The Animals

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. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide