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From the Vault...
01/04/1998
#558 |
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info
Eric Burdon &
The Animals
"Winds Of Change"
© One Way Records
Year of Release: 1967
Rating:
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track listing
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Winds Of Change
Poem By The Sea
Paint It Black
The Black Plague
Yes I Am Experienced
San Franciscan Nights
Man - Woman
Hotel Hell
Good Times
Anything
It's All Meat
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Eric Burdon & The Animals
"Winds Of Change"
The New Animals
The new world different from the old with new jewels to
be consumed, new frontiers to be won, and much more love
to be given. The recognition of existence of pain and
ecstasy to know that they are both there in the pit of
my stomach, and can be turned on or off easily as a
stereo colour T.V. set. I love you all, and want you
to gain something from these new sounds as I gain from
listening to my saints in past years. If you feel alone
and confused and unhappy discontented, just know that I
(and there are many like me) love you, and maybe you'll
know why I am happy contented and un-confused. The
games I play are mostly games of children (not all)
happy games, games of love, games of mystery, games of
wonder, please excuse my games of fear and jealousy, I'm
only human after all and still a student of life. Maybe
the next production will be all games of love,
but by then I could be in another world...
album cover paragraph -- Winds Of Change
As the album title states, there were changes
being made for the 60's British group, The Animals.
By 1967, the original band had fell apart. But Eric Burdon,
the man behind the success of The Animals, and what would
be their only #1 and signature song, The House Of The
Rising Sun, reformed his former group, and called it
Eric Burdon & The (New) Animals. Burdon
would become the only original member. The first
release with the new Animals lineup was Winds Of Change,
an album that not only dealt with change for the group,
but it would also project the future of Eric Burdon as
a solo artist.
The album starts out with the title track, and ends
with It's All Meat. Both songs are tributes
to Burdon's musical influences, mostly the blues. Burdon
sings
"Robert Johnson sang the blues" in Winds Of
Change. Muddy Waters and Ray Charles are mentioned in
the latter song. The title track is truly psychedelic,
as the rest of this album signifies. Poem By
The Sea is just as psychedelic. And The Black Plague,
is a spoken word tune, with church-choir background vocals similiar
in sound and just as eerie as The Yardbirds' Still I'm Sad.
Burdon does his own version of The Rolling Stones'
Paint It Black. Completely different in sound as
compared to the Stones, this song would be a regular favorite
of Burdon's, as he would perform it in concert, and would
also record another version of it when he left The Animals
to join a black funk band, War, in the Seventies.
Yes I Am Experienced, is the group's answer
to the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced,
released earlier in the year 1967. Even if you didn't know
the title of this song, it does resemble the sound of the Jimi Hendrix
Experience's first album.
Chas Chandler, original Animals bass player, became Jimi Hendrix's
manager after leaving the original Animals lineup.
Another Animals favorite, San Franciscan Nights is
featured on this album, as the San Francisco scene was booming
in 1967, as many popular rock groups were formed from that city,
like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.
Man - Woman is another spoken word tune.
Burdon's spoken talents sounds exciting and vibrant, as he tells
the story of how man and woman dominate the love scene, aka
The Peace and Love Generation, another happening event of the
late 1960s. These four words in this song pretty much tells it all,
all, as Burdon shouts: Man! - Woman! - Desire! - Love!.
This song, as well as The Black Plague, is probably the
beginnings of what would later become a very popular hit with
War, Spill The Wine.
The next three songs are slow-paced tunes, yet they
match the rest of the album's excellence. Hotel Hell's,
spanish sounding guitar and horns are just fantastic, making
this song work so well. Good Times, features the line
that makes you think:
"When I think about the Good Times I have wasted, having
Good Times." (Actually, it would a autobiographical song
about himself.) Lastly, Anything features the line
"For you, I
'll Do Anything
", a phrase meant for a friend or loved one.
The Winds Of Change album features some excellent musical
instrument arrangements. The spanish sounding accoustic
guitar, and throughout this album has the late 60s George
Harrison/Beatles indian-sounding guitar (sitar). Violins
are also used, and the gong is featured on Poem By
The Sea. This album is also psychedelic, as this style of
music was dominating the scene at the time.
Winds Of Change is an experience. For the
Sixties favorite, this is a must. Eric Burdon & The Animals
were #2 on my list next to The Beatles in the category of
favorite groups of the Sixties. (Yes, I thought it was so
cool that there was a musician out there named Eric; I learned
this before I discovered Eric Clapton.) I have always been
a big fan of Burdon/Animals music ever since. They've
had a few reunion albums later in their career, featuring
all of the original members. Unfortuately, Chas Chandler
passed away in 1996.
Polygram, the record company that purchased many of the
M-G-M recordings, re-issued many of the original late 60s albums of
Burdon & The Animals in 1994. Yet to see its faces on compact
disc are the very early original albums, and the later ones when
the original group reformed.
Before We Were Rudely Interrupted, the band's first
reunion studio album in 1977, has yet to see the CD laser beam.
Their 1983 reunion studio album, Ark (a personal favorite
of mine), can be found on CD through import ads. Eric Burdon
still performs today, as he seldom releases an album.
He's released three albums with War from 1970-1976. From 1971-1988,
(as Eric Burdon), he's released six albums. His most latest
album was in 1993, where he teamed up with British jazz-rock
keyboardist Brian Auger. Througout his solo career, Burdon
participated in movies and television.
If you're only familiar with The House Of The Rising
Sun, boy, do you have a lot of catching up to do! The
original lineup's material is probably considered their best
work. Their later material had some big hits, but not as
as many as the original lineup. In either case, this band is not
to be passed up. Discover The Animals music; it's an event
you will cherish and enjoy.
© WSVNRadio.net. All rights reserved.
Review or any portion may not be reproduced
without written permission. Cover art is the
intellectual property of
One Way Records
and is used for reference purposes only.
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