THE ANIMALS - The Most of the Animals 1966

In June 1964 the Animals released the single 'House of the Rising Sun.'

I was almost 14 yrs old, sitting in Harrogate with a transistor radio and an old (probably Ferguson) reel to reel tape recorder, furiously trying to record this amazing song.

Fast forward. We'd moved to Australia. I left school at 14 and left home at 16 and in April 1967 (still only 16) I was living and working in Brisbane. I bought myself a ticket to the Festival Hall for 22nd April and went along to see The Animals do their stuff. It was quite a show - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, Paul & Barry Ryan and an Australian support act, The Loved Ones were on the same bill.

By that stage they'd had what they say in the trade - 'a string of hits.'

'Boom Boom', 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood', 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place' and their first chart entry 'Baby Let Me Take You Home' which was a retake on the Eric von Schmidt version of 'Baby, Let Me Follow You Down' as done by Bob Dylan (see, gotta get Bob in there somehow.)

The sensible thing to do was to buy a compilation album to try to get as many of their best songs as possible on one LP. This album, 'The Most of The Animals' covers 1964 and 1965. The title doesn't refer to having the most of their songs .. it's actually called after their producer, Mickie Most. There was also 'The Most of Herman's Hermits' named for the same reason.

So much of their popularity with me hinged on 'House of the Rising Sun'. I liked their other blues based stuff but to this day 'House ... ' gives me chills.

The swirling driving Vox Continental organ played by Alan Price is just a truly amazing piece of music. Consider too, this whole song was done in just one take. They'd been playing it on the road and had got it note and word perfect with no need for fancy footwork. At a time when most #1 songs up to that point were 3 minutes or less, this took up 4:29, longer than anything that had come before.

After these early successes the Animals became slightly psychedelic and went on to release things like 'Sky Pilot' and 'San Franciscan Nights'

People often think of The Animals as a whole, when they probably mean things they've heard by Eric Burdon. He'd joined War in 1969 ('Spill the Wine' and the classic 'Tobacco Road'), had the Eric Burdon Band in the 70s then went solo - and between 1991-94 he teamed with Brian Auger (think Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity) to form the 'Eric Burdon - Brian Auger Band', but when you hear his other work you instinctively think of him with the Animals. 

In fact, when you think of the Animals it's hard to pin down just who you mean. There have been so many variations and line-up changes it's almost impossible to keep track. Between 'The Animals' - 'Eric Burdon & The Animals' - 'Valentine's Animals' - 'Animals II' and 'Animals & Friends' there have been over 30 band members.

Now aged 79, Eric is still a force to be reckoned with and in one form or another The Animals are still firing on all cylinders.

House of the Rising Sun - YouTube