Animals II

This 15 song, 45 minute collection is a serious and major (and very pleasant) surprise, consisting of superb reworkings by the Animals II of material done by the original Animals up thru 1966. It takes a risk by opening with "House of the Rising Sun ('97)," a new group arrangement of the traditional song made famous in an arrangement by the original band -- it's not as dramatic as the Animals' hit, but it does work the song as a piece of modern blues, complete with some very up-to-date sounding lead guitar from Steve Dawson. More impressive is the fervor with which this band attacks "I'm Crying" and "Boom Boom," among other harder rocking classics, and slow blues numbers such as "Need Your Love So Bad." Robert Kane makes a superb successor to Eric Burdon, a little more restrained but a very soulful singer with fine intonation and a level of lyricism in his approach that recalls Sam Cooke, but able to convincingly swagger his way through numbers like "It's My Life." Hilton Valentine and John Steel are the only members of the original group on this album, but the sound is surprisingly close to the old band, without slavishly imitating them -"Don't Bring Me Down" gets a very fresh reading, with loud, crunching guitar and a seriously soulful lead vocal, and "Baby Let Me Take You Home" and "Bright Lights, Big City" are both bracing updates of the band's mid-1960's classics. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is given a truly fresh reading, in an almost minimalist vein with the piano as lead instrument and a slower, more ballad-like approach than the original. The real surprise, however, is "Outcast," a new number which is a match for any of their classic material -- with a killer performance by Kane backed by lots of crunchy rhythm guitar, it's almost more an update of the Small Faces' sound, and compares favorably with numbers like "All Or Nothing." An astonishingly fine record by a reformed group that reveals itself as far more than a cover band. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide