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27. The Animals
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27. The Animals
‘Animal Tracks’
In the early 60s, a hugely important British band, from Newcastle, would form. The Animals were part of the culturally phenomenal British Invasion of the US. Along with the likes of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Hollies and more, they brought their British Pop over to the States and left their mark.
But one aspect of The Animals was very different to their counterparts; their music had strong influences from already popularised American music styles. From Blues to R&B, Rock N Roll to Motown and Gosepl to Doo-Wop - The Animals left their mark on both sides of the pond by incorporating these different genres into one hybrid style and executed their British-American music to perfection.
Laz & Felipe take a different approach this episode and go through some of The Animals’ greatest hits from the ‘The Singles Plus’ album and talk about the differing styles, influences, lyrical meanings and genres they hear from song to song!
(In this way, the episode playlist has been structured like so: 1) Animals song 2) Original version of that song [where available] 3) Other earlier or notable covers of the song [where available] 4) Stylistic examples of other songs that we hear)
Episode 27 Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3aLQEOzUCf13Ww2H75Y9nz?si=c3406aa0675e4d29
Portishead - S.O.S (ABBA Cover): Portishead - SOS
LONG LIVE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
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- Podcast Music by GeriArt, NaturesEye, astrofreq, Twisterium from Pixabay
- Podcast Art by Ross Davidson (@ross_feelshame)
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Transcript
Podcast Milestone & Break
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello there, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll podcast with me, your host, Laz Michaelides, and on the other end of the screen, your other host, Mr. Felipe Amorim. How you doing, man?
00:00:28
Speaker
How are you doing, man? Hello, everyone. Yeah, good to start another episode. Yeah, well, we took a bit of a... Which episode is this? This is episode 27. Can you believe it? We took a bit of a break because anyone who follows our socials, you know, we took a little couple of weeks break to celebrate our 3000 episode downloads across 26 episodes, which I think is awesome.
Felipe's Gig & The Animals Introduction
00:00:48
Speaker
What else is it? It was exactly a year to that day that we uploaded our first episode. So we thought, you know, we'll just...
00:00:54
Speaker
We'll take a couple of weeks, reset, recharge. Felipe's been working his arse off, gigging down in Soho. I've been busy with work and gigs as well. So it's just like, yeah, we took a bit of time for ourselves, but we're back now and ready to get rocking and rolling. Excuse the pun. But yeah, how are you doing? Are you reset? Are you recharged? Are you still feeling okay after the podcast break? It's good because
00:01:20
Speaker
You know, I had time to, you know, listen to some music and relax a little bit, but, you know, gigging every night, literally seven nights a week. So it's really cool. And I want to start the episode not by cracking open a beer, but this time I've got sparkling water.
00:01:40
Speaker
Oh, that wasn't too loud. I'm sure the microphone picked it up. But yeah, anyway, it's a healthier, healthier way to start the episode. Not as as rock and roll as usual. But that's right. Excellent.
00:01:55
Speaker
Well, whilst Felipe downs his sparkling water, I will introduce the band we're going to talk about today. And the band that we are talking about today are The Animals. So a five piece gritty blues R&B outfit from England. They actually started in Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, if anyone wants to do the Google Maps.
Struggles of The Animals
00:02:17
Speaker
Started, wow, early 60s, like 63, wasn't it? 63, yeah, you know, mid 63.
00:02:24
Speaker
And they moved to London in 1964. Yeah, they did, yeah. Now, the funny thing about this band is, I tell you, so I started listening and knowing this band because of the famous song, The House of the Rising Sun, the song that everyone knows and associates with this band. And I thought a band like this, who release and I suppose execute a song as stunningly as House of the Rising Sun,
00:02:53
Speaker
They've got to have done a shitload of stuff. They've got to have a big back catalog. They've got to have a big place in rock and roll history. But it turns out I struggled quite a lot to find anything on them. What about you? Well, it's interesting, isn't it? If you check if you check their website, their own website, there's not much information about it. I don't tell you how I got to know the animals the first time I've heard about them. Go for it.
00:03:22
Speaker
When I was watching a Dire Straits live album, I had a VHS. You're not old enough for that last. You used to watch The Lion King on VHS when I was three years old.
00:03:38
Speaker
So I was watching this, it's called Alchemy, it's a Dire Straits live album and they are playing the intro of a song called Turn of Love and Mark Northley is giving this kind of a short introduction to the song and he says this song is about a place in Newcastle where I used to go to have fun, it's a place called Spanish City
00:04:00
Speaker
And you know, there's a live music venue, etc. And he's talking about going there, you know, to have fun with his friends and girls and etc. And we used to come and see loads of good rock and roll bands, especially the animals. So he mentioned, so are the animals.
00:04:17
Speaker
So I was watching that thing. I had only a bunch of VHS and CDs and tapes and cassette tapes. So that's how I was listening to my rock songs. And I had no other, you know, there was no YouTube or whatever. So
00:04:35
Speaker
I've listened to that, I was watching that and I've heard about the animals and said I want to know who those guys are but had no access to anything about them until I finally listened to House of the Rising Sun on the radio and so that's by the animals and I said all right so that's the band that Mark Knopfler talked about and it's interesting how they influenced all those classic British rock bands and they actually influenced some of their idols
The Animals' Greatest Hits & Lineup Changes
00:05:00
Speaker
as well.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's really interesting because what I wanted to sort of start, you guys know, you know, our listeners, you know that when we talk about a band, we'll often dive down deep into their back catalogue, talk about their albums, the most famous talk about them.
00:05:16
Speaker
But I kind of want to take a bit of a different approach today. I just want to talk about some songs So we've got an album here Which is called the animals the singles plus and this is 20 of their greatest hits supposedly and it's spanning They're out there at their different albums now thing to start off with with the animals is that there was numerous lineup changes and actually they were only the animals for three years and
00:05:38
Speaker
they became Eric Burdon and the Animals after Alan Price left and then what was it in 66 the drummer changed in 66 the keyboard changed so there were so many numerous lineup changes but the famous most original lineup is the ones from 63 to 66 and I think these singles encompass that lineup most. So we're going to put all 20 songs in that playlist for you because
00:06:03
Speaker
This really is a perfect summary of the animals and I've been listening to it all week. What about you Felipe? Yeah, I've been listening for a few days and it's like, it's amazing. Because there's some consistency in those songs that they sound like, obviously, if you're talking about a compilation, he has the best off kind of album. Yeah, there's obviously
00:06:29
Speaker
all hits in there but there's a consistency of quality over all those songs that they sound like they were all taken from one album. It's just like
00:06:41
Speaker
amazing. I mean, the sounds, the tones of guitars and keyboards. And they actually, I think they were one of those bands that managed to stick to a formula. You know, they were not necessarily recreating themselves all the time, but they had a really good way of arranging and performing songs. So I think it's totally reasonable to stick to the formula. When is a good one?
00:07:06
Speaker
I know exactly. I just want to say something for those who don't know, the musicians are Eric Burdon on vocals, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Alan Price on keyboards, Charles Chandler on bass and John Still on drums. Those are the
00:07:22
Speaker
main musicians really that the guys who actually were part of the classic lineup, the original lineup, and they recorded the first EP. They actually released a four track EP in autumn 63, so around that time. And that's how they started. And then a second release
00:07:39
Speaker
It was a live album with Sonny Boy Williamson, blue singer. Wow. He was. Yeah, it was the animals and him. So having them as a backing band. And and I think there was one set with just them. So that's an interesting that was in 30th of December, 1963. They released that one of recorded that one with Sonny Boy. So it's it's it's an interesting one because that shows the connection they had with traditional American blues.
00:08:09
Speaker
Well, this is sort of following on from what I was saying earlier before I asked you if you listened to the album. It's the reason, going backtracking a bit, the reason why I want to just focus on these hits is because
00:08:23
Speaker
The Animals are just such a varied band, aren't they? They're just... Check this out, okay? This is what I've done. So like I said, I've been listening to this album all week and I've taken notes on all of the songs. Don't worry, we're not necessarily going to talk about all of them. But what I did is I listed the songs, the names of the songs. And next to each song, I did the genre that I would associate it with.
00:08:45
Speaker
or maybe for a couple of songs, there was two genres. Now here it is, okay? 20 songs, and this is the genre count, okay? Seven blues songs, six rock and roll songs, five R&B songs, three gospel, two doo-wop, two Motown, and two rock, as we'll call it.
Musical Style and Formula
00:09:08
Speaker
So like I said, there'll be some of those where I thought it was R&B and doo-wop, but so you know, the maths doesn't quite add up.
00:09:14
Speaker
But there was just such a variety of different styles and genres on this album and from this band that I just thought it was staggering how... The thing is, you can do that, you can try that and fail on so many levels because you can... We'll try and do a couple of blues songs and fail. Okay, well, let's do some gospel and we'll fail. Or it's just not as good as it can be. But this, the execution of all of them were just stunning.
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Because when you mention like one song is Motown, the other song is Blues, etc. But in the end, all those elements are in pretty much every song, you just have something that stands out. Exactly. So they have all that
00:10:02
Speaker
mix of different genres in every song. I can find rhythm and blues, traditional blues, and rock and roll in literally every song they do. And there's a bit of like, one of the most interesting ones for me is I'm Crying, because it's a Latin groove, sounds like a variation of a rumba.
00:10:22
Speaker
It's not quite like the Americans used to do blues, rumbas, but similar, right? And it's a cool one because you have the drums doing that kind of rumba groove and the keyboard, it's just...
00:10:37
Speaker
playing a very, very percussive feel on top of it. It feels more like a percussion instrument than keyboards. It's really rhythmic and it's really like kind of reinforcing whatever the drums are doing. So that's a, and there's loads of vocal harmonies which you can associate with maybe, you know,
00:10:56
Speaker
the Beatles or whatever early stuff you can think about. But you have those vocal harmonies plus Latin vibes on the groove, plus really strong keyboards on it. It's really cool. It's a really cool combination. Do you know the song Green Onions by Booker T and the MG's?
00:11:13
Speaker
yes yes that reminds me of that one i'm crying really reminded me of that guys as usual any song we mention here is going to be in the playlist at the bottom of the show notes whilst you're listening so go and check that out um but yeah i thought the thing is like you said that rhythmic percussive element to that organ and the keyboard and i thought that actually one of the defining features throughout all the songs that actually i would consider and say
00:11:43
Speaker
is the factor that could change it from sounding bluesy or to Motown or to R&B was the keyboard. Because the organ that's going on throughout all of the songs is just brilliant. I mean, the keyboard player is just fantastic. What was his name?
00:11:59
Speaker
Alan Price. Alan Price, of course. Yeah. So here's the thing. I actually think he is the well, that's it might be controversial, but I think he is the most important member of the band in that sense, in terms of defining their sound. Obviously, the vocals are really recognizable.
00:12:19
Speaker
But the keyboards, I think they knew that the organ vibe they had in their songs was so different and so relevant to their song, to their music, that they made it intentionally louder than everything else on the mix. It's just like literally
00:12:43
Speaker
way louder than any other instruments in any song pretty much you know like House of the Rising Sun obviously it's a classic case of that you can you can hear the one I mentioned I'm Crying it's it's another song that the keyboards are really really loud but then don't let me be misunderstood it's the keyboards are also like it is I think the keyboards are more essential to the riff in that song than the guitar is
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, but then songs like Take It Easy, he changes the sound from being a keyboard organ sound to a piano and it just sounds like good old rock and roll piano.
Comparison with The Beatles
00:13:22
Speaker
Exactly. That song is like a very clear text to shuffle.
00:13:33
Speaker
is a Texas shuffle. It's classic blues for me. And let me say a couple of things about that song and why I like it so much. Because when I say it's a Texas shuffle, it's that kind of blues groove that
00:13:50
Speaker
that you can hear in many many classical blues songs with lots of stops and obviously the turnaround the chord progression at the end of the of the chorus of each time you go through the structure but it's not a blues in the sense of
00:14:06
Speaker
suffering in the sense of those lyrics about something negative. That's a song about, come on, if you take your time, if you act in a cool way, then I'll be nice to you too. It's a really interesting kind of positive message on the lyrics. And it's a happy song for me, for some that's got blues instrumentation. And again, yeah, you got like
00:14:33
Speaker
keyboard solo and guitar solo. So it's another song that shows that the keyboards are at least as important as the guitar, but in most songs, I think it's even more important.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree, man. And I just think, like I said earlier, the variety of sounds that he produces from his keyboard, sometimes it's a piano sound, other times it's an organ sound. And that just lends itself to the stylistic differences that they're presenting. Now, the one thing I did find that people did have to say about the animals, and this is what I was saying, is that they were at their peak whilst the Beatles were at their peak. So it's kind of like, you're never going to win. Say it again.
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, no, how come? How come you get to that point where the Beatles are there? Well, you know, my thing again, you know what I do, I write my things and I write my end summary of what I'm going to say at the end. But actually, you know, it always comes around earlier. What I found interesting is that, you know, it's early in the episode, but who cares? This this was going to be my summary at the end, but it fits now. So this is what I've written.
