The Animals

Despite a title that promises, but does not deliver, a taste of the Animals live and sweaty in concert, Animals on Tour was, in fact, the U.S. equivalent to the Animals' second British album, Animal Tracks (whose title then became their third American set). Eight of the British album's cuts made it onto the U.S. version, together with two songs left over from the similarly rearranged first album as well as two more culled from singles: the Top 20 hit "I'm Crying" and the less successful "Boom Boom," re-recorded from the group's first-ever independent release. In either incarnation, it is a less arresting release than its predecessor, all the more so since the group had undergone a seismic change in both style and direction since it was recorded. Keyboard player Alan Price had quit, while the band's latest single, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" evoked a modern mod-blues style that only the Rolling Stones were close to competing for…

As the lead singer of the Animals, Eric Burdon was one of the British Invasion's most distinctive vocalists, with a searingly powerful blues-rock voice. When the first lineup of the group fell apart in 1966, Burdon kept the Animals' name going with various players for a few years. Usually billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals, the group was essentially Burdon's vehicle, which he used to purvey a far more psychedelic and less R&B-oriented vision.

The title is a bit of a misnomer; this double CD only includes the complete sessions that the Animals recorded with producer Mickie Most in 1964 and 1965. The 40 songs capture the band at their peak, including most of their best and biggest hits: "House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "Bring It on Home to Me," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "I'm Crying," "It's My Life," and "Boom Boom." Most of the rest of the tunes don't match the excellence of these smashes, though they're solid. The great majority of them are covers of vintage R&B/rock tunes by Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and the like, which aren't quite as durable as reinterpretations from the same era by the Stones and Yardbirds.

Sidestepping the horrendous title, Gratefully Dead 1964-1968, it's nice to see an Animals compilation that digs a bit deeper into their catalog, album tracks, B-sides, and curios, as opposed to rehashing the same old hits ad nauseam. The first ten tracks are mainly covers of blues and R&B tunes that were staples in the early Animals repertoire circa 1964 to 1966, such as "Dimples," "Bright Lights Big City," "Talkin' 'Bout You," and "Smokestack Lightning." The remaining 11 tracks from 1967 and 1968 are credited to the second lineup of the band now called Eric Burdon & the Animals, who plunge into psychedelic blues by way of bizarre tunes such as "Gratefully Dead," "It's All Meat" (which is a sped-up "Spoonful"), "Closer to the Truth," "Year of the Guru," and "White Houses."

The Animals' Christmas is the sixth solo studio album and the first Christmas album by vocalist Art Garfunkel, released in December 1985 by Columbia Records. The album was written by Jimmy Webb and features vocals by Garfunkel, Amy Grant, and Wimbledon King's College Choir. The Animals' Christmas tells the story of the Nativity of Jesus from the perspective of the animals present. The album received positive reviews, with one writer calling it "one of the best Christmas albums of the '80s."