Search - Them :: Them & Now

Without Van the Man

Andr Winkler | 08/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"these guys went to L.A. and made this superb west coast psychedelic album. highlight is of course walking in the queens garden:

now you got the point,

i dont do another joint

i m walking in the queens garden

i m walking in the queens garden

one of my alltime favs...

be sure to check Them: Time out for Time in

with the best Them Song: Dirty Old Man(At the age of 16)

the Now and Them features only a funky version of this song

but on time out time in are all versions of this hymn(mono single version is best!)

BUY IT A MUST HAVE if you like pretty things, sonics, litter or what ever!!!"

Them's first masterwork?

Burritoman "USA" | Pennsylvania | 11/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To be honest, I don't consider Them to have been a 'band' during their formative period; the raw r&b stuff they did was fine (although I doubt it gave the Rolling Stones any worries), but the outfit was more or less a studio creation as far as the recordings went. After Van Morrison's exit, though, bassist Alan Henderson reorganized and Them finally became a true band in every sense of the word, and "Now And Them" could be considered Them's first real album. After relocating to America, the Irish guys in Them didn't bother trying to ape their few old hits in style, preferring to develop a psychedelic direction. And it works, splendidly. New vocalist Kenny McDowell is, despite popular opinion, a better, more melodic singer than Morrison was in the early days, and the original material is about as good as the best pop of 1967. There's also some very interesting and well-chosen covers (including perhaps the finest rock-based rendition of 'Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out' that I've ever heard). The album's only drawback, and this is almost always mentioned when this album is noted, is the all-over-the-place styles. Them were at this point better at psychedelia than anything else...check out the awesome extended raga 'Square Room' for proof, but for whatever reason they also were doing straight pop, light rock and even light jazz. They do it all superbly, there's no poor tracks, this obviously brilliant band sounded a tad lost here and there. But thats really a minor quibble and not even a complaint. This is Them, finally, and the results are truly remarkable.

On their following album "Time Out! Time In For Them", they had completely developed their own style and it's an almost flawless disc.

But "Now And Them" should not be overlooked, it's a fascinating snapshot of a great band in it's early stages.

"