00:15:35
Speaker
um in terms of what the band the animals represented it seems to me that the animals were the last cover pop bands of the british pop scene in the 60s now what i mean by that for those that don't know is the animals barely wrote any of their songs now in the first two albums i think there is one song written by them and in the second album there's like three four of them but they're they're a cover band they're covering the old rmb tunes um from america they're covering um the american blues
00:16:05
Speaker
The reason for that was their manager, Mickey Most, who actually encouraged them to keep up with the times, listen to the American folk and blues standards, learn them, put them on your next album and everything. And he was the one that encouraged them to do that. And my thinking with that is that the Beatles were a skiffle band as well, weren't they? So they were doing those covers as well. They were hearing what these American blues musicians were bringing over and they were covering them as the Quarrymen. Now, the interesting part is that
00:16:36
Speaker
But for me, if there is said to be a failure of the animals in terms of advancing their music and their, I don't know, their renown, then for me it's because they stay so stereotypical
00:16:52
Speaker
to the genres they were covering. And whilst we just identified three or four songs, and I'm sure we'll talk about more of how great this tune is as a blues, how great this tune is as a Motown song, how great this is as a rock song,
00:17:07
Speaker
they didn't vary it up enough or change enough to sort of stand out and at the same time that you've got the animals doing these covers you've got the Beatles pioneering genres and inventing you know styles and guitars and their pop music you know so it's like the animals I feel I feel that they were the
Influence on British Rock and American Audiences
00:17:26
Speaker
last
00:17:26
Speaker
Sorry, I know you want to say something. I'll just finish by saying that it seems to me that that transition from when British pop went from covering American pop slash blues slash R&B to becoming original British pop, those two feels to me like the animals were the last ones and the Beatles were the new ones. Does that make sense? Do you agree? Yeah, it does make sense, especially because they started
00:17:53
Speaker
It kind of started at the same time as the Beatles, yeah, 63, when the Beatles actually released the first album. It's the exact same year, if I'm not mistaken. But yes, isn't it important to have bands that are constantly innovating, but also important to have bands that are going to stick to their roots and preserve
00:18:14
Speaker
uh some of those genres you don't want you don't want that kind of music to die and if you still have someone recording and performing that those things uh with some sort of fidelity to the original uh versions then i think you you you're doing a great service to the music industry and i think that's what they did were you right sorry go yeah yeah but yeah so some some people would argue they're not a rock band because they you know uh but
00:18:42
Speaker
I mean they they could be rhythm and blues or folk or pop but it's still that's rock yeah it's like that that's just
00:18:49
Speaker
If you're a modern band in the 60s and you're using electric guitars, electric bass, mic'd up drum kits, you're shouting into your microphone, then if you're not going to go all out and out and say, right, we're an R&B band, or we're a blues band, or we're a rock and roll band, then rock is perfect, isn't it? That's the perfect way to describe it.
00:19:12
Speaker
Exactly it is yeah yes because again musical freedom, you can do whatever you want. And in response to what you were saying about the whilst it's important to have bands innovating and pioneering but also bands sticking to the roots, I'm thinking that imagine if you're a guy in the 60s and you don't want to hear the Beatles put sitar on the new album then you're going to go listen to the animals.
00:19:37
Speaker
You've enjoyed your traditional American blues, you've enjoyed your traditional R&B and the British pop. Why are these guys putting guitars and shouting revolution nine, revolution nine? Well, I just want to hear my classic blues. So you'd go and listen to the animals, wouldn't you? I get it. Yeah, it's just like some people don't want to sit on weatherspoons and order from the app. They won't go all the way to the bars. It's like, let me do it the traditional way. I'm paying cash.
00:20:08
Speaker
So is that what we're saying? The animals are the guy who goes up to the barn, pays with cash, and the Beatles are the people who stay at their table, order from the app, using their Momzo debit card, right?
00:20:21
Speaker
because the Beatles managed to keep up with the times because the animals, they were kind of just trying to preserve what they first done on the very first album. One interesting thing about that is like they were part of what the Americans considered the British in Beijing. They were a big part of that group of British bands that actually made their way into the American charts. And obviously they had this, like,
00:20:49
Speaker
massive number one hits as a number one, I think all over the world with House of the Rising Sun. And so the interesting thing is I believe none of those British bands could actually play the blues like the Americans could. That's why they are interesting, because they were doing they were taking that American, I said blues, but it's also folk or both out. They were taking those influences.
00:21:17
Speaker
and doing their own way. And then the Americans were impressed by that. Wait a minute, that's our music, but it's not quite the same. Can you give us a musical example of what you think the British bands have done differently to America? Are you talking musically in terms of rhythms?
00:21:36
Speaker
I think it's the arrangements more than anything else. I mean obviously some things are more subtle like how you rhythmically approach a shuffle or a straight groove like rock and roll. But I think every culture people just play things in their own way. You know I mean if you start the bossa nova
00:21:55
Speaker
land in America, it's not going to be like Brazil in Bolsonova. It's just what it is, like Frank Sinatra singing Tom Jobin songs. It's just his own take. You can't say it's bad. It's actually genius. It's amazing. And you can say the same about British playing blues and rhythm, blues and folk. So basically it's like, well, we're going to do it based on what
00:22:20
Speaker
I don't know, based on our background, I don't know how people came up with the main differences, but I would say that the guitars are more aggressive in general. There's a stronger presence of keyboards, which we've said a million times already in this episode. But this is specifically with the animals, is what you have. And I think it did help them to break into America. Now, there's an interesting story about that.
Song Analysis and Influences
00:22:42
Speaker
One American that knew how to do
00:22:47
Speaker
American music in a British way was Jimi Hendrix, right? So that's why Jimi Hendrix experienced as a British band and his manager in the UK, the guy who actually helped him to come to the UK, was the Animals bass player. So Chance Chandler, he was the guy who brought Hendrix to the UK and basically he was one of the main
00:23:13
Speaker
names like who are responsible for Hendrix's success. So that's what I think. The animals, they've got such an immense legacy for British music and for music.
00:23:30
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bass player bringing Hendrix over to England. One of the animals is responsible for the very existence of Jimmy Hendrix's experience, which is one of the most influential bands of all time. So think about that. And Hendrix was doing something similar to what they were doing, play American music.
00:23:50
Speaker
in an European or British way. So that's just like amazing. There's another thing I want to say, which has to do with with their legacy is, well, the first the first single they release, I want to just confirm the original name because they released Baby Let Me Take You Home, which was a similar to a version that Bob Dylan did of a song. There is actually called Baby Let Me Follow You Down.
00:24:18
Speaker
Yes, you're right. No, you're right. I read that as well. David, let me follow you down. Yes, that's your original name. So Dylan changed some of the lyrics and the title of the song and made it his own, right? So they recorded with Dylan's songs, sorry, Dylan's lyrics, but they've changed the arrangements, obviously. So it's not folk anymore, it's electric folk. And by doing that,
00:24:43
Speaker
they've influenced Dylan to change his sound from acoustic to electric. So he heard their version of his cover, it's not even the original. And he thought, wow, do you know what, I need to go down that route, I want to do it and I want to go electric.
00:25:01
Speaker
And for our listeners, you'll know that, you know, that his backing band was The Band, who he did an episode on a few months ago. So yeah, that's the moment. Wow, incredible. That song's on The Last Waltz with Dylan and the band. So check it out. That song's really good, though. I like that one because, like I said, when I did the song name and the genre that I associated with it, there were only a few that I actually classed as Pop.
00:25:28
Speaker
And this was one of them. I feel it really gave me a strong Beatles vibe. But was it, Baby Let Me Take You Home, isn't it? Yes. Are you reminded... Baby Let Me Take You Home, or originally called Baby Let Me Follow You Down. So you can find this song in many different versions out of these two names.
00:25:44
Speaker
It reminded me of, I'm happy just to dance with you by the Beatles, actually, just had this really easy going stuffed in there. You know, talking of the pop, another big influence that I heard in several of these songs was actually the Rolling Stones.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, this song specifically, the one I just mentioned, the groove sounds a lot like satisfaction. I don't know which one came first. It's the same sort of just a steady, it's near groove, which is kind of a Montreal vibe as well. The one that I heard, the one that did Rolling Stones for me was, we've got to get out of this place.
00:26:21
Speaker
that one it had a Motown kind of driving drum beat with the bass line going on underneath and it's a bass intro isn't it yeah exactly yeah but in the end you know when you hear the lyrics and the chorus and the energy that Eric Burden brings to it it's just a rock song isn't it yeah that's that's an interesting point although they have different
00:26:42
Speaker
You know, the vocals are not the same. It's not the same tone in the voice, but his interpretation sometimes sounds a bit McJunga for me. He does. A bit of spoken vocals from time to time and a bit of like conversant.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, conversational. That song we've got to get out of this place is actually very interesting because it's one of a wave of songs that were first identified with music being a force for like social consciousness and social revolution, you know, along with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan. It was actually, I don't know if you know this, it was
00:27:22
Speaker
This is a British band and we know that they went to America to bring their British copied American blues over to America. This was huge in America and do you know why? No. Because of Vietnam.
00:27:39
Speaker
we've got to get out of this place and it said I was reading that if you were an American what should we call them a function band going around and playing the army bases this song was shouted at you as in as in please play it
00:27:56
Speaker
So, you sort of get out of this place by the animals was actually one of the Vietnam anthems in the early stages because, you know, Vietnam War lasted for, well, we spoke about Vietnam early and me and myself were sleeping. I'm interested in the history of it. But yeah, whilst the Vietnam War technically started in 1858, the official war started at 65 or 64 and went on
Cultural Impact during Vietnam War
00:28:18
Speaker
to 75. So you got the animals doing their thing and releasing songs that we got to get out of this place.
00:28:24
Speaker
and the Americans took it because that's what the Americans were feeling at that time. We've got to get out of Vietnam. Yeah, loads of people were just, I'm happy with the endless war, just like take our soldiers, you know, out of that war. Exactly. It's kind of crazy that you've got this British pop band leading an American charge of get our troops out of Vietnam. You know, it's crazy. But again, music transcends countries, doesn't it? Exactly.
00:28:51
Speaker
And the way you interpret a song, the energy you bring to a song, it can be perceived in a different way by the audience, right? Sometimes you mean something with lyrics and melodies, but people are going to hear it in another way. They're going to give another meaning or add layers of meaning to whatever you wanted to say originally. Yeah, it's quite interesting.
00:29:17
Speaker
Another important part of their legacy. It's incredible. The more you keep digging, the more interesting stuff you find about the animals. It's amazing. One thing I want to say is the other day I was watching
00:29:33
Speaker
Brian May, I think, was on his Instagram, whatever, and he was breaking down the riff of House of Brides and Sons. It was like teaching people how to play, because he usually teaches his riffs on his social media, all this, you know, some of Queen's songs, and he was showing that one and explaining why that was such a crucial riff for the time and how, you know, it's just a simple thing played on the guitar, but
00:29:56
Speaker
That song, you have the guitar leading the song, but as soon as the keyboards come in, they take over. And for me, The Animals is all about guitar and keyboards all the way, even though there's a great rhythmic session. But it's just like the guitar and keyboards,
00:30:18
Speaker
definitely leading the band in most cases and the riffs are fabulous and that's again the consistency is amazing every song by the animals that you listen to you're going to find those elements there are songs you want to talk about man because we're talking about you know loads of like elements that you can actually find in every song but what can you say specifically
00:30:42
Speaker
Let's, let's do, we're going to do a segment in a minute when myself and Felipe choose our top five songs. But before we do that, I just want, there is a few I want to mention only because what I really want you guys to get from this is what myself and Felipe hear in these songs. So there's a few songs from this singles album where I have made notes of what it sounds like to me. And then, so I'm going to tell you the song, the animal song, what I hear, why I hear it, and then I'll put it in the playlist. So for example, the,
00:31:12
Speaker
The song for Miss Cawker, it's just a slow blues, but it really reminded me of Fats Domino. Alan Price on Keepsmeade playing that kind of jazzy blues hybrid, these little piano keys just doing tinkling away and little embellishments. It's not like a main melody. It's just little parts he does at the end of every phrase. So really reminded me of Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino.
00:31:38
Speaker
um the song she said yeah that for me that was just an out and out rock and roll song um and you know there's lots of characteristics in it you've got the walking bass i think going the do do do do do do do like that um stops as well i can't remember i think is it she said yeah yeah
00:31:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, or something like that. That's very characteristic of rock and roll. So again, you know, I'm thinking Bill Haley, Rock Around the Clock, Jerry Lewis, Great Balls of Fire. These just have all the key elements of that sort of stereotypical rock and roll.
00:32:10
Speaker
Another one, Bright Lights, Big City. It reminded me of Kansas City. Hey, hey, hey, by the Beatles. Yeah, that's the way they do it, because the original one by Jimmy Reed is completely different. And it's Bright Lights, Big City. Yeah, if we can have that on the playlist. Yeah, absolutely. They even actually added some lyrics at the end. But basically, that one, if you don't mind me stepping in, that one,
00:32:41
Speaker
The original Jimmy Reed song is straightforward blues. It's shuffle and the focus is on the melody and the lyrics. And you've got to consider that that record was so old and the technology available was like not
00:32:56
Speaker
not as good as what the animals had an access to, I would say. So the recording is really poor, so it's all about how good the lyrics and the melody are. So if you listen to Jimmy Reed playing that song, it's beautiful. And then how can you make it as good as that one? I hope to make it even better.
