The Animals House

The Most of Animals or The Most of the Animals is the title of a number of different compilation albums by Newcastle upon Tyne blues rock group The Animals. Although track listing varies, all feature only songs from 1964 and 1965…

The Most of Animals or The Most of The Animals is the title of a number of different compilation albums by Newcastle upon Tyne blues rock group The Animals. Although track listing varies, all feature only songs from 1964 and 1965. The title is derived from the name of their then producer Mickie Most. The first album was released in 1966 by Columbia (SX 6035). Most of the material had not featured on either of their previous two UK LPs. The album charted at #4 - their highest position so far on the UK album chart (both previous LPs having peaked at #6). It was their final album for EMI-owned Columbia before moving to Decca.

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…

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."