ANIMAL TRACKS The Story of The Animals: Newcastle's Rising Sons by Sean Egan

Finished Su 8/22/11

There is a lot of information about the development of the various bands that went on to become "The Animals", but the majority of the books is about the songs on the albums-who played on them, who wrote them, and the situations in which they occurred.

FACTS
-Tom Wilson produced the early Animals, and he was a producer for Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, and The Velvet Underground. An Afro-American and graduate of Harvard, and a Republican!
-Hilton Valentine (lead guitar) Yes, That's his real name
-John Steel (drummer) Childhood friend of Burdon
-Chas Chandler (bass) Went on to a more successful career in managing Jimi Hendrix
and Slade. And, he was never really very proficient on the bass guitar.
-Alan Price (keyboards-organ piano) He and the manager tricked the band into giving
them all of the rights to "The House Of The Rising Son". They said that the revenue
would be split, but it never was.

The band was originally called, "The Alan Price Rhythm And Blues Combo"
Widely regarded as the most authentic Blues band from England, they went on to fully embrace the Hippie Scene in San Francisco. Although, when they relocated to the US, they settled in Los Angeles.
The band had numerous reformations with the original lineup even though they all agreed that Price had stolen from them. He hated the idea of the 'arpeggio' guitar intro, and left the original session in a storm. But, returned when the whole song had been written and arranged. Later, he took full credit.
Mike Jeffery is the manager who shared credit with Price. He ran a club in Newcastle
Micky Most probably was the most successful manager of the group. He was able to pick the most likely songs for chart success.

The author feels that although The Animals scored an unbelievable string of truly classic radio hits, they never delivered an album worthy of the greatness of the band.

Eric Burdon, although a swaggering English blues-man, became the quintessential hippie. Friends with all of the San Francisco bands, and eating acid like Owsley.

I would say that the book is more like an expanded Wikipedia entry, but essential if you have any interest in this classic rock group from the sixties.