How has it been that in ALL the years that I’ve been listening to psychedelic sounds, I’ve never come upon this song! I have no idea, but I couldn’t help but share this garage delight today!
The Belfast Gypsies’ career lasted just over a year, but their history was remarkably complex 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 group 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 Them is a solid and satisfying blast of U.K. R&B, and way better than the albums the post-Morrison Them would release!
Keyboard player and lead singer Jackie McAuley sometimes went out of his way to sound like Van Morrison (with some Eric Burdon thrown in), but at his best he was a fierce R&B howler! His brother, Pat McAuley, went from keys to drums and was an energetic and imaginative percussionist! Add Ken McLeod’s razor-sharp guitar and Mark Scott’s steady, muscular bass work and what get is a mighty fine R&B, blues, freakbeat, and garage rock band! I have to say, I much prefer The Belfast Gypsies!!
Issued in 1967, Secret Police featured on the band’s one and only self-titled LP. I love the rawness of this track, its organic execution played out through hypnotic, tribal rhythms, howling guitars and dirty-gruff vocals!! Check it out above and listen to the whole record below!
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