The Animals, The Most Of The Animals (1981)

Nostalgia’s a funny thing. I don’t exactly care for The Animals. But then again, I don’t exactly not care (I mean I’m writing this, now – and of my own choosing). This compilation is titled in the way it is because these were all Mickie Most productions – so I guess that’s clever. This also contains House Of The Rising Sun (of course) and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (naturally) and the band’s fair attempt at reworking Bring It On Home To Me. I like/d this compilation for one reason – my parents like/d it. It was in fact the very first CD my parents owned. Dad won a CD player in a sales competition. He carried it in from the car as a new father might escort the baby up and over the threshold. We sat around as he plugged it in to the existing Hitachi mini-system. We ooh’d and aah’d. No, seriously, we did. It had its own remote control! It told us the time of each track! We could skip straight to the next song! It was incredible. “Ah, technology”, we collectively marvelled – checking to see if George Orwell’s characters were watching down on us. This really was unbelievable. And the CD chosen to test this life-changing machine was The Most Of The Animals. Dad had purchased it because he was a fan – a very sensible reason for purchasing music. So I absorbed The Animals – learning more than just the House of the Rising Sun and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place and Bring It On Home To Me; learning the whole album. Enjoying it, erm, mostly. Making my own dubbed tape of it – you could do that too – you could copy CDs just as you did with other tapes and LPs! (“Ah, technology!”). Years have passed – far too many. I’ve now been that new father doing the baby-carrying/threshold-thing. I certainly took more care with it than the half-dozen CD players I’ve worn through and tossed away. But I remember that day vividly – gathered around the electric glow of the first CD counter’s warmth; huddled as if around a campfire, letting Eric Burdon’s bark satisfy us. And to mark that occasion, to remember it always, a couple of years ago I purchased The Most Of The Animals. On vinyl.

Sample Track: Roadrunner

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown