Common wisdom suggests the (original) Animals started hitting the skids after they dumped Alan Price and producer Mickie Most. Certainly both men had a hand in the recording of the Geordies' unforgettable string of 1964-65 smashes ("House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" etc.), but frankly, the Animals improved after ditching the pair. This compilation---drawn largely from the 1966 "Animalization" LP---covers the material the band recorded with new keyboardist Dave Rowberry and ex-Dylan producer Tom Wilson. Simply put, it's Animals at their peak, combining fierce performances with a new facility in the studio. Moreover, it makes a strong case for Eric Burdon as the most powerful and incindiary R&B singer to ever come out of Europe, let alone the British Invasion. Burdon never sounded so committed, soulful and inspired than on the strutting "See See Rider," the ferocious "Inside Looking Out" and the agonizing "Ginhouse Blues" (about as accurate and chilling a portrait of alcoholism as there is---largely due to E.B.'s incredible vocal). Yet Burdon's gut-busting never overwhelms the other Animals (as would be the case with their "Sky Pilot" era successors), whose excellent ensemble playing keeps Eric's occasional hysteria in check without sacrificing emotion. Highlights include Hilton Valentine's ragged-but-right fuzz-tone excursions through "Don't Bring Me Down" and "That's All I Am To You"; a pair of gems from Burdon's big-band solo LP "Eric Is Here" (the Tom Jones-ish "Help Me Girl"; a playful "Mama Told Me Not to Come" that annihilates Three Dog Night's version); and several demos from the group's pre-Most period (including a staggeringly assured version of "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" that makes the Rolling Stones' take sound gauche and awkward). The boys even toss in a few decent originals, like the Burdon-Rowberry weeper "You're On My Mind" and "Cheating," a Burdon-Chandler jeremiad that sounds like thinly-veiled jab at manager Mike Jeffery. All dynamite stuff, perhaps a wee more Stax sounding (and guitar-heavy) than their earlier, Ray Charles-influenced records, but still spine-tingling. Most of this material is available on the "Animalisms" reissue (along with obligatory bonus tracks), but sentimentality pushed me to sing this CD's praises anyway. Now if only someone will get off their butt and reissue the American "Animalism" so we Animalites can dig the Newcastle Roughhousers takes on "Shake," "All Night Long", "Smokestack Lightning" and "Hey Gyp," among other treasures.
(https://www.amazon.com - Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2002)