The Animals Retrospective

Even if this were only a Redbook CD, it would be a great collection for those whose vinyl sounds like it was played on a road grader. While it is not an SACD recording (my player's SACD light does not come on), the package is clearly marked as DSD, the underlying audio format (2.8224 MHz sampling rate) used by SACD. Moreover, my player (in 8 channel output) was playing a center channel. So, I don't know what format this is, but it does sound good. Digital out to my A/V preamp was superb.

I RATE THIS 5STAR FOR ALL THE HITS, AND VARIATION OF SONGS THEY DID. I THINK IF YOU ENJOY A SOUL ROCK SOUND THIS IS FOR YOU. ERIC HAS THE SOUL VOICE THAT FITS ALL THE SOUNDS IN THIS CD.....ENJOY

I've picked up most of Eric Burdon's '60s work -- The Twain Must Meet, Every One of Us, etc. -- here and there. Generally, the audio quality was so-so. Not bad, but not great, either. This compilation gets the same audio treatment that the Abkco Rolling Stones got when they were remastered, and the audio quality is uniformly excellent.

I have a small issue with Spill the Wine being listed here, since Eric did that after the Animals were history, with War. Instead, I'd have preferred River Deep, Mountain High from the last album, a double one at that, by the Animals. What was it? Cry Love, I think...

Other than that small complaint, this is an even before-and-after compilation. About half the songs are from the Mickey Most years, and the remainder are from the New Animals, as they were briefly called, once Chas Chandler and everyone else left, save for Eric. The second half captures Eric's "hippie" phase, from the gorgeous San Franciscan Nights (with the HORRIBLE intro!) to the jazz-rock of White Houses, and the soaring, searing anti-war Sky Pilot.

Eric Burdon and the Animals (latter version) was the first concert I went to, in Ft. Worth in 1968, and for that reason alone they will always hold a soft spot in my heart. (Donovan, alone on a Persian rug at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis was my second -- what a contrast!) Then Cream, later Blind Faith, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, and so many, many more through the years. But Eric was first, and it's nice to have a good sounding retrospective like this to carry me back to a time long, long ago...

This is a really good Animals collection with all the original hits and memorable songs.

I'm gonna tell you right up front, I'm just a casual fan of the Animals. I am, however, a huge Classic Rock Fan, and being so, I must have at least one Animals disc in my library of music, and this is the one I chose. A friend of mine at work loned me an older "Greatest Hits" disc that after listening to, I took back to him and said "Do You Know this Thing Doesn't Have House of the Rising Sun on it?". He didn't even realize it. Well, after reading the top review by Lawrence M. Bernabo, I knew this was THE one to get. I wasn't disappointed, and neither will you be. If you want most of the best of the Animals, and don't feel the need to purchase a bunch of different CD's, look no further. This Abkco disc is well made and sounds great for the age of this music. That's it. Now just hit the "add to cart" button now!