Animals' Decca Years

Don't Bring Me Down

Reviewer: Thom Jurek, amg

Don't Bring Me Down is a compilation of material from the Animals' internally combustive yet artistically creative Decca period and is a revelation. The band produced the music after leaving EMI's Columbia label in the U.K., and most notably the producer who had put them over the top, Mickie Most. Working with Tom Wilson (of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 fame), the band recorded a blistering album entitled Animalisms (issued as Animalism in the States on MGM with very different material). The U.K. album is here in its entirety, plus four singles and an early, rare 1963 EP, recorded before the band even signed with Most. What the Decca sessions signify is how much influence singer Eric Burdon was beginning to have on the direction of the band. Here is the raw-soul, tough, razored R&B cover of the folk song "Inside Looking Out" (which Grand Funk later murdered), the brutally soulful inspiration of the title track, a killer read of "I Put a Spell on You," a rollicking "Sweet Little Sixteen," a scorched-out, future R&B tune called "That's All I Am to You," which mixed equal parts Eddie Cochran and British blues, and the raw-edged teen ballad "You're on My Mind." Of the bonus tracks, the original version of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" is here, and four pre-Animals cuts by the same band with the "Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo" moniker. (Price left the band before they ever recorded with Decca.) These early versions of "Boom Boom," "Big Boss Man," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," and "Pretty Thing" were the sounds the band was trying to return to with Decca. Given the price, the stellar sound and wondrous liner notes by Peter Doggett, this is a must-have for any Animals fan.

1. Inside-Looking Out
2. Don't Bring Me Down
3. Cheating
4. One Monkey Don't Stop No Show
5. Maudie
6. Sweet Little Sixteen
7. You're On My Mind
8. Clapping
9. Gin House Blues
10. Squeeze Her - Tease Her (But Love Her)
11. What Am I Living For?
12. I Put A Spell On You
13. That's All I Am To You
14. She'll Return It
15. Help Me Girl
16. See See Rider
17. Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
18. I Just Wanna Make Love To You (*)
19. Boom Boom (*)
20. Big Boss Man (*)
21. Pretty Thing (*)

(*) = performed by The Alan Price Rythm & Blues Combo




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