From my CD Collection

Quote of the Day: "He freely gave to charity/ And had that common touch/ They were grateful for his patronage/ And thanked him very much/ So my mind was filled with wonder/ When the evenin' headlines read/ That Richard Cory went home last night/ And put a bullet through his head."

-"Richard Cory"

There are certain aspects of this world that we all know and have adopted as universal truths. For example, we know that the earth is flat. We also know that sodium and chloride combine to make salt. And, of course, one of my favorite universal truths: Everybody loves Van Morrison. Nobody can honestly say that they don't enjoy "Brown Eye Girl." It's physically impossible, just like falling off the edge of the earth.

My favorite work of his comes from his first band Them. It was with Them that Morrison originally recorded the classic "Gloria." Them also recorded a fantastic version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Their version of the song was later sampled in the Beck song "Jackass" on the very likeable album Odelay).

Them does not have a very wide catalogue of music, which means that everything they've recorded can be found on the 2-disc Them anthology The Story of Them. The charm of this bands music comes from the fact that, as artists, it is fairly apparent that they do not take themselves quite seriously. They have a garage band feel to their music (albeit, an excellent garage band). Of course, Van Morrison went on to become a huge success with "Brown Eye Girl," but I recommend checking him out as a real rocker. The Story of Them is a fine, affordable anthology and one of the best jam CD's I have. It's up there with The Who Live at Leeds and the Rolling Stones and Ry Cooder's Jamming With Edward, another fun album worth picking up.