The Best of The Animals (1966 album)

The Best of The Animals was The Animals' first greatest hits collection. It was released in February 1966 in the United States, but never put out in the United Kingdom (where a similar album, The Most of Animals, was also released in 1966). The album showcased The Animals' tough-edged pop hits combined with their more devoted blues and R&B workouts.

The Best of The Animals
Greatest hits album by
The Animals
ReleasedFebruary 1966
Recorded22 January 1964 – 10 September 1965
GenreRock, blues rock, rhythm and blues
Length33:25
LabelMGM E/SE-4324
ProducerMickie Most
The Animals U.S. chronology
Animal Tracks
(1965)		 The Best of The Animals
(1966)		 Animalization
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

History

This was the first Animals album to feature new keyboardist Dave Rowberry in its photographs. Liner notes by Record Beat's June Harris extolled the musical and cultural virtues of the group and emphasized how close she was to the group. However, overall copyediting was poor and three of the members' names were misspelled.

The album was a great commercial success in the U.S., peaking at number 6 on the Billboard 200, the highest such mark of their career, and remaining on the chart for over two years.[2] By July 1966 it had been certified as a gold record, their only album ever to attain that status.[3]

In his 1979 volume Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island, famed rock critic Greil Marcus selected The Best of The Animals for inclusion on same, writing: "This was trash R&B from Newcastle, England, and especially when the focus shifted from American blues to savage pleas for release from working-class slums, more powerful than it had any right to be."[4] In 1997, Rolling Stone magazine placed The Best of The Animals into the 1960s section of its Rolling Stone 200: The Essential Rock Collection list.[5]

Other compilation albums by the same name (and sometimes even the same cover) but different contents would appear in later decades.

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."It's My Life" (Single A-Side, 1965)
  • Roger Atkins
  • Carl D'Errico
10 September 19653:09
2."Gonna Send You Back to Walker" (B-Side of "Baby Let Me Take You Home", 1964)
12 February 19642:20
3."Bring It On Home to Me" (Single A-Side, 1965)Sam Cooke20 March 19652:40
4."I'm Mad Again" (From The Animals, 1964)John Lee Hooker31 July 19644:15
5."The House of the Rising Sun" (Full length version, originally released as a single A-Side in edited form, 1964)Traditional, arranged by Alan Price18 May 19644:29
Total length:16:53
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."We Gotta Get out of This Place" (US single A-Side version, 1965)
15 June 19653:17
2."Boom Boom" (Single A-Side, 1964)John Lee Hooker22 January 19642:57
3."I'm in Love Again" (From The Animals, 1964)
31 July 19642:59
4."Roberta" (From Animal Tracks, 1965)
16 November 19642:04
5."I'm Crying" (Single A-Side, 1964)
31 July 19642:49
6."Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Single A-Side, 1965)
16 November 19642:26
Total length:16:32

Personnel

See also

References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. "The Animals Biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved 17 February 2007.
  3. "RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
  4. Marcus, Greil (1979). Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island (paperback). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 255. ISBN 0-394-73827-6.
  5. "Rolling Stone 200: The Essential Rock Collection". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
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