Photo by Charlie Bermant Tacoma, WA 1/23/2010
I’ve spent the past month working on a comprehensive Eric Burdon piece, which I will post shortly. While I have watched him for years he was never one of my top five, so I’ve spent a lot of time discovering the range and learning how his career is made up of more than a string of hits and new versions of those hits on anthologies and live albums.
Along the way I’ve beefed up my Burdon/Animals collection. There’s a lot more depth than I thought. To cut to the heart of the longer piece, he’s released two new albums in the last six years that are way more interesting than anything from his class. Better than A Bigger Bang? Hell, these two are even better than Endless Wire.
These music spelunking ventures usually dig up some real treasures. In this case, I found Last Live Show, an imported (and expensive) two disc live set recorded on the last Animals tour in 1984. It features all five of the originals, Burdon, Alan Price, Chas Chandler, Hilton Valentine and John Steel, along with guitarist Steve Grant and percussionist Nippy Noya. As a bonus, latter-day Animal Zoot Money is on second keyboard.
The original Animals had a fractious history, and it appeared this tour was an attempt to correct this legacy. They released a new album, Ark, which started out as a Burdon solo record and grew into the band’s most consistent album. Aside from Ark, the underwhelming single disc Rip it to Shreds live set was also released at the time, basically a live greatest hits.
Last Live Show includes every song from Rip it to Shreds, plus six songs from Ark and three assorted Burdon solo tracks. There are also two studio songs of unknown origin, although it appears that “I’ve Been Hurt,” written by Price, is an outtake from the band’s 1975 reunion.
Both albums contain a terrible version of Price’s “O Lucky Man,” although the Last Live Show take is not as rushed. And as a result, not as terrible.
The biggest bonus is an unreleased version of “San Franciscan Nights.” This is a great tune, but the original was marred by a ridiculous spoken word introduction imploring everyone to go to San Francisco and “then you will understand.” I lived in the Bay Area two decades after the song was released and people were still pissed.
This time, Burdon replaces the intro with a simple “let’s go back to those bygone days when men were men, women were women and the only hope was dope.” Then it gets really strange. After a particularly pretentious line about including Indians in the dream he lets go with a loud, drawn out “Geronimo!” He ends with “with a headful of Owsley blue, who gives a damn about the weather?”
Maybe it was an accident, but his re-imagining of the song captured the puckish spirit of the Summer of Love, far better than the cringeworthy original recording.
Of the Ark songs, the best is “My Favorite Enemy.” Written by Grant, this shouter goes beyond the studio version, which in my opinion was already perfect. The live version is longer, with a reed part following Burdon’s vocals. Unlike the studio version, Price’s barrelhouse piano is front and center, lifting the song into the stratosphere.
The original Animals supposedly collapsed due to battles between Burdon and Price. It’s a long story, and I promised to keep this short. Burdon’s vocal skills are no secret, and he still has the stuff. But Price is a great piano player, and you can really hear him through this whole concert.
Full disclosure: I saw a show on this tour in a small DC club from the fifth row. Listening to this today, it’s clear that I wasn’t drunk or deluded in remembering it as a true highlight, a magical night.
Those of you who weren’t there may disagree. But from where I sit, this particular concert is lightening in a bottle.
There is supposedly a video floating around. If anybody finds a copy, call me collect.
