Garage Rock, Rhythm & Blues Them – Belfast Gypsies (Injection – TALP 7001) made in Holland 1967 original 1st pressing LP | vinyl: VG++ (excellent) | cover: VG++ (excellent) --> see photos The Belfast Gypsies emerged after the split of Van Morrison's Them (the Gypsies comprised two members of Them (the MacAuley brothers) plus 2 new band members) and remained true to the Them sound - playing hard, raw r'n'b. Fans of Van Morrison's Them should find much to enjoy here. In fact, even vocally MacAuley sounds like Van. The overall sounds is similar too, with a lot of raw harp and shrill Farfisa organ. The songs are typical of the era, and many have been covered and re-covered. The excitement here is really in the raw power of some of the songs, e.g. Midnight Train (compare this to the more restrained version by Spencer Davis) and in some of the original arrangements - Boom Boom has been covered by everyone, but no-one did it quite like this! I describe it as 'inside out' with the solos first, then the verses, and so on. Fab, and very powerful. Other highlights for me include The Last Will and Testament, which sounds rather like St James Infirmary, Gloria's Dream (a psychedelic sequel to Gloria) and their version of Baby Blue, famously covered by Them, but this version is also very strong. A1 Gloria's Dream A2 The Crazy World Inside Me A3 Midnight Train A4 Aria Of The Fallen Angels A5 Baby Blue A6 People Let's Freak Out B1 Boom Boom B2 The Last Will And Testament B3 Portland Town B4 Hey Gyp! Dig The Slowness B5 Suicide Song B6 Secret Police