If only bassist Alan Henderson had had the good sense to stop using the Them moniker after Van Morrison’s departure 1965. Instead, when the band was reborn on Los Angeles’ Happy Tiger label in 1970, he hung on to the name (but not the sound) and fans never forgave him for this. Therefore, the fact that Them continued to make great music into the seventies has gone largely under the radar. By the time 1971 rolled around, the band was a stripped-down trio consisting of Henderson on bass, Jim Parker on guitar / vocals, and John Stark on drums (both ex-Kitchen Cinq). Kicking off the album with an extended fuzz guitar version of Van Morrison’s calling card, “Gloria”, may have been Henderson’s way of saying, “feel free to make comparisons, the new Them is back with a vengeance!” For the first time in years Them was a real band again (and not some studio project), with Parker and Stark writing most of the songs, like the brilliant “California Man”. The new Them was lean, hungry and hard rocking…kind of like the original Them that everyone knows and loves. Too bad that this time around no one was listening.