00:33:12
Speaker
And I think they've managed to make it better by adding tempo changes in the song. So the chorus and the verse have different tempos, which you usually don't have in traditional blues. And they have their own riff in the song. And the vocal approach, again, that's where rock and roll comes in, because it's rock. That vocal approach is not traditional. That's rock. They're very modern for the time. But it's still paying tribute to their heroes.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, musical freedom, they're taking the aspects and elements of a song they love and they're turning into their own, you know, musical freedom. I've only got a few more left of my little comparisons. The song I Can't Believe It, I mean, that for me is just so R&B. It's just so, so, so R&B. And funnily enough, the two songs that I've
00:34:02
Speaker
Sort of associated with it a two female R&B singers song one at last by Etta James and so to pain in my heart by Helene Smith these will be in the playlist guys and I just there's elements I hear in certain
00:34:19
Speaker
in certain songs by the animals and maybe it's the the arpeggiated guitar going you know you know the 6-8 feel going on but that was really strong for me that for me I can't believe it was the most R&B or American R&B I should say
00:34:37
Speaker
influence that I heard on the album and it was accomplished stunningly and it wasn't like it wasn't second rate R&B it wasn't oh the Brits do crap R&B it was good. That's the thing we've got to mention that they're all really good musicians right? Yes.
00:34:54
Speaker
solid playing all albums. You've got to remember, nowadays people record with click tracks. It's basically a metronome keeping time. It's a click that keeps the musician in time. And if you don't play time, you just go on a computer and fix it.
00:35:09
Speaker
Those guys, they were just playing live in studio, playing together. And you see how how steady the tempo is and how consistent the grooves are, the bass lines. So they are actually playing things that sound simple, but they're not that easy to execute. So you've got to be a real musician to play like them. I think it's really cool stuff there. What's cool about that is I love that aspect of live, of recording music because
00:35:39
Speaker
i love hearing the mistakes i don't care i love it in in stairway to heaven by led zeppelin there's i think it's during the lyric there's a feeling i get one of the guitar notes he plays jimmy page plays a bum note it's like the there's a
00:35:57
Speaker
And they didn't get rid of it. Why would you? That part of the character of the song. And I think I hear a bit in House of the Rising Sun as well. I think it's one of the first bars of the guitar. And he's like, he's a little late. No one cares, but that's character, man, isn't it? That's character.
00:36:19
Speaker
Exactly, because if you can't imagine a recording studio with your bandmates and you do something slightly off and you're like, I don't want to stop because I'm going to mess up with everyone's hard work. Everyone is doing their best and you're doing your best. You do something but we just keep going. So it's like some very subtle mistakes you might find in those recordings. But
00:36:41
Speaker
They are really rare and when they happen they don't actually affect the song in a negative way at all. That proves how good they are musically and how consistent they are with their playing and it's just like really, really solid, really good.
00:36:57
Speaker
Anyway, the final song that I wanted to talk about was Gonna Send You Back to Walker, which I heard serious Credence Clearwater revival influences in this one. And I've actually identified the song Cross Tie Walker by Credence. And I really hear elements of that song in Gonna Send You Back to Walker.
Legacy and Evolution
00:37:16
Speaker
But that's it for me. Which one came first? I didn't. I don't know. I'd assume it was the animals.
00:37:24
Speaker
yeah probably i'd assume animals yeah but actually i don't know if this was on their third album or their fourth you know who knows but i'll have a look at that um but yeah anyway guys thanks for listening to me tell you songs i thought these songs sounded like i just felt that it was quite important just hearing this this huge spread of these genres that they've done all within their their own music which is labeled as british pop
00:37:45
Speaker
And yet we have Eric R&B, American Blues, you know, the Doo Wop, Wotown, it's just fantastic stuff. I think this, again, as I said before, their legacy is so...
00:38:03
Speaker
amazing and sometimes they were one of those bands that I sometimes even forget they exist. The thing about Hendrix and he wouldn't think about the relation he has with the animals and Zlade was another band managed by their bass player. Really? Yes, also managed Zlade, so he got a Zlade and Hendrix experience somehow related to the animals.
00:38:29
Speaker
One of the first songs I've listened that was previously recorded by the animals was Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. Again, they didn't write the song, right? It was popularised by Nina Simone.
00:38:47
Speaker
Nina Simone, which was a huge influence for them. But they made it rock and roll. They turned that song into a rock song. And then I first heard that song played by Gary Moore. And it's heavy and it's really heavy and it's really cool. You know, it's like proper blues rock. But the animals, the way they play it, again, you have the keyboards leading.
00:39:13
Speaker
But you have that really strong vocal during the chorus that it stands out, makes the chorus the most important part of the song for real. It doesn't make it like, come on, guys, this is the chorus. And there's a very clever use of silence. There's loads of spaces between the riffs. And that's one of the things that builds up the anticipation for the chorus. I love that.
00:39:40
Speaker
I just like the way they think about arrangements and spaces and textures. They're great. You know me. I'm not going to put this in the quiz because I don't know if you'd get the answer, but for anyone who knows me and my musical personality, my favourite quote about music is, it's not about the notes you play, it's about the space you leave.
00:40:01
Speaker
and Felipe summed it up perfectly there. Less is more. Sometimes a bar of silence or two beats of silence can say more than any guitar fill, drum fill or bass lick can do.
00:40:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I think this is this, this is one of the key elements of the animals using this space as an assignment. Yeah. Right. So talking about sort of the timeline of the animals, there's actually it's so sure. And that's what surprised me most man, it was just 1963 to 1969. And in the middle of that, that's what it is. Yeah, I think in the middle of that in 66,
00:40:40
Speaker
That's when they became Eric Burdon and the Animals, so even there was a little change there. And then they are still touring now, 1992 to present. I'm not sure actually if any of the original members are still touring that, but technically they're still going. Yeah, I think we talked about that when we were doing the episode about Yes. And I think rock bands, if they could last forever, why not?
00:41:10
Speaker
If you think they're not the original, you don't want to listen to them, just don't go to the show. But I find it amazing that you can preserve the brand and carry on, which I've heard Kiss is doing.
