Before Van Morrison established himself as one of the great singer/songwriters of the last 30 years, he was lead singer for the band Them, who had ridden the crest of the very successful wave of British Invasion during the early/mid 1960's. Probably most famous for their teenage anthem Gloria (the one song played by every garage band that ever ever existed from 1964 until two days ago) they had a number of truly memorable hits before Morrison left to pursue a solo career.
This Roundtable Special features a session Them cut for the BBC Radio program Saturday Club on April 3, 1964. It features the two songs they performed, All For Myself and their first worldwide hit Here Comes The Night. These are live versions that haven't been released officially anywhere and give some idea of how good the band were live.
Hearing a band do a live session on-air is a tradition that's fortunately still maintained with a lot of radio outlets around the world. It's almost a staple in the diet of many College/Public Radio stations in the States and it's still a weekly, if not daily occurrence throughout Europe. Hopefully, before the week is out, I will try and give you a taste of what's going on currently in Live radio overseas. It's all good stuff and hearing Them perform live in 1964 reminds me it's always been that way.
[gordon-donate]
If you can help out, that would be better than wonderful.
