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The Animals - The Animals (1964)

Track listing:
  1. I'm Mad Again 4:14
  2. Roadrunner 2:47
  3. Boom Boom 3:16
  4. I'm In Love Again 3:00
  5. Bury My Body 2:48
  6. Mess Around 2:19
  7. Let The Good Times Roll 1:54
  8. She Said Yeah 2:18
  9. Around And Around 2:43
  10. I Ain't Got You 2:27
  11. Roberta 2:02
  12. Worried Life Blues 4:09
  13. I Believe To My Soul 3:22
  14. Hallelujah, I Love Her So 2:44
  15. How You've Changed 3:11
  16. I've Been Around 1:33

Notes

Title Release Date & Position
UK US
ANIMALS -

I Just Want To Make Love To You (UK EP) 10/63 - did not chart
I Just Want To Make Love To You
Boom Boom
Big Boss Man
Pretty Thing

Baby Let Me Take You Home/ 03/64 08/64
Gonna Send You Back To Walker 21 57

The House Of The Rising Sun/ 06/64 08/64
Talkin' 'Bout You 1 1

I'm Crying/Take It Easy 09/64 10/64
8 19

The Animals (UK LP) 10/64
6
Story of Bo Diddley; Bury My Body;
Dimples; I've Been Around; I'm In
Love Again; The Girl Can't Help It;
I'm Mad Again; She Said Yeah; The
Right Time; Memphis Tennessee; Boom
Boom; Around and Around

The group's U.K. debut long-player, containing — in the custom of the time in England — not one of their singles up to that point, including "House of the Rising Sun." Apart from "Story of Bo Diddley" (which is, itself, heavily steeped in conventions out of Bo Diddley's repertory), everything here is a cover of traditional blues and R&B material, and a bit on the dry side, as though the band was trying too hard to prove themselves. This is one of the more serious and dour British Invasion-era albums, with none of the cheerfulness evident on the work of the Liverpool, Birmingham, or Manchester-based bands of the period — the Chuck Berry covers, in particular, seem rather joyless compared to rival versions by the Rolling Stones, et al. For adult orientation, The Animals is roughly on a par with the Rolling Stones' debut LP (though that album is also more fun). The group would do better in the future in a less stiff and intense posture, but this is a strong debut. In 1998, The Animals was reissued in remastered form as part of EMI's 100th Anniversary series, and all of its tracks also appear on EMI's Complete Animals double-CD set as well.