The Animals Part 1

John N sent me a bunch of Animals links, some of which I already had, some of which I didn't......couldn't
quite decide how to break this down, because there were distinct phases to their career, and, oddly enough, I really enjoyed most all of them, even though they underwent a TOTAL transformation.....let us start with their earliest works and advance from there (there will be three parts to this, not necessarily the next three posts I do if you get my meaning).

Anyways, the band formed in the early 60's, in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, and were, for the era, a quite frantic, rowdy, hard blues band, made especially unique by the wonderful vocals of Eric Burdon, one of my favorite of all vocalists. Other members included, at the time, guitarist Hilton Valentine, bassist Chas Chandler, keyboardist Alan Price, and drummer John Steel. A lot of thier early stuff has been repackaged in various forms, I'd like to think we will hit the highlights at the very least.

The first thing I have for you is 1965's "Animal Tracks", a totally wonderful blues experience, mostly covers, but WHAT covers!.....Ray Charles' "Hallelujah I Love her So" (actually for whatever reason I always loved Humble Pie's version of that one too), "I Ain't Got You" from Clarence Carter, Chuck Berry's "How You've Changed", and plenty more......a great and still enjoyable album, NOT just a period piece.

From 1966, another sledge hammer blues effort, again heavy on the covers, is "Animalisms"....this extended length CD version contains 25 tracks, the "bonus tracks" are stellar, including "Don't Bring Me Down", "Boom Boom", and Willie Dixon's "I Just Wanna Make Love To You".......another fine set.

From the same year we have the very similarly titled "Animalism", another collection of stellar blues covers....."Hit the Road Jack", "Smokestack Lightning", "Shake", and plenty more make this a worthwhile investment of one's time as well.

It would be understatement at least to say these guys knew their format......"The Animals' (UK release) is yet
ANOTHER collection of R&B shouters......"The Story of Bo Diddley", "She Said Yeah", and, in particular, "The Girl Can't Help It".......I don't know if a box set of all this stuff exists, but one certainly should.

We'll wrap up today with a two disc set "Deluxe BBC Files", lots of live versions of the blues shouters noted above, also the hits like "House of the Rising Sun" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (the original versions of these will be in Part 2, which is "The Micky Most Years" set)......anyway, this thing is crammed with interview material as well, and is nothing if not interesting.

The Animals are one of my very faves of the 1960's, underappreciated for my money......if unfamiliar, wait till you watch how they transform into a top notch psych band in part 3.......tremendous band, lets start here and watch them develop.

ANIMAL TRACKS-01 Mess Around/02 How You've Changed/03 Hallelujah I Love Her So/04 I Believe To My Soul/05 World Life Blues/06 Roberta/07 I Ain't Got You/08 Bright Lights, Big City/09 Let the Good Times Roll/10 For Miss Caulker/11 Roadrunner/12 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/13 Club a Go Go/14 bring It On Home to Me/15 We Gotta Get Out of This Place/16 I Can't Believe It/17 It's My Life/18 I'm Gonna Change the World/19 Don't Want Much

ANIMALISMS-01 One Monkey Don't Stop No Show/02 Maudie/03 Outcast/04 Sweet Little Sixteen/05 You're On My Mind/06 Clapping/07 Gin House Blues/08 Squeeze Her, Tease Her/09 What Am I Living For/10 I Put a Spell On You/11 That's All I Am To You/12 She'll Return It/13 Inside Looking Out/14 Don't Bring Me Down/15 Cheating/16 Help Me Girl/17 See See Rider/18 I Just Want To Make Love To You/19 Boom Boom/20 Big Boss Man/21 Pretty Thing/22 Don't Bring Me Down (Stereo)/23 See See Rider (Stereo)/24 Help me Girl (Stereo)/25 Cheating (Stereo)

ANIMALISM-01 All Night Long/02 Shake/03 The Other Side of This Life/04 Rock Me Baby/05
Lucille/06 Smokestack Lightining/07 Hey Gyp/08 Hit the Road Jack/09 Outcast/10 Louisiana Blues/11 That's All I Am To You/12 Going Down Slow

ANIMALS-01 The Story of Bo Diddley/02 Bury My Body/03 Dimples.04 I've Been Around/05 I'm In Love Again/06 The Girl Can't Help It/07 I'm Mad Again/08 She Said Yeah/09 The Right Time/10 Memphis Tennessee/11 Boom Boom/12 Around and Around

DELUXE BBC FILES DISC 1-01 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/02 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/03 Gonna Send You back to Georgia/04 Bring It On Home to Me/05 Interview/See See Rider/06 We Gotta Get Out of This Place/07 Interview/Heartbreak Hotel/08 Interview/Work Song/09 It's My Life/10 Corrina Corrina/11 Inside Looking Out/12 Sweet Little Sixteen/13 Jailhouse Rock/14 Interview/Paint it Black/15 When I Was Young/16 San Franciscan Nights/17 Monterey/18 Baby What's Wrong/19 Rosie/20 I Can't Believe It/21 Drown In My Own Tears/22 Ain't That a Shame/23 Squeeze Her, Tease Her/24 Lawdy Miss Clawdy/25 One Monkey Don't Stop No Show

DELUXE BBC FILES DISC 2-01 Maudie/02 She'll Return It/03 The Same Thing/04 If I Were a
Carpenter/05 It's All Meat/06 All Night Long/07 Good Times/08 Interview/I Get So Excited/09 Anything/10 It Hurts Me Too/11 McClloch's Blues/12 Gratefully Dead/13 Wee, Wee Hours/14 Boom Boom/15 What Am I Living For/16 Lawdy Miss Clawdy/17 I'm Gonna Change the World/18 Lucille/19 A Love Like Hours/20 Shake Rattle and Roll/21 Connection/22 Yes, I Am Experienced/23 House of the Rising Sun/24 Don't Bring Me Down/25 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/26 We Gotta Get Out of This Place/27 Baby Please Don't Go/28 Inside Looking Out/29 Club Au Go Go Hullabaloo