The Poets – Now We're Thru'

The Poets – Now We're Thru' / There Are Some

A highly collectable piece of 1960s Scottish beat and freakbeat, Now We're Thru' / There Are Some was the debut single by The Poets, the Glasgow group who briefly looked destined to become one of Britain's next major beat acts. Released on Decca Records in October 1964, the single reached No. 31 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's only UK Top 40 hit.

The Poets had been formed in Glasgow only around a year earlier, but their energetic live performances quickly attracted attention. Their biggest early champion was Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones' manager and producer, who was sufficiently impressed to sign them to his production stable. Contemporary Record Mirror coverage described Oldham as being amazed by the reaction to the group and compared their impact favourably with the early Rolling Stones.

The A-side, “Now We're Thru'”, was written by Poets members George Gallacher, Hume Paton and Tony Myles, with Andrew Loog Oldham credited as producer. The recording also features an important connection to another future musical heavyweight: John Paul Jones, later of Led Zeppelin, was responsible for the arrangement. That combination of Oldham's production, the band's raw Scottish beat sound and Jones's arrangement makes this an especially interesting record for collectors of British 1960s rock.

The B-side, “There Are Some”, was written by the same Gallacher/Paton/Myles songwriting team and was produced by Oldham as well. Both sides carry the distinctive energy of the mid-60s British beat boom, sitting comfortably alongside the tougher sounds now associated with freakbeat, mod and garage rock. The single was issued in the UK as Decca F 11995 on 9 October 1964.

The Poets' subsequent career remained largely cult rather than commercial, with later Decca and Immediate singles failing to match the chart success of their debut. Their recordings have nevertheless become highly regarded among collectors of rare Scottish beat, British freakbeat and 1960s garage rock, with tracks subsequently appearing on specialist compilations including Nuggets II and The Immediate Records Story.

For collectors, Now We're Thru' / There Are Some is therefore much more than an obscure 1964 single. It captures The Poets at their brief commercial peak, connects the Glasgow beat scene with Andrew Loog Oldham and features an early arrangement by John Paul Jones. A superb record for anyone collecting Scottish beat, freakbeat, mod, garage rock or rare Decca 7" singles.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Now We're Thru'

Side B

1. There Are Some