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The Belfast Gypsies' career lasted a bit over a year, but their history was remarkably convoluted for a group so short-lived. In 1965, the members of the great Irish R&B band Them were feuding, leading them to split into two factions. Both versions of the group were touring the U.K. as Them until a legal decision gave Van Morrison's version the rights to the name. However, those rights didn't extend around the world, and the version led by keyboard player Pat McAuley toured Europe and the Netherlands as Them, while playing in England as the Other Them. The Other Them crossed paths with notorious American producer Kim Fowley, who signed the act to a record deal. By 1967, an album comprised of Fowley's British sessions with the Other Them, combined with other material cut in Copenhagen, was released in Sweden, months after the Other Them broke up. However, Fowley didn't like the name the Other Them, and released their music under the name the Belfast Gypsies, a moniker the band never used themselves. The Swedish label gave the LP the confusing title Them, and record stores filed it with their former band's releases more often than not. Given the strange story of the Belfast Gypsies' sole album, one might not expect much from the finished product, but the truth is, Them is a solid and satisfying blast of U.K. R&B, and better than the albums the post-Morrison Them would release. Keyboard player and lead singer Jackie McAuley sometimes overdid his efforts to sound like Van Morrison (with some Eric Burdon thrown in), but at his best he was a fierce R&B howler, and his brother Pat McAuley, moving from keys to drums, was an energetic and imaginative percussionist. Add Ken McLeod's razor-sharp guitar on numbers like "Gloria's Dream" and "People, Let's Freak Out" and Mark Scott's steady, muscular bass work and you get a band that was well-versed in R&B, blues, freakbeat, and garage-centric rock. Even when they slow down on numbers like "The Crazy World Inside Me" or "Portland Town," they maintain intensity and excitement. It's sometimes obvious this album was cut quickly on a budget, and not all the material is top shelf. Still, Them (or Them Belfast Gypsies, as some fans call it) deserves a wider hearing and better exposure than it received in 1967; if they had stuck around for a few years, it's not hard to imagine they could have matured into serious rivals to the Pretty Things.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
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Kim Fowley, Composer - Kenneth McLeod, Composer - Mark Scott, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - John James McAuley, Composer - Patrick McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kenneth McLeod, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Patrick McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Alvin Roy, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Gerry Hicks, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kenneth McLeod, Composer - Mark Scott, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - John James McAuley, Composer - Patrick McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Bob Dylan, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kim Fowley, Composer - Mark Scott, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - John James McAuley, Composer - Patrick McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
John Lee Hooker, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Mark Scott, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Kevin McLeod, Composer - John James McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
John Stewart, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Derroll Adams, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Donovan Leitch, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Mark Scott, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Kevin McLeod, Composer - John James McAuley, Composer - Patrick McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kim Fowley, Composer - Dennis Hardesty, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Steve Waltner, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kim Fowley, Composer - Kenneth McLeod, Composer - Mark Scott, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - John James McAuley, Composer - Patrick McAuley, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1966 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kim Fowley, Composer - Dennis Hardesty, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Steve Waltner, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1966 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Kim Fowley, Composer - Mark Scott, Composer - John James McAuley, Composer - Patrick McAuley, Composer - The Freaks Of Nature, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1966 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Graham Bond, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 2005 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Bob Dylan, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 2005 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
John Stewart, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Derroll Adams, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Bob Dylan, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Alvin Roy, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - Gerry Hicks, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Peter Bardens, Composer - Ray Henderson, Composer - Belfast Gypsies, MainArtist - John Moorshead, Composer
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 1967 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
Album review
The Belfast Gypsies' career lasted a bit over a year, but their history was remarkably convoluted for a group so short-lived. In 1965, the members of the great Irish R&B band Them were feuding, leading them to split into two factions. Both versions of the group were touring the U.K. as Them until a legal decision gave Van Morrison's version the rights to the name. However, those rights didn't extend around the world, and the version led by keyboard player Pat McAuley toured Europe and the Netherlands as Them, while playing in England as the Other Them. The Other Them crossed paths with notorious American producer Kim Fowley, who signed the act to a record deal. By 1967, an album comprised of Fowley's British sessions with the Other Them, combined with other material cut in Copenhagen, was released in Sweden, months after the Other Them broke up. However, Fowley didn't like the name the Other Them, and released their music under the name the Belfast Gypsies, a moniker the band never used themselves. The Swedish label gave the LP the confusing title Them, and record stores filed it with their former band's releases more often than not. Given the strange story of the Belfast Gypsies' sole album, one might not expect much from the finished product, but the truth is, Them is a solid and satisfying blast of U.K. R&B, and better than the albums the post-Morrison Them would release. Keyboard player and lead singer Jackie McAuley sometimes overdid his efforts to sound like Van Morrison (with some Eric Burdon thrown in), but at his best he was a fierce R&B howler, and his brother Pat McAuley, moving from keys to drums, was an energetic and imaginative percussionist. Add Ken McLeod's razor-sharp guitar on numbers like "Gloria's Dream" and "People, Let's Freak Out" and Mark Scott's steady, muscular bass work and you get a band that was well-versed in R&B, blues, freakbeat, and garage-centric rock. Even when they slow down on numbers like "The Crazy World Inside Me" or "Portland Town," they maintain intensity and excitement. It's sometimes obvious this album was cut quickly on a budget, and not all the material is top shelf. Still, Them (or Them Belfast Gypsies, as some fans call it) deserves a wider hearing and better exposure than it received in 1967; if they had stuck around for a few years, it's not hard to imagine they could have matured into serious rivals to the Pretty Things.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 21 track(s)
- Total length: 01:06:17
- Main artists: Belfast Gypsies
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Grapefruit
- Genre: Blues/Country/Folk Blues
© 2020 Cherry Red Records Ltd Cherry Red Records Ltd ℗ 2020 Jackie McAuley Jackie McAuley
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