(Rev-Ola 2003)

The history of Van Morrison's legendary group Them has got to be one of the most convoluted in the annals of 60s rock. Them experienced a series of line-up changes, offshoots, and relocations, not to mention the all-important departure of Morrison himself in 1966. When Morrison broke the group to go solo, brothers Jackie and Pat McAuley-both former Them members at various points-formed a new group that would become The Belfast Gypsies, while another faction of Them relocated to the US and continued to record using that name. After enlisting new band members Mike Scott and Ken McLeod, the McAuley brothers met American musician/producer/impresario Kim Fowley in London, and soon made plans to record.

Fowley took direction of the new group, christened them The Belfast Gypsies, arranged contracts with record labels, and began to market the band based on its connections with Them. Lead singer Jackie McAuley was adept at affecting Morrison's punky R&B snarl, and with organ and harmonica to the fore, The Belfast Gypsies wore the influence of their former band on their sleeves. The Gypsies released several records, culminating in a full-length album released only in Sweden in 1967. This recent release from Rev-Ola collects all these Belfast Gypsies recordings for the first time on CD. While comparisons to Them are inevitable and probably unflattering, The Belfast Gypsies do offer some interesting songs here. "Gloria's Dream", the A-side to the band's first release, is an energetic and rather engaging rocker clearly based around Them's legendary "Gloria".

"Midnight Train" sounds like what it is-a rip-off of Them's "Mystic Eyes"-but once that's acknowledged, the harmonica work is worth admiring. The Gypsies certainly do manage to break from their Them-copying for the slower, classically inspired instrumental "Aria of the Fallen Angels". And their buoyant version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is strong and refreshingly different from the masterful, dramatic version which Them had released just a year or two earlier. "People, Let's Freak Out" packs a mighty R&B wallop and probably represents The Belfast Gypsies at their wildest. "Portland Town" is a simple but effective narrative which inexplicably morphed into the more innocuous "Flower Town" when recorded by US pop band The Rose Garden, appearing as the flip side to their hit single "Last Train to London". And "Secret Police" demonstrates some interesting pop songwriting, and its lyrical description of crime and paranoia is perfectly juxtaposed to the urgency of the two-chord backing.

Occasionally, The Gypsies' mirroring of Them does get a bit tiresome, particularly when they try to simulate the emotion and expression of Morrison's performance, as in tracks like "The Crazy World inside Me" and "The Last Will and Testament", the latter of which is a bad copy of Them's "I'm Gonna Dress in Black" that presents all the bleakness but none of the sensitivity of the original. The Belfast Gypsies can rock, and they can do pretty good Them impressions and even write some interesting original material. But their emphasis on intensity, despondency, and impression is inevitably limiting.

They seem to miss many of the subtleties that had made Them's music so diverse and consistent at the same time. Still, that's not to say that The Belfast Gypsies don't contribute some worthy material here. This CD makes for interesting listening, even if it may not be a compulsory purchase, and it will definitely make the listener appreciate the recordings of the original, Van Morrison-led Them.

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