00:41:26
Speaker
keep touring as Kiss, but with none of the original members. And I think why not? If the fans want to buy the tickets and see someone representing that band, it's what orchestras do, right? So why not? So I think rock and roll is becoming classical music in a certain way. Well, it's certainly
00:41:51
Speaker
The historical impact that rock and roll as a huge genre, and we don't just mean Elvis and Jerry Lee, we mean all the bands we've spoken about here. Rock and roll. It's now becoming an important part of history because music is changing and we know now that modern pop music today
00:42:09
Speaker
For example, it's very electronic, very keyboard and synth led. I'm not by any means saying rock is dying or rock and roll is dead. That's a whole, I'm sure there's another five episodes we can do on that. But it's kind of like now we have the moment where rock and roll and rock had its time.
00:42:29
Speaker
1960s, probably through to 2010. And again, this isn't saying rock is dead. I'm just saying that, you know, you think of pop rock, popular rock, Nickelback, that was that was famous in the early 2000s. That was pop, Nickelback or pop music in the early 2000s. Now pop has changed so drastically that I think rock has had its historical time. Again, I'm not saying it's dead. I'm not saying it's over. I'm not saying there's not more to come in terms of its place in history. It's the one music style that incorporated
00:42:58
Speaker
pretty much everything that existed before, isn't it? That's what we said about Elvis's first album. He had everything that has been done in American music before that album. I think the animals were doing the same thing in a British way. Just like Elvis, they took everything that existed before them and put it all together in their own way without trying to sound exactly like their idols.
Quiz & Hosts' Top 5 Songs
00:43:26
Speaker
That's actually a comparison I hadn't thought of, but you've hit the nail on the head there. They have done what Elvis did with that first album. But yeah, anyway, right, time for a segment. It's time for Laz to give Felipe a quiz.
00:43:54
Speaker
Oh my God. Right. I'm not prepared. Let's see. I know you're going to get one right, OK? You'll find out when. OK. Question one out of four I've got for you, OK? Actually, do you know what? I'll give you the one I know you're going to get now. Chaz Chandler's fame came from another musical achievement. What was it? Well, to manage Jimi Hendrix's experience. And another him. Yeah. Yeah. Well done. One. You got one. Well done for you. You got one again.
00:44:23
Speaker
Right, question two. Which famous rock guitarist joined Eric Burden and the Animals in 1968? Is it Andy Summers? Yes, well done from the police. Yeah, well done. Question three. Musical differences, personal differences and what other reason was responsible for Alan Price leaving the band?
00:44:51
Speaker
Okay, so musical differences, personal differences and fear of flying. He hated being on the airplane. Those three reasons were why he was quit. Flies is the biggest one. Well, yeah, I'd love to know his thing. Was it like 30, 30 and 40?
00:45:14
Speaker
Was it, you know, 190 flying, 5% musical, 5% personal? Well, flying can be more scary than someone playing in the hospital. Right, final question. Which country did the band have to flee from under threat of death in September 1968? Wow. I couldn't possibly... Let me just guess, because I never heard of that.
00:45:46
Speaker
I don't know, I'm not going to guess. There's a story behind this and it's bloody brilliant. Let me just find where I made it on my notes. The funny thing is that the answer I'm going to give you is the reason that the band broke up because this event, everyone was like, fuck it, we're not doing this anymore.
00:46:11
Speaker
In 1968, in Japan, the tour was delayed by two months due to visa issues. So the promoters, who turns out were members of the Yakuza, kidnapped the animal's manager and made him write an IOU for $25,000 to the Yakuza for the costs they'd incurred through the two months delay.
00:46:40
Speaker
can you believe that right and it doesn't end there the manager wrote out an iou 25 000 but because the the his kidnappers were japanese they couldn't read english and he wrote underneath i wrote this under duress
00:46:58
Speaker
Which means that IOU wasn't valid because he had it rewritten. Someone made me write this. So IOU 25,000 Yakuza. Hey, listen, anyone who sees this note, I did this under duress.
00:47:12
Speaker
So they didn't have to, they didn't have to pay anything later. But anyway, then he did the note, he said, right, here's your IOU and the Yakuza like, right, fine, you know, oh, next time you come, you pay us. He let them go. And he said, but you and the band, you've got to leave tonight. And they left. They fled from Japan 1968.
00:47:32
Speaker
We're not actually playing at all. I don't know, but I'd assume so. Isn't that a story? Is that not rock and roll? I'm putting in the same segment. How rock and roll is that? Let me think.
00:47:58
Speaker
That's got to be a high number, man. I'll give it 82. 82, that wasn't fair. So for anyone, yeah, so 82 out of 100 for how rock and roll is that? Wait, Japan, because you've got in trouble with Yakuza. That's like...
00:48:13
Speaker
It doesn't get much more rock and roll than that. Anyway, that's the end of the quiz. Well done, Felipe. You got two or more. So well done. Another good one. Excellent. Well, actually, we've got another one, another segment, which we can do now, which I suppose is appropriate. We're going to do Laz and Felipe's top five.
00:48:41
Speaker
our top five animal songs. Now I'm gonna little disclaimer is that they are from this Singles Plus album but I don't think it matters because this is a nice broad spectrum of what the animals gave us throughout their career. So Felipe what's your fifth favorite animal song and why?
00:48:59
Speaker
take it easy, just because that's the most bluesy one, really. And I like, as I said before, as a kind of Texas shuffle vibe, it's very American in a certain way, but I like the lyrics. I think it's uplifting in a certain way for a bluesy song. And you're number five.
00:49:23
Speaker
My number five is we got to get out of this place. I love this. I think it's really nice. Like that chorus is just so Motown-y, but with hints of British pop with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, you know, it's got everything. But I did love that it was one of the first wave of songs that were actually sort of showing the public that, listen, we can talk about politics in music. We can bring about social consciousness to the public. You know, I like that.
00:49:49
Speaker
And the fact, again, the fact that a British band's song became an anthem of an American war, I found, I don't want to say fun because they weren't singing, the Americans weren't singing, we've got to get out of this place for having a fun time. But that's an animal's legacy. That's another legacy point that we can say. It's really, really amazing. So what is your fourth favourite song?
00:50:13
Speaker
my number four is Baby Let Me Take You Home. Because it's the song that actually probably introduced them to their first fans and the fact that they've managed to reinvent Bob Dylan through that song and they actually managed to make Bob Dylan rethink his approach to folk.
