The Animals

For me, rock and roll started when I first heard The Animals than The Beatles.  Not because of name association but rather the first 45 I ever known was Gonna Send You Back To Walker to which as a 3 year old I played the record and then broke it thus beginning a 40 year search of getting another copy and did so.  When you're 3 years old the world revolves around Cricket Records and or Peter Pan to which nursery rhyme songs were commonplace.  But then again I think that came from my liberal minded mom who would go get these cheap records to amuse and keep her little brat out of trouble. And she did come up with some interesting titles although the little brat loved those ABC Paramount labels and MGM.

The Animals broke big with the next single House Of The Rising Sun a song that has been overplayed to death on classic rock radio to which they still play House on a full time basis and ignore the rest of the Animals catalog.  There's more to The Animals than what radio plays.

The original lineup featured Alan Price on organ/keyboards, Chas Chandler on bass, Hilton Valentine-guitar, John Steele-drums and a vocalist that sounded black at time Eric Burdon who would go on to have one of most uneven careers in music.  The original Animals were produced by Mickie Most and the singles, like Herman's Hermits came out on MGM in the US although in the UK they were under the EMI banner.  The Animals were more blues driven then The Rolling Stones, Burdon having a big love for John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles and to me more dirty sounding than the evil Stones.  Hits like I'm Crying and Talking About You to which they employ the call and response sound and sometimes the B sides to the singles were just as good as the hits, I'm Going To Change The World for one was a statement of purpose, just like We Gotta Get Out Of This Place or It's My Life, but somehow the statement of purpose was wearing thin on Price and he and Burdon always had a very oil and water relationship anyway to which Price left and John Rowberry came on board.  John Steel left, and Barry Jenkins (Nashville Teens) took over on drums.

A change of producers, Tom Wilson in, Most out, resulted in a more heavier sound which is features on my 2nd favorite all time Animals song, Inside Looking Out, a single that I wore the grooves down to the nubs.  The B Side You're On My Mind remains one of the best loved ballads that Burdon ever written but by then the original Animals were leaving to which by then Eric Burdon was the last person standing.  The New Animals era made some of the most dated hippy dippy psychedelia ever recorded beginning with Winds Of Change to which Burdon became way too much into the San Francisco hippy scene (as you can tell on San Franciscan Nights or the his telling of Monterrey's pop festival in the failed hit Monterrey).  By then, Burdon gave up on what made The Animals sounded great, old blues standards done rocking in favor of hippy dippyness.  The last great single was Sky Pilot one of the better protest songs of the 60s.  But the rest of The Twain Shall Meet was boring, as well as Every One Of Us and what people considered to be their worst over all  album, the 2 album Love Is, complete with River Deep-Mountain High to which a segment pays tribute to Tina Turner with the Tina tina tina chant.  By then they lost their fanbase and Burdon retired The Animals to start up a new endeavor with War which gave him a top ten hit with Spill The Wine and either he left or War fired him to form The Eric Burdon Band which made 2 albums for Capitol to which I have never heard.

The original Animals got back together to recreate old times with Before We Were Rudely Interrupted, an album of mostly blues covers and it sounds like they were having a good time.  Five years later they return, signing a new recording contract with IRS and the promise of better things to come.  But Ark turned out to be a big snooze, too many subpar Eric Burdon numbers and not enough Alan Price and then the bottom fell out with the awful Rip It To Shreds, a live album that showed Burdon's vocals shot.  And then Price left again and the band splintered to ashes once again.

The best Animals album out there is a greatest hits collection, Retrospective (ABKCO) which contains just about everything they released as singles up to Spill The Wine but thankfully no IRS stuff to contend with.  All of the MGM albums are out of print, Polydor in the 80s reissued Animalization and Greatest Hits Volume 2 to which has more selected B sides (You're On My Mind).  The Polydor CD of Eric Burdon/The Animals 1966-1968 is a mess and adds way too much filler to make it a worthwhile compliation.  The original Abkco best of had the UK version We Gotta Get Out Of The Place which made it even more frustrating but since the arrival of Retrospective that has been corrected.  Hip O Select released Animalism as a limited edition and is best known for having Frank Zappa arranged The Other Side Of This Life and the rocking Hey Gyp.

There's plenty of imports out there, and some work and some don't.  For myself it's The Singles Plus (EMI) which is as advertised.  Inside Looking Out (Sequel) is the other and showcases The Animals at Decca (UK) Records for the 2 years prior to going out to San Francisco and forever alternating and alienating their sound.  The Complete Animals (EMI) is not but it shows most of the Alan Price era.  A uninspired Sonny Boy Williamson shows up on The Night Time Is The Right Time (Pizzazz) that has been reissued time and time again but In The Beginning (Wand) has the 7 minute Story Of Bo Diddley which has to be heard to be believed.

You can live without Ark or Rip It To Shreds but Rudely Interrupted is actually a good listen and the Repitorie Records did a fine job remastering it, sounds much better than the Jet/UA album that came out in 1977.  ABKCO has put out the barebones Very Best Of The Animals (10 songs Five dollars) and has the Price era hits.

The New Animals (John Wieder/Barry Jenkins/Vic Briggs/Danny McCollugh/Eric Burdon) may have been the better band but with the material they had, their albums have dated badly after the Age Of Woodstock. But then again St. James Infirmary may have been Burdon's best blues take on that song ever.  But then again that's up to the ears of the listener.  The grades issued for these albums might seem harsh, especially Love Is, and new guitarist Andy Summers does help a bit as well as Zoot Money's work but it still doesn't hold up over repeated listens.  The IRS reunion of the original band is a reminder that sometimes it's best to not reunite for any kinds of money.  It does have a habit of tarnishing the rock solid bad boy early years.  And both Ark and Rip It To Shreds both are bad, especially on the latter album, which sounds like a bad oldies band.

Since the breakup of The Animals, John Steel has retained the rights to that name over Burdon and the rest and did play on the banner of Animals 2. And gave us a very crappy K Tel best of, to three songs are original recordings (When I Was Young, House Of The Rising Sun, San Francisco Nights) and the rest piss poor new recordings that were dated even before they were recorded.  Hilton Valentine sometimes plays in Burdon's band. Eric Burdon returns to ABKCO with a new album called Before Your River Runs Dry.  Not a bad album but the problem is that Burdon's vocal still sounds shot.  A good but not great album. McCollugh passed away in 2014.

Discography (all over the place but this is the albums that I bought)

The Singles Plus (EMI Import 1988) B+
Inside Looking Out-the 196501966 Sessions Sequel 1991) B+
The Original Animals-Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted (Jet/United Artists  1977) B+

US Stuff
Animalization (Polydor 1986 reissue) B+
Best Of Eric Burdon & The Animals Volume 2 (MGM 1967) A-
Best Of Eric Burdon & The Animals 1966-1968 (Polydor 1992) B-
Animalism (Hip O Select 1966)  B+
Winds Of Change (One Way)   B-
The Twain Shall Meet (One Way) C
Every One Of Us (One Way)  C+
Love Is (One Way) C-
Ark (IRS 1983) C+
Rip It To Shreds: Animals Live (IRS 1984) C-
K Tel Presents The Animals (BCI 2006)  D+
Retrospective (ABKCO 2008) A
Very Best Of The Animals (ABKCO 2012) B