Music Times believes that it's never too late to go back and try something old. Throwback Thursdays will go back and pull out an album that's at least 10 years old, so that you can find something new, or revisit something you've forgotten about.
Week of 11/21/2013
WHO: The Animals
WHAT: Animalism
WHEN: 1966
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and other now landmark acts came from humble beginnings, playing primarily covers of established blues and R&B performers. The Animals started the same way, but unlike the aforementioned acts, never really moved to write more original music (the band's first four releases total four tracks written by vocalist/bandleader Eric Burdon). Although no one would argue that The Animals deserve as much acclaim as the Beatles or Stones, arguing that the group offered better cover versions that its competition is totally viable (The band's incredible "House of The Rising Sun" is just one example).
Animalism, the Newcastle band's last significant album on American shores (also the last to break into the Top 40), might not feature The Animals' signature song, but it does offer a slew of replays covering a wide range of the era's hip genres: R&B standards like Sam Cooke's "Shake," folkies like Donovan's "Hey Gyp," and of course a number of blues classics, including B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" and Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning."
Burdon didn't get songwriting credits for anything on Animalism, but the highlight of the album is still an original. Opener "All Night Long" was written by Frank Zappa, long before he'd established himself as an experimental music pioneer. Coming in at 2:46, there isn't any Mothers of Invention-style jamming, but the lyrics push further than the typical innuendos of the blues, with descriptive language such as Burdon writhing "like a rattlesnake in the mud."
Overall, this marks the most well-rounded of any Animals collection.