00:50:39
Speaker
Like, come on, it's your hero. It's your hero listening to you thinking, wow, I want to sound like those guys. So that's why it's my number four. So you could say the animals made Bob Dylan rethink his life. Yes, his life. His life work had been fun. Yeah, two elements about that song that I want to emphasize against like the really loud organ in the mix. And at the very end of the song, they do a double tempo thing to just
00:51:08
Speaker
When you think there's nothing you're coming up to just double the tempo. Brilliant. Oh, brilliant. Well, my fourth favorite song is I Can't Believe It. Again, I said I said I gave you the two songs earlier that I thought it reminded me of. I just love that gospel feel it has because I think gospel music is so traditionally and rightly so associated with Americans or even black American culture that we were not surprised, but we were
00:51:36
Speaker
OK, surprise. We were surprised when we were hearing that Elvis was taking so many of these gospel influences and he was a white American. So for a white British band to take so much influence from black American music like the gospel, I just and I thought it wasn't it wasn't shit. It wasn't like badly done gospel. And listen, it's not an out and out gospel song, but you can so hear the influences in it.
00:52:01
Speaker
And I just think it was a really, yeah, I think it's a cover. Oh no, I can't believe it actually might have been one of theirs. But anyway, it's the gospel and R&B influence that I loved on that one. Down to the top three, what was your third favorite animals song? Well, House of the Rising Sun. Yeah. I think it's about, my favorite thing about that song is the lyrics are so dark.
00:52:30
Speaker
You're right. And it's a number one international hit. Yeah. Usually, number one hits are silly songs about love. So so we talk a lot about the instrumental parts of those songs. My personal reason for House of the Rising Sun to to be number three is because they they managed to
00:52:56
Speaker
recreate a song, make it more interesting and actually make the lyrics sound darker because of the arrangements and because of the vocal approach. I think the original was in Leadbelly, did the original? I don't know. Guys, listeners, I will put the effort in and if I do my research and whatever songs on this album are cover,
00:53:21
Speaker
I'll try and find the original for you okay so I'm going to put the whole of this Animals album in and on the playlist if you what's number one uh baby let me take you home then I'll put the Dylan one then we'll do going to send you back to Walker and if that's a cover then I'll find the original okay so I'll do my best I'll try and find the originals for you just so you can hear what the animals heard first and then how they made it alone
00:53:44
Speaker
And this is an important part of what we do, I guess, because we're not here claiming to be experts in any of those bands. We research and we're finding
00:53:53
Speaker
you know, finding our own reasons for enjoying that kind of music. And we're trying to learn as we go once we do the show. So sometimes we find some stuff like where does this come from? You know, whoever's listening to this, if you know any interesting thing about the animals that we didn't mention, just let us know. Yeah, absolutely. We want to learn.
00:54:17
Speaker
Right, right. My third favourite song, It's My Life, and it wasn't written by them. I found it really Rolling Stones-y, the guitar riffs and melodies that were quite prominent. You know, if you listen to the blues songs, the guitar is not playing a riff or a repeated melody, it's kind of just doing
00:54:37
Speaker
blues embellishments, maybe it's playing chords. This to me was a very early example of like what the Rolling Stones used to do, I mean you know songs like Satisfaction where the guitar was the lead instrument. And the other thing I found interesting was the lyrics, rebellious lyrics. It's my life and I'll do what I want
00:54:56
Speaker
It's my mind and I'll think what I want. Like mid 60s and you've got this British band telling you, hold on, don't listen to everything you say. And I'm not going to do everything you tell me to do. I'm my own person. I'll do what I want and I'll think how I want. I just thought that quite interesting for the 60s. That sounds like someone just, you know, raising the middle finger, isn't it? Yes. Anyway, what is your second favorite animal song?
00:55:23
Speaker
My number two is going to be I'm Crying for the reasons I mentioned before. Latin groove, the percussive approach on keyboards and the vocal harmonies. Those are good reasons for listening to that song. Beautiful song. Fantastic. Yeah, my second favorite song is Bury My Body, which
00:55:41
Speaker
I again I just love it for the gospelness that they they really took me when I when I hit this when I hit play on this album I knew what I was expecting with House of the Rising Sun and I'd heard Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood so I kind of had this musical aural
00:55:58
Speaker
picture in my head or in my ear whatever of how of what their other stuff was going to sound like and i was thinking kinks, beetles, rolling stones that kind of british pot maybe not as good as the best of the beetles you know but to hear so much rmb in gospel it really threw me and as i've said like two or three times before and as i'll say again it's not bad gospel it's not bad rmb they're doing it very well
00:56:23
Speaker
So, Bury My Body was really good, really enjoyed that one. It reminded me of one of Elvis's albums. The album is called His Hand in Mine, which is one of Elvis's later albums. And for those who don't know, Elvis's later albums were so heavily gospel influenced. So, yeah. So, what is your favourite animal song?
00:56:45
Speaker
Um, believe it or not, Bright Lights, Big City. Um, Bright Lights, Big City is, as I said, yes, a Jimmy Reed song. And the first time I've, I've seen this, uh, um, I've listened to it through the animals version of the song was like, how dare you? Just, just played Jimmy Reed upside down. Cause it's not like, it's,
00:57:16
Speaker
It's so different from the original. It's almost like they only kept the lyrics and not even all the lyrics. Like, what are you doing? But isn't this what rock and roll is meant to be? You just challenge yourself to go as far as you can exploring the limits of your creativity. And in this specific case of a band, there is essentially, as I said, a Culver's band, a band that does versions of all the artists' catalog.
00:57:46
Speaker
This was a really, really interesting choice. And it's a song that I would think twice about covering unless I was doing it similar to the original. And I said it before, it's the tempo changes that make it really special. They brought their own riff to the song.
00:58:04
Speaker
And the vocal approach, again, is not the same. It's much more rock. And I think to pick such a famous traditional American blues song and making your own way and do it really well is a hell of an accomplishment for a band. So I love it. I think it's really interesting. When we hear bands cover songs by our favorite artists, or maybe not even necessarily, but
00:58:33
Speaker
There are elements in songs where you'd like to hear certain parts of the original. So for me, I'm not going to name any covers because I can't think of them.
00:58:43
Speaker
If a band was covering a famous song of another band I liked, then if the original was famous for a specific riff, then I'd want to hear that riff in the cover because naturally, that's what I think makes the original song special. But it's funny hearing what you said, because there's another one. I mean, anyone who looks at the playlist and sees ABBA in are going to be really weirded out without having listened to the episode. But there's the ABBA song, SOS. We know it's the
00:59:10
Speaker
when you need me darling can't you hear it's very upbeat and it's quite sad but the the music's upbeat it's very poppy this artist what is her name is it um i think it's portis head but if i'm wrong you'll see in the playlist she does a cover of sos and it is slow
00:59:29
Speaker
like really slow, dark, haunting. There's hardly any instruments in it from what I remember. I haven't listened to it in a while, but if I remember just minimal instruments. And it just it was one of those where the cover and the original could not be any different. It seems to only be lyrics they share. And I'm just saying that because of what you said about how different the Jimmy Reed one was to this one. Yeah. How it wasn't worse. It was just different. Yeah, exactly. It's just
00:59:58
Speaker
Yeah, like recreating something without having to sound like a tribute. Yeah, exactly. And I think that sums up who they were of a band. We're going to recreate stuff, but we don't want to just sound like someone paying tribute. We're actually turning those songs into our
01:00:20
Speaker
Well, to finish then, my favourite song of the animals is the one I heard first, which is the House of the Rising Sun. It's a traditional folk standard, so it's not actually their song. I don't think anyone knows who wrote it. But I mean, I agree with everything Felipe said, but just a few bits for me to add.
01:00:39
Speaker
It's quite obviously with the organ and the, I'd say the sort of repetitive guitar. I hear a lot of R&B influences in that. But in the drums, I heard a lot of jazz.
01:00:54
Speaker
Yeah, there's an interesting thing there. The right cymbal is louder than the kick and the snare on the mix or is either the mix or just the way the drummer is playing, I guess is more like that because they don't assume they had one microphone per piece of the drum kit at the time. So he's playing the right cymbal louder than the drums in itself. So that's a very jazzy approach.
01:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, I heard even the rhythms are a bit jazzy as well. Yeah. And then, like I said, I've been listening to this album for the better part of five days. So I've probably heard all these songs a good five times. And it was only on it was only one of the later listens that I really paid attention to his vocals and just how kind of I keep saying it, but gospel and preachy his vocals were, especially when he shouted.
01:01:48
Speaker
And it takes me back to when you see the gospel churches and you hear the preacher sort of shouting, you know, Lord, take you. And he's like, well, it is a rising sun, you know, just the way he's talking at the start and the music builds up and then he punches with those big, you know, those big bell-ing notes at the end. What a system to cover. It's getting angrier as the sun goes up.
01:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And but he's putting this through. He's putting his anger through in his vocals and the Oh, my wife uses this word all the time. What is it? It's a vocal term, the belting, the way the way he expresses it. Yeah, you know, the way
01:02:29
Speaker
with the drummers and bassists we don't deal with. But just the way he delivers those big shouted notes are fantastic. So yeah, I mean, what a song and what a cover, right? And I think it's quite appropriate that although we've identified and discussed all these other songs, I'm still
01:02:48
Speaker
I'm not looking and saying, oh, it's a shame that they're not known for I Can't Believe It because that's a great song. I'm happy that they're known for this song because it is a signature song of theirs and deservedly so, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. It's an amazing song. It's not a surprise that that song was number one.
01:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, they're all very famous nowadays. Just one more thing to add about their legacy is that actually they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and they've had 10 top 20 hits in both the UK and the US, which is interesting because sometimes you normally hear where a British band have
01:03:34
Speaker
ten top twenty UK hits but only three in the US because obviously in their own country or vice versa an American band will have five number ones in the US but then none in the UK whereas they had an even ten in the UK which I think is a testament to how
01:03:53
Speaker
brilliantly diverse their music is because their music is the best of American blues at that time, the best of American gospel and R&B and even elements of Motown incorporated with the instrumentation, the arrangements, the structures and the I think I've said words of British pop and rock and roll music. So yeah, a fantastic amalgamation of the two cultures, isn't it?
01:04:18
Speaker
It is. It's just brilliant how they put it all together. Fantastic. It's just unique for sure. Anyway, right. Perfect. I think that's a good place to end it. Jay, do you want to talk about or why don't you just give us your summary of the animals? What do you feel about them? What makes them rock and roll? And what are your thoughts coming out of this episode?
01:04:40
Speaker
Wow, tough. I think that the biggest contribution is to, well, very early in the history of British rock, to bring the guitars and the keyboards to the front, really, and just make it stand out. And a kind of for the time, very aggressive vocals, and completely different. I think that they've
01:05:06
Speaker
recorded songs they didn't write and they've made it so different from the originals without, as I said, without ruining the songs actually they made most of them better. It might be a controversial opinion but I think they've made them better than the originals and the fact they've managed to influence not only the next generation of musicians but some of their own heroes. So they've influenced the past and the future. You don't see too many bands doing that.
01:05:35
Speaker
a whole generation of musicians before them was listening to that. So wait a minute, we should do a little bit of what the animals are doing. So yeah, hats off to them. Fantastic stuff. I mean, I agree with everything you said, and I'll just sort of summarize, like I was saying earlier about my thoughts, which is that
01:05:53
Speaker
they were different from the Beatles in that they were not pioneering, they were not looking forward necessarily into what music could be. They weren't using the advanced technological
01:06:06
Speaker
attributes that was available to bands like the Beatles at the time. But I don't know if it mattered because you hear character in their music, you hear personality, and you hear music of not yesteryear, yesterday, you know, you're hearing music that's going on in America right now, incorporated into British pop of today in the 60s, obviously. Did you want to say something?
01:06:29
Speaker
No, yeah, exactly. Because I think it's unlike the Beatles and unlike loads of those people who were innovating at the time, they decided to stick to, you know, bass, drums, keyboards, guitar, vocals. That one thing, even changing the lineup, is that basic rock band lineup, straightforward, bullshit free rock.
01:06:56
Speaker
The only last part I wanted to add was that, I know I keep going on about this R&B and gospel stuff, but as I said before, it's only because it just took me by surprise. It's easy to see and recognise and hear the blues influence from America in British music. Cream, Clapton stuff, early Sabbath, you know, even early Beatles.
01:07:20
Speaker
But I think it's incredibly hard to hear and find the American R&B and gospel influence. You know what I mean, don't you? The way that the blues from America came over and it hit hard, didn't it? John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, Clapton and Cream, Sabbath, you know, we've just said them all. But there wasn't the same sort of movement that happened with R&B and gospel from America. And there hasn't been since. But I'm still really impressed that the animals were able to take it from America and incorporate into their music.
01:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, they did a fantastic job. And it has survived the test of time for sure. You're absolutely right. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Well, fantastic stuff. Good place to end it, I think. So once again, guys, thank you very much for coming and having a listen to us. Felipe, where can they find us? Well, you guys can find us on the internet. On the internet. So yeah, you're going to have to look them up.
01:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, just Google it. If you listen to this a thousand years after this recording, Google's not a thing. You just go on the internet. I imagine the internet would still be there. The internet was still there, but Google wasn't.
01:08:36
Speaker
Well, I don't know. What if Bing takes over? Bing? Bing is the tricky Microsoft version. Bing it. Google it. Bing it. Internet it. Anyway, guys, thank you very much for joining us. We hope you've enjoyed this. And keep on rocking, everyone. And as usual, guys, long live rock and roll.