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(review by Bill Glahn)
Venue: various broadcasts from 1966 and 1967 (see track listing)
Cover/Presentation: Nice glossy gatefold two-pocket jacket with period photos. Track listing on back with sources, with articles from Teenset (March 1967), Beat Instrumental (July 1967), and Record Mirror (12/16/67) reprinted inside gatefold to serve as liner notes. Combined with the interviews that appear on the records, this gives a fantastic picture of a transitional period in the history of The Animals. 180g orange vinyl records.
Sound Quality: As with most multiple source compilations, it varies. B overall, mastered a little hot in spots. Mono
Tracklist:
[side A] See See Rider (French TV, 1966)/ The Same Thing/ Interview>Paint It Black/ Jailhouse Rock/ Lawdy Miss Clawdy (BBC radio, November 1966)/ Roadrunner/ See See Rider/ Tobacco Road (Bremen, Germany TV broadcast, December 1966)/ White Rabbit>Tobacco Road (segment, French TV 1967)
[side B]: If I Were a Carpenter/ A Love Like Yours/ Connection/ McCulloch’s Blues/ Shake, Rattle and Roll/ When I Was Young (BBC January 28, 1967)/ See See Rider/ A Love Like Yours/ Shake, Rattle and Roll (Bremen, Germany TV broadcast, February 1967)
[side C]: See See Rider/ When I Was Young (Mike Douglas TV show February 21, 1967)/ San Franciscan Nights/ When I Was Young>interview (Hollywood, Ca Shebang TV show, June 24, 1967)/ San Franciscan Nights/ All Night Long/ Good Times (BBC radio, August 1967)
[side D]: Interview>I Get So Excited/ Yes, I am Experienced (BBC radio, August 1967)/ Hey Gyp (Woburn Abbey Festival, August 27, 1967)/ It’s All Meat (BBC radio, November 1967)/ Anything/ Monterey (BBC radio, December 21, 1967) Hey Gyp (Olympia Exhibition Hall, London, UK, December 22, 1967)
Going by the title of this 2LP release, one might expect a representative collection of live recordings from throughout the band’s inception until the end of the decade. Not so. In fact, by the time of these recordings the original group had disbanded and records were being released under the moniker “Eric Burdon & The Animals” with a whole new lineup of musicians.
The good news here is that, for fans that have followed Burdon’s entire career (count me in), this transitional period gets an outstanding overview with both 90+ minutes of quality live music and 3 rarely seen magazine articles that appeared during the same time frame.
Most likely the line-up on the first track is the last remnants of the original Animals, which lasted until September 1966: Chas Chandler on bass, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Dave Rowberry on organ, and Barry Jenkins on drums. Jenkins would be the only one to make the transition to the new Eric Burdon & the Animals band. For the rest of the material on this album, the line-up would be Jenkins, Vic Briggs (guitar, piano), John Weider (guitar, violin, bass), and Danny McCulloch (bass), although there may be supplimental musicians on the November 1966 BBC tracks (Hammond organ and piano). Gone the signature organ sound so familiar to the band’s early recordings. New was a sound firmly rooted in a blending of blues-derived rock with an increasing trend toward psychedelic overtones.
Although American music had always been Burdon’s major influence, it was during this period that Burdon became enamored with American recording processes and culture, specifically that from California. He told Teenset magazine, “Groups like the Mamas and Papas and the Beach Boys work the right way. They go into the studio for days purposely to make a record. They record and put the tapes away for awhile, and then come back and listen to it with fresh ears. They chop the tape and shape it, and if they don’t like it, that’s it, they don’t use it. That’s the only way to work.” Burdon had plans for his new group that didn’t include the “bang it out live in the studio” methods used of the past.
The line-up on Live In The Sixties produced 3 studio albums, Eric Is Here, Winds of Change, and The Twain Shall Meet, each one moving further away from the roots music purveyed by previous line-ups. In fact, despite a potent slice of high velocity, inspired rock ‘n’ roll in “Monterey,” The Twain Shall Meet was so drenched in acid as to be unrecognizable as the same band. Zoot Money was added to the line-up in 1968 and the band went on to record two more albums in the same style, Every One of Us and Love Is, before calling it a day. When The Animals would reappear it would be with 1977’s Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted it would be the original band that gave fans the much acclaimed r&b influenced music of the early ‘60s.
What, pray tell, was the interruption? There may have been a few. In 1968 Mike Jeffery was fired as the band’s manager. I don’t know the details of the separation, but it must have cost the band money they didn’t have. This is the same Mike Jeffery that left the Jimi Hendrix estate penniless upon his death. As far as management agreements went, Jeffery made Allen Klein look like a philanthropist. Pure and simple, Jeffery was a thug and money launderer with none of the imagination of Klein. Jeffery wasn’t interested in keeping the lion’s share of the band’s income. He wanted all of it. Eventually he and Klein would find each other when Klein would offer $10,000 to get an Animals song on the movie soundtrack of Get Yourself A College Girl. Klein also convinced the Animals’ manager (and producer, Mickey Most) that it would be more profitable to sever the British publishing rights from the American rights in order to capitalize on a higher mechanical rate. And that’s how Klein gained control of The (early) Animals catalog in the U.S. Their losing streak in business partners would continue when they regrouped in 1977 by signing with Jet Records, a label owned by another ruthless and feared character named Don Arden.
But I digress. Another interruption was one of Burdon’s own choosing. For culture, he looked northward from the studios of Los Angeles to the Summer of Love in San Francisco. Burdon was not only captured by the idea of “free love,” he also developed a fondness for psychedelic drugs, going so far as to encourage other Brits that this was the country to be in. But psychedelic drugs are not always conducive to making great music and the albums became more and more uneven. Not that they didn’t contain a substantial hit or excellent album track now and again.
Live In The Sixties has its limitations. While most tracks seem to be from very good first or low generation sources, the BBC program from January 28, 1967 suffers from level fluctuations and a dastardly early fade-out on a promising cover of the Rolling Stones “Connection.” Only “When I Was Young,” coming from a later re-broadcast, gets a solid B grade. The version of Ike & Tina Turner’s “A Love Like Yours” from the same broadcast sounds utterly uninspired. And the 9-minute version of “Hey Gyp” which closes this collection would have found a better home on a Grateful Dead record, lifting the melody straight off “Turn On Your Lovelight.” The added percussion and trippy flavor do nothing to enhance what is supposed to be a rocker, Unless, of course, you think The Dead did Bobby Bland justice. And if you do, you’re tripping.
But there’s a lot of good stuff here, too. In the November 1966 BBC performances, after professing his love for Elvis Presley in an interview, Burdon gives inspired vocal interpretations of a couple of Elvis Presley tunes. The two portions from German TV also capture fine performances by Burdon and the band. The recordings from the two American TV shows are surprisingly well recorded and Burdon excels in selling his current singles, “Monterey” (which was not released as a single in the UK) and “When I Was Young” (a GREAT song!) to a more mainstream audience. And, yes, that is Casey Kasem doing the interview on Shebang, one of his earliest ventures in the move from radio DJ to TV personality.
The jewel of this collection comes near the end, with a jaw-dropping BBC performance of “Monterey,” a song Burdon wanted released as a single in his home country but was over-ruled by management because “it would be an insult to English people to release a song that praises an American event.” The performance here, surpasses the released version, which was already a powerful force that reached #15 on the American charts and #3 in Canada.
In summation, Live In The Sixties takes a unique approach in compiling a time capsule of a year in the life of The Animals, rather than a representative document of a decade. It’s a must for the kind of music scholars and serious fans that buy bootlegs and other recordings of indeterminate origin. But if you’re looking for a live compilation of their more popular hits, you should probably take a pass. There have already been attempts at that from bootleg producers with varying degrees of success. But still no authorized compilation of BBC (or other) recordings which remain the purview of the public domain specialists in Europe and totally unreleased in the States.
[side B]: If I Were a Carpenter/ A Love Like Yours/ Connection/ McCulloch’s Blues/ Shake, Rattle and Roll/ When I Was Young (BBC January 28, 1967)/ See See Rider/ A Love Like Yours/ Shake, Rattle and Roll (Bremen, Germany TV broadcast, February 1967)
[side C]: See See Rider/ When I Was Young (Mike Douglas TV show February 21, 1967)/ San Franciscan Nights/ When I Was Young>interview (Hollywood, Ca Shebang TV show, June 24, 1967)/ San Franciscan Nights/ All Night Long/ Good Times (BBC radio, August 1967)
[side D]: Interview>I Get So Excited/ Yes, I am Experienced (BBC radio, August 1967)/ Hey Gyp (Woburn Abbey Festival, August 27, 1967)/ It’s All Meat (BBC radio, November 1967)/ Anything/ Monterey (BBC radio, December 21, 1967) Hey Gyp (Olympia Exhibition Hall, London, UK, December 22, 1967)
Going by the title of this 2LP release, one might expect a representative collection of live recordings from throughout the band’s inception until the end of the decade. Not so. In fact, by the time of these recordings the original group had disbanded and records were being released under the moniker “Eric Burdon & The Animals” with a whole new lineup of musicians.
The good news here is that, for fans that have followed Burdon’s entire career (count me in), this transitional period gets an outstanding overview with both 90+ minutes of quality live music and 3 rarely seen magazine articles that appeared during the same time frame.
Most likely the line-up on the first track is the last remnants of the original Animals, which lasted until September 1966: Chas Chandler on bass, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Dave Rowberry on organ, and Barry Jenkins on drums. Jenkins would be the only one to make the transition to the new Eric Burdon & the Animals band. For the rest of the material on this album, the line-up would be Jenkins, Vic Briggs (guitar, piano), John Weider (guitar, violin, bass), and Danny McCulloch (bass), although there may be supplimental musicians on the November 1966 BBC tracks (Hammond organ and piano). Gone the signature organ sound so familiar to the band’s early recordings. New was a sound firmly rooted in a blending of blues-derived rock with an increasing trend toward psychedelic overtones.
