The Animals Albums (6)
'All About the Animal'
Release Date 7/3/2006
Tracks 15
Label Toshiba EMI
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What The Critics Say
The Animals' formal reunion, complete with a new repertory and a well-financed recording. Ark has its dark, moody moments and sometimes bogs down in the sheer heaviness of the sound and sensibilities, but where Eric Burdon is on target as a singer, which is 70 percent of the time, the group sounds amazingly good. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 10
Label Jet
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What The Critics Say
Cut 11 years after the Animals' original lineup recorded their last LP and six years before their more well-remembered reunion tour, this oft-overlooked album is just short of a lost classic; it lacks the intensity of their 1983 studio effort, Ark, but it is more substantial musically than that album and fits in very neatly with their preceding work, as though they'd scarcely skipped a beat. Recorded under the auspices of the late Chas Chandler's Barn Productions, the album was highlighted by a dramatically bluesy rendition of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," boasting superb playing by Alan Price. Hilton Valentine's soaring guitar pyrotechnics light up "Fire on the Sun," perhaps the flashiest performance of his career for this most introspective of '60s British blues axemen, and "As the Crow Flies" has the group returning to its roots, as a dark, brooding rendition of the Jimmy Reed song that gives room for Chandler, Valentine, Price, and John Steel to show off their '60s-era blues chops in a more expansive form. After a promising start, the gospel number "Many Rivers to Cross" falls apart a bit, but "Just a Little Bit," with its rippling organ break, the group original "Riverside County," and the pounding finale, "The Fool," make the rest of side two eminently enjoyable, although, coming out in the midst of the punk and disco booms, the LP never had a chance to be heard by more than the most dedicated fans. The album was remastered and reissued on CD in the spring of 2000 by Repertoire Records. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
During their first two years of recording, the Animals had never quite succeeded when it came to recording LPs -- good as some of the songs on their first two albums, done for EMI, had been, there was this sense that single were what this band was really about. Then, newly signed to English Decca, they delivered Animalisms, a truly transcendent collection of a dozen songs, mostly superb covers interspersed with some good originals, principally by Eric Burdon and Dave Rowberry. Burdon was never singing better and the group had developed a bold, tight sound that seemed to lift his soul shouting to ever higher levels of passion and conviction. "Outcast," "Maudie," "You're on My Mind," "Clapping," "That's All I Am to You," "Squeeze Her - Tease Her," "I Put a Spell on You," "She'll Return It," and "Gin House Blues" all rate among the best work the band ever did, passionate, gorgeous, and exciting R&B down to the last note, with Burdon at the peak of his career; and "Sweet Little Sixteen," though a relatively minor song here, was their best Chuck Berry cover to date, highlighted by Rowberry's flashy piano (doing some Jerry Lee Lewis arpeggios) and Hilton Valentine's boldest guitar work yet, combining the lead and rhythm parts in a hard chopping, twanging virtuoso performance. Ironically, the Animalisms album (which was issued in America two months later in somewhat altered form, as Animalization) appeared just as the group was about to enter its final phase of existence -- they'd switched drummers from John Steel to Barry Jenkins during the period in which these tracks were recorded, and Burdon would soon decide to dissolve the lineup. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
If the Animals had never recorded another album except for Animalism, their musical reputation would have been assured -- none of the participants ever participated on, or would ever work on, a better long-player. The irony was that Animalism (not to be confused with the group's earlier, British-issued Animalisms, or its American counterpart, Animalization) was only ever issued in America, and came out after the group had ceased to exist and, thus, was scarcely noticed by anybody (which made it a choice occupant of cut-out bins for decades). Recorded mostly during the spring and summer of 1966 by the lineup of Eric Burdon, Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler, Dave Rowberry, and Barry Jenkins, Animalism proved to be a glorious musical high point, as well as an end point for the band. Even as they were playing out their string, all of the members had begun growing in their musicianship, with guitarist Hilton Valentine taking on a much bolder, bluesier voice on his instrument and keyboardist Dave Rowberry developing a sound as distinctive as that of his predecessor, Alan Price. Part of Animalism was cut in Los Angeles under the aegis of Frank Zappa, who arranged (and probably played on) the opening number, "All Night Long," a surging traditional blues song, and who also worked on the album's ominous rendition of "The Other Side of This Life." Sam Cooke's "Shake" is treated to a restrained Burdon vocal and superb musical acrobatics by Valentine and Rowberry, while B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" becomes the vehicle for a virtuoso workout by Valentine, and a thunderous performance by Chandler and Jenkins. "Smokestack Lightning" is the most successful cover the group ever did of a Chicago blues number (unless you count their version of Donovan's "Hey Gyp," which is also here in all of its Bo Diddley-inspired glory), and "Hit the Road, Jack" represents the best work that Burdon ever did with a Ray Charles number. After years of languishing out of print -- with many vinyl junkies hunting down treasured copies -- Animalism was finally issued on CD in January of 2006 by Hip-O Select for a limited Internet-only purchase. For the uninitiated, Animalism is the place to start. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The U.S. version of the British Animalisms album removed the loose jam "Clapping," and the superb "Squeeze Her - Tease Her" and "That's All I Am to You" are removed in favor of the hits "Don't Bring Me Down," "See See Rider," and "Inside - Looking Out" -- it's still a great record, if not as cohesive as the U.K. version, and was the last original Animals LP to attract many buyers in the U.S. The song content of both versions has been assembled on Repertoire's 2000 release of Animalisms. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
