes" have never surfaced. All that is left of the "Mystic Eyes" performance is the little over 21⁄2 minutes on the album that remained after splicing out from the beginning and ending. "You Just Can't Win" was a Bob Dylan inspired song about a gold digger, set in specific places in London such as Camden Town. "Little Girl" was about a boy's obsession with a fourteen-year-old school girl (an earlier take on Lord's Taverners charity album had been deleted when a four-letter word was heard in the fade out at the end). "If You And I Could Be As Two" starts with a spoken introduction by Morrison with an aggressive Irish accent. Three originals by Bert Berns were included and a cover of John Lee Hooker's "Don't Look Back" was considered by Morrison to be his finest vocal to date.[5]

Track listing

British version

Side one

  1. "Mystic Eyes" (Van Morrison) – 2:41
  2. "If You and I Could Be as Two" (Morrison) – 2:53
  3. "Little Girl" (Morrison) – 2:21
  4. "Just a Little Bit" (Ralph Bass, Buster Brown, John Thornton, Ferdinand "Fats" Washington) – 2:21
  5. "I Gave My Love a Diamond" (Bert Berns, Wes Farrell) – 2:48
  6. "Gloria" (Morrison) – 2:38
  7. "You Just Can't Win" (Morrison) – 2:21

Side two

  1. "Go on Home Baby" (Berns, Farrell) – 2:39
  2. "Don't Look Back" (John Lee Hooker) – 3:23
  3. "I Like It Like That" (Morrison) – 3:35
  4. "I'm Gonna Dress in Black" (M. Gillon aka Tommy Scott, M. Howe) – 3:34
  5. "Bright Lights, Big City" (Jimmy Reed) – 2:30
  6. "My Little Baby" (Berns, Farrell) – 2:00
  7. "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" (Bobby Troup) – 2:22

North American version

Side one

  1. "Here Comes the Night" (Berns) – 2:45
  2. "Mystic Eyes" – 2:41
  3. "Don't Look Back" – 3:23
  4. "Little Girl" – 2:21
  5. "One Two Brown Eyes" (Morrison) – 2:39
  6. "Gloria" – 2:38

Side two

  1. "One More Time" - 2:47
  2. "If You and I Could Be as Two" – 2:53
  3. "I Like It Like That" – 3:35
  4. "I'm Gonna Dress in Black" – 3:34
  5. "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" – 2:22
  6. "Go on Home Baby" – 2:39

Notes
  1. Fortnight. Fortnight Publications. 1989. p. 27.
  2. Masley, Ed (19 September 2008). "10 essential garage-rock albums". AZCentral. The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. Ruhlmann, William. The Angry Young Them at AllMusic. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  4. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (14 August 1965). "Them: The "Angry" Young Them!" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 231. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  5. Rogan, No Surrender, pp. 126–127.

References
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