The Animals recreate the era of the all-conquering British Invasion groups and demonstrate the force this timeless music still has.
We begin at the end of the show, when the original drummer for the legendary Animals, John Steel, steps out from behind his drum kit.
He has been a performing musician for 67 years, and a small part of his (and the band’s) story is captured on a recent interview.
Introducing their best-known song House of the Rising Sun, this year being the 60th anniversary of its release as a smash hit world-wide single.
Steel says they adapted their version from Bob Dylan’s self-titled debut album from 1962.
This is but a tiny fragment of the history of the song. Incidentally, Dylan took his version from Dave Van Ronk, accidently on purpose. There was a bit of a feud for a while.
The songs origins may date back to 17th century Britain. The Rising Sun could be a tavern or a brothel, or both.
First recorded version was by Appalachian Country artists Clarence Tom Ashley and Gwen Foster in 1933. It went through many hands from musicians white and black.
Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Josh White, Joan Baez. It has a life of its own and continued to reflect its broadside ballad origins.
It was definitive in the hands of the Animals. The ominous opening guitar riff intertwined with the harmonising keyboard is enough to give you a chill before the singer comes in.
Eric Burdon set the standard. Danny Handley on lead vocals and guitar echoes that interpretation.
Steel tells us the places that song went after they blitzed the world with it. In a bar in the mid Sixties and meeting Dylan. Who explained to them that their version of his (and Dave Van Ronk’s) song opened his mind to the Electric Dylan.
The mysterious power is that song itself, which is an entity coming down through the centuries and possessing the musicians it resides in.
This was the final act to a classic show of R’n’B, Blues and a healthy dose of Black Gospel, which culminates in Rock’n’roll.
John Steel in his recent interview does name the launch pad as Elvis performing Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog.
The rest of the band. Barney Williams keyboards and Norman Helm bass. Also known as the Animals and Friends, Steel says they are the best version.
They have a large catalogue of hits and great songs, most of which we hear tonight.
Its My Life…and I’ll do what I want! Naturally. That skirling organ sound had its genesis here with Alan Price. It became a signature sound of Sixties music in the hands of the Dylan studio band and the Faces when they backed (the best version of) Rod Stewart.
Don’t Bring Me Down, written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and you get to hear how those keyboard tones led to the cult classic 96 Tears by ? and the Mysterians.
Jimmy Reed was a staple for the great British artists of the era (Van Morrison for starters) and they cover Bright Lights, Big City and Big Boss Man.
Williams plays a mean boogie piano throughout the R’n’B and Blues numbers.
Bring It on Home to Me is the Sam Cooke classic which bands always take a risk to cover. Fashioning hard Gospel into a Pop hit and Cooke affronted many of the Black audience. His instincts were correct.
The band demonstrate the DNA of Rock’n’roll here. Best summarized by Presley. Rock’n’roll is basically Rhythm and Blues and Gospel. They make it a singalong tonight.
John Lee Hooker was closer to the Delta Blues and a rough gutbucket style. His Boom Boom is given the British treatment. Rocks hard as the bass guitar gives it muscle.
The Right Time is a slower Blues tempo from which the guitarist can stretch out with tasty Blues licks like Clapton or BB King.
Of course they must do a Bo Diddley medley. Artists like the Rolling Stones and Pretty Things were virtually Bo tributes bands at the beginning. Of course, the train rhythm is dictated by the engine room.
They rumble and motorvate through Bo Diddley, Hey Bo Diddley and Who Do You Love. Tombstone head and a graveyard mind. It takes a drum flourish to stop that train.
Listening to them power through classic songs, it is hard to know if they were Mods or Rockers at the time. Could they be both?
They cover superior Brill Building songs like Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s We Gotta Get Out of This Place. Urban social commentary. Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin’/ Watch his hair been turnin’ grey.
Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood has the same kick, where the keyboards add the crucial hooks around the lead singer.
The Animals, friends and all, can still deliver their classic songs with a vitality and energy that belies John Steel’s almost seven decades of music.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
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