Although American music had always been Burdon’s major influence, it was during this period that Burdon became enamored with American recording processes and culture, specifically that from California. He told Teenset magazine, “Groups like the Mamas and Papas and the Beach Boys work the right way. They go into the studio for days purposely to make a record. They record and put the tapes away for awhile, and then come back and listen to it with fresh ears. They chop the tape and shape it, and if they don’t like it, that’s it, they don’t use it. That’s the only way to work.” Burdon had plans for his new group that didn’t include the “bang it out live in the studio” methods used of the past.
The line-up on Live In The Sixties produced 3 studio albums, Eric Is Here, Winds of Change, and The Twain Shall Meet, each one moving further away from the roots music purveyed by previous line-ups. In fact, despite a potent slice of high velocity, inspired rock ‘n’ roll in “Monterey,” The Twain Shall Meet was so drenched in acid as to be unrecognizable as the same band. Zoot Money was added to the line-up in 1968 and the band went on to record two more albums in the same style, Every One of Us and Love Is, before calling it a day. When The Animals would reappear it would be with 1977’s Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted it would be the original band that gave fans the much acclaimed r&b influenced music of the early ‘60s.
What, pray tell, was the interruption? There may have been a few. In 1968 Mike Jeffery was fired as the band’s manager. I don’t know the details of the separation, but it must have cost the band money they didn’t have. This is the same Mike Jeffery that left the Jimi Hendrix estate penniless upon his death. As far as management agreements went, Jeffery made Allen Klein look like a philanthropist. Pure and simple, Jeffery was a thug and money launderer with none of the imagination of Klein. Jeffery wasn’t interested in keeping the lion’s share of the band’s income. He wanted all of it. Eventually he and Klein would find each other when Klein would offer $10,000 to get an Animals song on the movie soundtrack of Get Yourself A College Girl. Klein also convinced the Animals’ manager (and producer, Mickey Most) that it would be more profitable to sever the British publishing rights from the American rights in order to capitalize on a higher mechanical rate. And that’s how Klein gained control of The (early) Animals catalog in the U.S. Their losing streak in business partners would continue when they regrouped in 1977 by signing with Jet Records, a label owned by another ruthless and feared character named Don Arden.
But I digress. Another interruption was one of Burdon’s own choosing. For culture, he looked northward from the studios of Los Angeles to the Summer of Love in San Francisco. Burdon was not only captured by the idea of “free love,” he also developed a fondness for psychedelic drugs, going so far as to encourage other Brits that this was the country to be in. But psychedelic drugs are not always conducive to making great music and the albums became more and more uneven. Not that they didn’t contain a substantial hit or excellent album track now and again.
Live In The Sixties has its limitations. While most tracks seem to be from very good first or low generation sources, the BBC program from January 28, 1967 suffers from level fluctuations and a dastardly early fade-out on a promising cover of the Rolling Stones “Connection.” Only “When I Was Young,” coming from a later re-broadcast, gets a solid B grade. The version of Ike & Tina Turner’s “A Love Like Yours” from the same broadcast sounds utterly uninspired. And the 9-minute version of “Hey Gyp” which closes this collection would have found a better home on a Grateful Dead record, lifting the melody straight off “Turn On Your Lovelight.” The added percussion and trippy flavor do nothing to enhance what is supposed to be a rocker, Unless, of course, you think The Dead did Bobby Bland justice. And if you do, you’re tripping.
But there’s a lot of good stuff here, too. In the November 1966 BBC performances, after professing his love for Elvis Presley in an interview, Burdon gives inspired vocal interpretations of a couple of Elvis Presley tunes. The two portions from German TV also capture fine performances by Burdon and the band. The recordings from the two American TV shows are surprisingly well recorded and Burdon excels in selling his current singles, “Monterey” (which was not released as a single in the UK) and “When I Was Young” (a GREAT song!) to a more mainstream audience. And, yes, that is Casey Kasem doing the interview on Shebang, one of his earliest ventures in the move from radio DJ to TV personality.
The jewel of this collection comes near the end, with a jaw-dropping BBC performance of “Monterey,” a song Burdon wanted released as a single in his home country but was over-ruled by management because “it would be an insult to English people to release a song that praises an American event.” The performance here, surpasses the released version, which was already a powerful force that reached #15 on the American charts and #3 in Canada.
In summation, Live In The Sixties takes a unique approach in compiling a time capsule of a year in the life of The Animals, rather than a representative document of a decade. It’s a must for the kind of music scholars and serious fans that buy bootlegs and other recordings of indeterminate origin. But if you’re looking for a live compilation of their more popular hits, you should probably take a pass. There have already been attempts at that from bootleg producers with varying degrees of success. But still no authorized compilation of BBC (or other) recordings which remain the purview of the public domain specialists in Europe and totally unreleased in the States.
1967 bonus tracks (not on album)
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