Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Boom Boom
2. Talkin' 'Bout You
3. Blue Feeling
4. Dimples
5. Baby Let Me Take You Home
6. Gonna Send You Back to Walker
7. Baby What's Wrong
8. House of the Rising Sun
9. F-E-E-L
10. I'm Mad Again
11. Night Time Is the Right Time
12. Around and Around
13. I'm in Love Again
14. Bury My Body
15. She Said Yeah
16. I'm Crying
17. Take It Easy
18. Story of Bo Diddley
19. Girl Can't Help It
20. I've Been Around

Disc 2:

1. Memphis Tennessee
2. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
3. Club A Go-Go
4. Roadrunner
5. Hallelujah, I Love Her So
6. Don't Want Much
7. I Believe to My Soul
8. Let the Good Times Roll
9. Mess Around
10. How You've Changed
11. I Ain't Got You
12. Roberta
13. Bright Lights, Big City
14. Worried Life Blues
15. Bring It on Home to Me
16. For Miss Caulker
17. I Can't Believe It
18. We Gotta Get Out of This Place
19. It's My Life
20. I'm Gonna Change the World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31967 in Music
• Released on: 1993-01-21
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Extra tracks, Import
• Dimensions: .38 pounds

Album Description
41 track 1990 EMI retrospective with hits, rarities & three previously unreleased tracks: 'Baby What's Wrong', 'F-E-E-L'and 'Don't Want Much'. Includes their first six U.S. top 40 hits: 'The House Of The Rising Sun', 'I'm Crying', 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood', 'Bring It On Home To Me', 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place' and 'It's My Life'. Double jewel case.

Customer Reviews

Sixties R+B from Newcastle
The Animals, a group that included Eric Burdon and Alan Price, were the first major pop stars to emerge from Newcastle, a city located about 300 miles north of London, therefore far removed from where most talent scouts were searching. It is fortunate for us all that the Animals were discovered because they recorded some of the best R+B music to come of the UK in the sixties.

Their biggest hit was House of the rising sun, a re-working of a folk song (apparently inspired by Josh White's version of the song) that gave them a transatlantic number one hit. They had five other top ten UK hits with Mickie Most, these being I'm crying, Don't let me be misunderstood (a cover of a Nina Simone song), Bring it on home to me (a Sam Cooke cover), We gotta get out of this place (the version included here is the UK version - a markedly different recording was released in America but was unavailable for inclusion in this set) and It's my life.

Apart from their singles, the Animals recorded many other covers including Boom boom, Dimples, I'm mad again (all John Lee Hooker), Around and around, Memphis Tennessee, How you've changed (all Chuck Berry), I'm in love again, I've been around (both Fats Domino), Talking about you, Hallelujah I love her so and I believe to my soul (all Ray Charles). These covers clearly demonstrate what their main influences were, but they also wrote some of their own songs.

All the music I've mentioned so far and much more can be found on this excellent compilation. Nevertheless, despite the title of the compilation, it isn't actually their complete recordings - there is a sub-text explaining that these are the complete recordings that they made with Mickie Most as producer, although the liner notes describe their whole career. After the split, they switched to another record label, where they had some success using the name Eric Burdon and the Animals, including two more UK top ten hits (Don't bring me down, San Franciscan nights) and several lesser hits, all of which can be found elsewhere (search for Eric Burdon). Alan Price left the group before the split with Mickie Most and had several hits as a solo singer. These are also outside the scope of this collection but are easy to find.

This complete collection (apart from the American version of We've got to get out of this place) of the first and most important part of the Animals' career may be more than some people want - there are single CD collections available if you just want the hits - but if, like me, you like to explore beyond the hits, this is for you.

One of the greatest cover bands in rock history
First, ignore the oldest, 3-star review here. If this is a 3-star album, then so is BLONDE ON BLONDE.

With just a couple of changes in the development of modern rock, the Animals might be considered one of the ten greatest bands of all time. It is hard today to realize how much the success of the Beatles changed music in general, and the British music scene in particular. In 1963, all the great British bands were cover bands; no band did songs of their own composition. The Beatles themselves, the Stones, The Animals, Manfred Mann, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, the Yardbirds, The Who, all were primarily cover bands. What did they cover? American music, mainly blues, Chuck Berry, R&B, Buddy Holly, some Elvis, and various odds and ends. But none of them were covering their own music. The Beatles, however, shook things up by performing songs that they wrong themselves. By 1964, more and more bands were relying on songs of their own composition. In 1965, and Bob Dylan's HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, the age of the cover band was over. You either wrote your own material, or you faded away. The history of early British rock can be told in terms of those bands in which a songwriter or writers emerged, and those in which one didn't. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger discovered that they could write, as did Pete Townshend, and Ray Davies of the Kinks. But the Animals, Manfred Mann, the Yardbirds, and John Mayall never developed songwriters, and faded from the scene. The Beatles changed the rules for rock and roll success. In 1963, the rule was that you were a great band if you were a great cover band. In 1965, you had to write your own stuff.

None of this should obscure the fact that The Animals were a flat out great band. True, they did virtually nothing but covers, but they were spectacular covers. All members of the band were superb, but the band centered around the incredible singing of Eric Burdon and the amazing keyboards of the legendary Alan Price. The diminutive Burdon possessed perhaps the finest British Invasion voice excluding Northern Ireland (i.e., Them's Van Morrison). His voice expressed a range of emotion and had a resonance that most of the other singers lacked. And unlike some performers who seemed almost to be doing parodies of the blues classics, Burdon sang them with an honesty and authenticity that is just astonishing. Musically, the Animals were driven far more by keyboards than by guitar, and Alan Price was the driving force in their sound. Switching between organ and piano, Price was without peer as a rock keyboardist until the advent of The Band and before the degradation of the organ by pretentious performers like Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. No keyboard work in anything by Yes or ELP or ELO can even remotely match the simplicity, passion, and musicianship that one finds in the Animals finest songs.

The songs are great. Many, many American R&B songs from the 1950s, some blues numbers, and some marvelously judicious selections from recent (i.e., in 1964) songwriters, though their greatest hit was a reworking of Leadbelly's version of "The House of the Rising Sun."

There are many compilations of the Animals, but this one is definitely the one to get. Others have only the hits, but the great things about the Animals is that many of their less well known songs are nearly as good as "House of the Rising Sun," "It's My Life," "We Gotta Get Out of this Place," or "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

Note: In the Amazon listing, they have Disc 1 and Disc 2 reversed.

Complete Mickie Most Recordings
This 2 cd anthology contains the complete Mickie Most recordings from 1964-65. This anthology contains prime slices of British Invasion R&B and blues. Perhaps overshadowed by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, and the Yardbirds, the Animals were still a great group. The dominant features of this import set are the singing of Eric Burdon and the organ playing of Alan Price. Chas Chandler who later produced for Jimi Hendrix plays bass on this set. Hilton Valentine handles the guitar duties. Included in the set are many of their classic songs. "The House Of The Rising Son", "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "It's My Life" to name a few. Some of my other favorites include "Gonna Send You Back To Walker", "I'm Going To Change The World", and "Boom Boom" among many others. The set also features some previously unissued tracks from these sessions. Fans of the British Invasion and the British R&B/Blues scene need this set. It contains early period material only. Fans of their psychedelic era need to look elsewhere. Essential compilation!