Ark [UK Bonus Track] – The Animals

Ark was the second reunion attempt by the original Animals. The first, Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted, was issued in 1977 at the dawn of punk rock on bassist Chas Chandler's own Barn Productions imprint. That gritty back-to-basics blues-drenched album was greeted with favorable reviews, but without a budget to tour in support of it, it sank like a stone. Which brings us to Ark. Recorded and released in 1983 on Castle Communications, it was a well-financed affair and led to a tour before the band dissolved for good. The Animals always lived and died by vocalist Eric Burdon's performance, but there is an exception to that rule here. Latter-day Animals saxophonist Zoot Money and a full horn section joined the original band -- Chandler, keyboardist Alan Price, guitarist Hilton Valentine, and drummer John Steel -- on the date. Burdon is in fine form generally -- even in the 21st century he is still one of the most iconic of rock & roll singers -- and so is the band. The problem with Ark is the material and the production. A larger budget proved to be more bane than boon here. The harder-edged guitar and organ-based Animals sound is replaced by a bank of synths, sheeny sound, and songs that are drenched in a rather dystopian darkness that blunts the blues-rock edge. There are some notable tracks: "Prisoner of the Light," though saturated in keyboards, leaves lots of room for Valentine's skeletal but poignant lead guitar parts, and Burdon is great; the stuttering "Hard Times" is carried by the winding, percussive knottiness in Valentine's guitar, and Burdon rises to this one effortlessly. The spooky, atmospheric blues dirge "Trying to Get to You" is the album's finest moment. The band heads for the heart of darkness and Burdon's lost, lonely, broken-hearted protagonist struggles to the final moment. "Just Can't Get Enough," with the R&B squall of the horn section, gets it right as well. Largely, however, this sounds like a blues-rock band trying to make a new wave record (it was 1983 after all), and some of it is just shudder-worthy. The Repertoire CD reissue comes with a bonus cut called "No, John, No" that is simply an extension of what's already here. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide