Feeling that they were suffocating under Most's firm, pop-oriented grip, the Animals bolted to a new label (Decca) and recorded some of their best work - most produced by bass player Chas Chandler. Singles like "Inside Looking Out" and "Don't Bring Me Down" were as good as ever, and the one British LP from the period (Animalisms, 1966) stands up today as their most consistent. This material has been collected on CD several times, including Inside Looking Out: The 1965-1966 Sessions (Sequel, 1990) and Don't Bring Me Down: The Decca Years 1964-1965 (Castle, 2003) - both imported collection featuring a wealth of treasures from this relatively overlooked period.

Typical of the volatile 60's, though, the original Animals' days were numbered. Keyboardist Alan Price had gone solo after "It's My Life," meeting with immediate success on the British market with songs like Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" and Randy Newman's "Simon Smith And His Dancing Bear." His albums The Price To Play (1966) and A Price On His Head (1967) are valued by collectors, and Price would later make "concept" records like Between Yesterday And Today (1973) that appealed mainly to Anglophiles and rock critics. At the time, those critics considered Price's soundtrack to O Lucky Man! (a 1973 film) to be one of the best records ever made, but it is all but forgotten now. Alan Price's long, varied solo career is neatly summarized by Castle Music's Geordie Boy: The Anthology (2002).

Meanwhile, Chas Chandler left after "Don't Bring Me Down" and went on to great distinction as a manager (his clients included the Animals) and producer. Most famously, he discovered Jimi Hendrix during his final tour with the Animals. Chandler brought him to England and was largely responsible for Hendrix's meteoric rise to stardom. Later, Chandler did much the same for British glam metal heroes Slade.

Price and Chandler were barely out the door before Burdon began cranking out records under the more egocentric moniker of Eric Burdon & The Animals. The first such LP, "Eric Is Here" (1967), was virtually a Burdon solo album. Surprisingly pop-oriented, the record included "Help Me Girl" (a Top 10 single from the previous year) and a prescient version of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come" (a #1 hit three years later for Three Dog Night). But, other singles by these "New Animals" - such as "See See Rider" (1966) and "When I Was Young" (1967) - held true to the original Animals' hardcore R&B ethos.

Soon, however, Eric Burdon fell under the spell of psychedelia, and by 1967 (i.e. the Summer Of Love) his music had degenerated into pretentious, hippie schtick. Had it not been so dreadfully sincere, it would have been hilarious. Don't get me wrong, "San Franciscan Nights," "Monterey," and "Sky Pilot" are charming in their own ham-handed way. Still, they are so dreadfully forced and self-conscious that one can envision poor Eric panhandling in Haight-Ashbury, willing to do anything to be accepted by the "beautiful people" he so breathlessly chronicled.

The Animals' early hits were so natural and effortless in their working-class indignation and love of the blues. Those qualities were completely absent from Burdon's music by the end of the 60's. These years are adequately surveyed on Polygram's Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals 1966-1968; the trippy tone of the album is leavened by gritty sides from the brief post-Mickey Most, pre-psychedelic era (e.g. "Don't Bring Me Down"). Burdon's late 60's work is worth hearing if only for the spectacle, but, in retrospect, his glory days had ended when the original Animals disbanded. It was passion, not discipline, that made Eric Burdon a great singer, and without a great band to keep him focused, he floundered.

Before he began his solo career in earnest and descended into relative obscurity, Eric Burdon hooked up with American funk collective War, then just beginning their career. The partnership lasted for just a couple of records including The Black Man's Burdon - perhaps the most the unfortunately titled album in rock history - and spawned a Top 40 hit in 1970 with the bawdily psychedelic "Spill The Wine." Rhino's Best Of Eric Burdon & War collects the highlights of their collaborations, including tracks from Love Is All Around, an album of studio outtakes and live recordings issued in 1976 after War hit it big.

Shortly after splitting with War, Eric Burdon recorded Guilty (1971) with blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon, but he didn't wax a formal solo record till 1974 when he released Ring Of Fire and Sun Secrets to near unanimous derision. In the decades since, Burdon has continued to record and tour, locked in an eternal game of hide-and-seek with his own mojo.

The original Animals, meanwhile, reunited in 1977 for the universally acclaimed Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted, an impressive piece of oneupsmanship with the burgeoning punk movement. They returned in 1983 with Ark and a subsequent live album, Rip It To Shreds, that more than lived up to its name.

At this late date, there have been many, many more Animal compilations than actual Animal albums. Most of them are budget affairs, and few are worth your time or money (save those discussed herein). Only one has successfully brought together all aspects of the Animals' story, Abkco's Retrospective (2004), a 22-track SACD hybrid that takes the listener all the way from "House Of The Rising Sun" to "Spill The Wine" - easily the one to get if you're just getting one. The Australian import, Absolute Animals 1964-1968 (Raven, 2003), runs a close second, collecting all the Animals' 60's hits from "House Of The Rising Sun" through "Sky Pilot." Plus, it tosses in "Coloured Rain," a 10-minute psychedelic epic featuring, believe it or not, latter-day Animal Andy Summers (later of the Police).

Eric Burdon and the Animals are long overdue for a retrospective (boxed set?) that could secure their place in rock history and put their all their wacky career highs and lows in the proper perspective. At the outset, the Animals were a great r'n'b outfit and a terrific singles band. But whereas the Beatles, the Stones, and the Who reveled in psychedelic chic, the Eric Burdon and the Animals were beaten mercilessly by it. Bravely, they persevered, valiantly endeavoring to stay relevant. In the end, I believe, they earned a spot among rock's royalty. Brilliance, though, is its own justification, and the Animals at the height of their powers were justified, indeed.

Release Notes. As noted above, the original Animals released just three albums in Britain during the 1960's. Tracks from these albums were combined with a slew of non-LP singles and divided amongst five American albums (listed below). None of these albums has an English equivalent, despite some similarities in titles. A sixth album, Eric Is Here, was released only in the States, but all subsequent album releases were roughly synchronous on both side of the pond. [top of page]