The Animals album

Album   Released Publisher Rating
Don't Bring Me Down: The Decca Years 1990 Castle Music Ltd.
The Animals (UK) (Japan Bonus Tracks) 1983 EMI Music Distribution
Animalism (Animalism & Bonus Hits) 1966 Oxford
Animalisms (Bonus Tracks) 1966 Repertoire Records
Back to the topDon't Bring Me Down: The Decca Years
Review by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Released:
1990
Label:
Castle Music Ltd.
Rating:
Genre:
Pop/Rock
Styles:
British Blues
Rock & Roll
Blues-Rock
British Invasion
Contemporary Pop/Rock
Regional Blues
Don't Bring Me Down is a compilation of material from the Animals' internally combustive yet artistically creative Decca period and is a revelation. The band produced the music after leaving EMI's Columbia label in the U.K., and most notably the producer who had put them over the top, Mickie Most. Working with Tom Wilson (of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 fame), the band recorded a blistering album entitled Animalisms (issued as Animalism in the States on MGM with very different material). The U.K. album is here in its entirety, plus four singles and an early, rare 1963 EP, recorded before the band even signed with Most. What the Decca sessions signify is how much influence singer Eric Burdon was beginning to have on the direction of the band. Here is the raw-soul, tough, razored R&B cover of the folk song "Inside Looking Out" (which Grand Funk later murdered), the brutally soulful inspiration of the title track, a killer read of "I Put a Spell on You," a rollicking "Sweet Little Sixteen," a scorched-out, future R&B tune called "That's All I Am to You," which mixed equal parts Eddie Cochran and British blues, and the raw-edged teen ballad "You're on My Mind." Of the bonus tracks, the original version of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" is here, and four pre-Animals cuts by the same band with the "Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo" moniker. (Price left the band before they ever recorded with Decca.) These early versions of "Boom Boom," "Big Boss Man," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," and "Pretty Thing" were the sounds the band was trying to return to with Decca. Given the price, the stellar sound and wondrous liner notes by Peter Doggett, this is a must-have for any Animals fan.
Track # Track Time Composer
1 Inside-Looking Out 3:45 Burdon, Chandler, Lomax
2 Outcast 3:03 Johnson, Campbell
3 Don't Bring Me Down 3:14 King, Goffin
4 Cheating 2:21 Burdon, Chandler, Jenkins, Rowberry
5 One Monkey Don't Stop No Show 3:19 Tex
6 Maudie 4:02 Hooker
7 Sweet Little Sixteen 3:06 Berry
8 You're on My Mind 2:53 Burdon, Rowberry
9 Clapping 1:20 Rowberry
10 Gin House Blues 4:38 Henderson, Troy
11 Squeeze Her - Tease Her (But Love Her) 2:58 Wilson, Tucker
12 What Am I Living For? 3:13 Harris, Jay
13 I Put a Spell on You 2:56 Hawkins
14 That's All I Am to You 2:23 Scott, Blackwell
15 She'll Return It 2:42 Burdon, Rowberry
16 Help Me Girl 2:39 Weiss, English
17 See See Rider 4:01 Traditional
18 Mama Told Me (Not to Come) 2:12 Newman
19 I Just Wanna Make Love to You (*) 3:45 Dixon
20 Boom Boom (*) 3:48 Hooker
21 Big Boss Man (*) 3:44 Smith, Dixon
22 Pretty Thing (*) 2:37 McDaniel
Back to the topThe Animals (UK) (Japan Bonus Tracks)
Review by Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Released:
1983
Label:
EMI Music Distribution
Rating:
Genre:
Pop/Rock
Styles:
British Blues
Rock & Roll
Blues-Rock
British Invasion
Contemporary Pop/Rock
Regional Blues
Psychedelic
The Animals' original albums were hard R&B without the subtle pop edges that characterized their singles; they were also on the serious side, as though the group, offered the chance to make an LP-length statement, was bent on only displaying its most intense and ambitious musical inclinations. Perhaps as a consequence, their albums never sold in huge numbers, appealing as they did mostly to fans of the harder side of singles like "House of the Rising Sun" and "Baby Let Me Take You Home." In 2002, Japanese EMI remastered the group's two long players and filled them out with tracks from sessions for the chronologically related EPs and singles. The result here, in state-of-the-art digital audio, is the best cross-section heard yet of the group's true sound from its early studio days -- included alongside the raunchy "Story of Bo Diddley" and the pounding "The Girl Can't Help It" are such tracks as the soul-shouter "Blue Feeling" and the organ-driven rave-up "Talkin' 'Bout You" in its unedited seven-minute version, plus an alternate take of "Dimples," as well as "House of the Rising Sun" and others. The disc is about as strong as any 23 songs by the Rolling Stones of the same period would be, and they sound absolutely stunning here, every instrument finally given the same presence as Eric Burdon's charismatic vocal presence so that on the break of "Baby What's Wrong," Hilton Valentine's guitar and Alan Price's organ trade riffs on an even footing. The mini-LP sleeve design even re-creates the top and bottom back cover flaps from the original EMI LP sleeve.
Track # Track Time Composer
1 Story of Bo Diddley 5:45 Burdon, McDaniel
2 Bury My Body 2:52 Kooper, Price
3 Dimples 3:19 Hooker, Bracken
4 I've Been Around 1:39 Domino
5 I'm in Love Again 3:03 Bartholomew, Domino
6 The Girl Can't Help It 2:23 Troup
7 I'm Mad Again 4:17 Hooker
8 She Said Yeah 2:21 Christy, Jackson
9 Night Time Is the Right Time 3:48 Herman
10 Memphis Tennessee 3:08 Berry
11 Boom Boom 3:19 Hooker
12 Around and Around 2:45 Berry
13 Baby Let Me Take You Home (*) 2:21 Farrell, Russell
14 Gonna Send You Back to Walker (*) 2:30 Matthews
15 The House of the Rising Sun (*) 4:29 Price, Traditional
16 Talkin' 'Bout You (*) 1:53 Charles
17 I'm Crying (*) 2:47 Price, Burdon
18 Take It Easy (*) 2:53 Price, Burdon
19 Blue Feeling (*) 2:32 Henshaw
20 Dimples (Alternate Take)(*) 2:51 Hooker, Bracken
21 Talkin' 'Bout You (Full Version)(*) 7:04 Charles
22 F-E-E-L (*) 2:42 Unknown
23 Baby What's Wrong (*) 2:48 Reed
Back to the topAnimalism (Animalism & Bonus Hits)
Review by Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Released:
January 1966
Label:
Oxford
Rating:
Genre:
Pop/Rock
Styles:
British Blues
AM Pop
Rock & Roll
Blues-Rock
British Invasion
Contemporary Pop/Rock
Regional Blues
Psychedelic
For reasons that are unclear to the average fan, the 1966 LP Animalism -- the final album recorded by the first incarnation of the Animals before they were reorganized into a psychedelic band billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals -- has never been legitimately reissued on CD. That hasn't stopped not-so-legitimate companies from putting it out. In a confusing situation, it came out on CD in 2000, with eight additional bonus tracks, under the title Blues Years on the German label Rock-In-Beat. It also came out, with 12 additional bonus tracks -- only two of which overlapped with the bonus tracks on Blues Years -- on this CD, titled Animalism & Bonus Hits. The first 12 tracks are the 1966 Animalism album, a fine, largely blues-rock-colored effort with a few outstanding tracks like "Outcast" and the cover of Donovan's "Hey Gyp." It doesn't include any hits, however, and is diminished by its reliance on cover material. Collectors might be even more interested in the dozen bonus tracks, as these include some of the most notable 1964-1967 Animals cuts that are hard to find on compact disc. Among them are the rare first version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," issued on a U.K. 45, and an alternate take of "Blue Feeling" from a Japanese compilation album. There are also four songs from the BBC, three of which appear on the legit Raven compilation Roadrunners!, though one of them ("Gonna Send You Back to Walker") doesn't; these are identified as being from 1967 in the track listings, though they sound as if they date from earlier. There are also mono single versions of the 1967 tracks "A Girl Named Sandoz," "Ain't That So," "Gratefully Dead," "Monterey," "When I Was Young," and "San Franciscan Nights." Although this bears a release date of 1995, that's almost certainly inaccurate; similarly, although the sleeve and pictures are pretty nice, this almost certainly isn't an authorized compilation. And yet, in the absence of a sanctioned CD reissue of Animalism, this is a pretty good deal, gathering most of the group's mid-'60s tracks that are hardest to find on compact disc into one place.
