The Animals

The Japanese remastering of the group's second LP, originally issued in early 1965, essentially cleans out the EMI vaults, closing out the Alan Price era and presenting the dawn of the Dave Rowberry era on the accompanying singles. The high-resolution audio seemingly brings John Steel's drums, Price's piano, and Hilton Valentine's guitar in a lot closer to the microphones so they can hold their own against Eric Burdon's singing, and allows one to pick the subtlety and power of the entire band as it approached its peak. Just hearing Valentine's guitar brittle break in high-resolution audio on "Worried Life Blues," or his matching notes and phrases with Chas Chandler on the familiar opening to "It's My Life" are worth the price of the disc, and you can practically hear the action on Steel's drums on that same track, including resonances off the cymbals that were only ever heard in the studio at the session before. Similarly, his gently tapped high hat on the opening of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" seems like it's in the room with you. Overall, this CD and the accompanying expanded Japanese reissue of The Animals are the best chance anyone will ever have to really understand what the big deal was about this band. [A Japanese version of Animal Tracks was also released and features bonus tracks.] ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide