The Animals

The Best Of The Animals (MGM ‘66) Rating: A-
The Complete Animals (EMI ‘90) Rating: A-
The Animals were the most blues-based group of the British Invasion, as their sound rarely strayed from gritty, raw rock reinterpretations of their blues heroes. The band are primarily remembered today for a few classic singles in the mid-‘60s: “It’s My Life,” “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place,” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” all contained tough playing, good lyrics, and karaoke-worthy choruses. The Animals biggest and best moment was easily “The House Of The Rising Sun,” a gargantuan hit whose haunting organ (by Alan Price) and impassioned vocals (by Eric Burdon) brought rock to a previously unequaled level of intensity that both shocked and excited listeners of the day. Price and Burdon were towering talents (Burdon’s tough, powerful voice was one for the ages), and The Animals ranked with The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds as the prime British purveyors of American blues. The Animals lacked The Stones' songwriting abilities, however, and most of these songs work the same narrow terrain and are almost exclusively penned by other hands (John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and Bo Diddley, among others). The Animals also lacked the Stones' ability to overcome adversity, as this band’s “classic lineup” was only together for a couple of years (they would later regroup minus Price as Eric Burdon and the Animals and perform in a less successful psychedelic vein). The Best Of The Animals is all that most people will need to hear from this historically important band, as it contains 15 well-chosen songs that are all stamped with The Animals trademark intensity. Far from being mere exercises in nostalgia, primitive blues-based rockers such as “Talkin’ Bout You,” “I’m In Love,” “Bury My Body,” “Gonna Send You Back To Walker,” and “Story Of Bo Diddley” can still offer consistent listening pleasure today. Those who want to hear more after listening to The Best Of The Animals should search for The Complete Animals, which focuses on the same time period but digs much deeper at 40 songs, including several gems just waiting to be unearthed by the patient listener. The sound quality is also far superior and there are a handful of previously unreleased tracks, though the hits-to-miss ratio is decidedly dodgier. Alas, The Complete Animals (a 2-cd set) is only currently available in the U.S. as a pricey import.

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