Track # Track Time Composer
1 All Night Long N/A Zappa
2 Shake N/A Cooke
3 The Other Side of Life N/A N/A
4 Rock Me Baby N/A N/A
5 Lucille N/A Little Richard, Collins
6 Smoke Stack Lightning N/A Howlin' Wolf
7 Hey Gyp N/A Leitch
8 Hit the Road Jack N/A Mayfield
9 Outcast N/A Johnson, Campbell
10 Louisiana Blues N/A N/A
11 That's All I Am to You N/A Scott, Blackwell
12 Going Down Slow N/A N/A
13 Don't Let Me Be Missunderstood N/A N/A
14 Blue Feeling N/A Henshaw
15 Jailhouse Rock N/A Leiber, Stoller
16 Gonna Send You Back to Walker N/A Matthews
17 Heartbreak Hotel N/A Presley, Axton, Durden
18 Work Song N/A N/A
19 A Girl Named Sandoz N/A Weider, Burdon
20 Ain't That So N/A Scott, Briggs
21 Gratefully Dead N/A Weider, Burdon, Briggs, Jenkins, McCulloch
22 Monterey N/A Weider, McCulloch, Burdon, Briggs, Jenkins
23 When I Was Young N/A Weider, Burdon, Briggs, Jenkins, McCulloch
24 San Franciscan Nights N/A Weider, Burdon, Briggs, Jenkins, McCulloch
Back to the topAnimalisms (Bonus Tracks)
Review by Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Released:
January 1966
Label:
Repertoire Records
Rating:
Genre:
Pop/Rock
Styles:
Rock & Roll
Blues-Rock
British Invasion
Contemporary Pop/Rock
Regional Blues
British Blues
AM Pop
An expanded CD release, not only of the May 1966 Animalisms album and the July 1966 Animalization LP, but also of Sequel's 1990 Inside Looking Out: The 1965-1966 Sessions. In addition to the complete contents of that CD, newly remastered in state-of-the-art digital audio, this disc contains stereo mixes of "Don't Bring Me Down," "See See Rider," "Help Me Girl," and "Cheating," each revealing fascinating inner detail in the performance of the songs. The whole experience is akin to near-total immersion in what happened to be the most musically sophisticated period in the group's history, and is not to be missed, though anyone buying this should look for The Blues Years, the second and last part of the group's story from 1966, which is even better than what's here. Additionally, the Repertoire disc offers an insert with very full details about this period in the group's history that makes for very interesting and entertaining reading.
Track # Track Time Composer
1 One Monkey Don't Stop No Show 3:20 Tex
2 Maudie 4:03 Hooker
3 Outcast 3:04 Johnson, Campbell
4 Sweet Little Sixteen 3:06 Berry
5 You're on My Mind 2:54 Burdon, Rowberry
6 Clapping 1:20 Rowberry
7 Gin House Blues 4:38 Henderson, Troy
8 Squeeze Her - Tease Her (But Love Her) 2:59 Wilson, Tucker
9 What Am I Living For? 3:13 Harris, Jay
10 I Put a Spell on You 2:56 Hawkins
11 That's All I Am to You 2:23 Scott, Blackwell
12 She'll Return It 2:42 Burdon, Rowberry
13 Inside Looking Out (*) 3:45 Burdon, Chandler, Lomax
14 Don't Bring Me Down (*) 3:16 King, Goffin
15 Cheating (*) 2:23 Burdon, Chandler, Jenkins, Rowberry
16 Help Me Girl (*) 2:35 Weiss, English
17 See See Rider (*) 4:01 Rainey, Traditional
18 I Just Wanna Make Love to You (*) 3:46 Dixon
19 Boom Boom (*) 3:49 Hooker
20 Big Boss Man (*) 3:45 Smith, Dixon
21 Pretty Thing (*) 2:38 Diddley
22 Don't Bring Me Down (*) 3:15 King, Goffin
23 See See Rider (*) 4:02 Rainey, Traditional
24 Help Me Girl (*) 2:40 Weiss, English
25 Cheating (*) 2:21 Burdon, Chandler, Jenkins, Rowberry
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