Animals

The Animals are an English rhythm and blues and rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic No. 1 hit single, "House of the Rising Sun", as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life", "I'm Crying" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm and blues-orientated album material and were part of the British Invasion of the US.

Links to Peel
Peel played some Animals songs while he was living in America, especially on the KMEN British Pop Top Ten, which featured the band in 1966. In the US, the band had been one of the original "British Invasion" bands who dominated the US charts in the wake of the Beatles.

When Peel returned to the UK in early 1967, the original Animals had already split, but the name was retained for the backing band of vocalist Eric Burdon and this lineup recorded a couple of sessions for Top Gear in 1967 and 1968. Of the original lineup, keyboard player Alan Price had chart success with the Alan Price Set, whose members included later Peel producer John Walters, while bassist Chas Chandler went into music management, most notably with Jimi Hendrix and Slade.

In the ABC Of Beauty, published in Disc & Music Echo in November 1968, Peel recommended Eric Burdon & The Animals as one of the bands to look out for.

After the band finally disbanded at the end of 60s, with Burdon moving on to work with American funk band War(2), Peel rarely played old material from the group.

Sessions
1. Recorded: 1967-12-21. Broadcast: 31 December 1967 2. Recorded: 1968-05-21. Broadcast: 26 May 1968. Repeated: 23 June 1968
 * All Night Long / Monterey / Orange And Red Beans / Anthing / Chim Chim Cheree
 * White Houses / Monterey / Landscape / When Things Go Wrong / It Hurts

Other Shows Played

 * Eric Burdon & The Animals * Sky Pilot LONG VERSION 1968 HQ
 * 21 January 1968: Sky Pilot (Part 2) (7" - Sky Pilot) MGM
 * 1970
 * 07 February 1970: Club A Go-Go (b-side of single - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood) Columbia
 * The Animals - Paint it Black (HQ) by Nahiem
 * 14 August 1971: Paint It Black
 * 1982
 * 26 April 1982: Inside Looking Out
 * 1988
 * 12 January 1988: I'm Crying
 * The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
 * 21 May 2003: We've Got To Get Out Of This Place (LP - The Most Of The Animals) Columbia
 * 2004
 * 16 December 2004:  We Gotta Get Out Of This Place