Animals – Best of the Animals / Herman’s Hermits – Greatest Hits
It’s an unlikely pairing: scruffy urchins vs. well-scrubbed popsters. As part of their Clearly Classic series, ABKCO records is re-releasing a couple of British invasion chart toppers on clear vinyl.
First released in 1975, The Best of the Animals lives up to its title with the group’s signature hit “House of the Rising Sun” kicking off side one, followed by a litany of their most powerful other work including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Go to Get out of This Place,” and a great, ragged soul cover of Sam Cooke’s gospel-tinged “Bring It on Home to Me.” It’s a good companion to ABKCO’s 5-CD, 61-track box set, The Animals: The Mickie Most Years and More. Released last year, that collection contains the group’s first four albums released in the U.S.: The Animals, The Animals on Tour, Animal Tracks and Animalization, as well as the band’s first release — a four-song EP titled I Just Wanna Make Love to You. Here, you get it on vinyl with a bigger, fuller sound, underscoring the band’s classics.
Meanwhile, Herman’s Hermits were a safer alternative to the rougher members of some of the invading Brits. Even though Herman & the Hermits were long-haired, they looked more like a bunch of fresh faced choirboys as opposed to the slouching menace of the Animals or the seedy danger of the Stones.
Their Greatest Hits covers 1964-’67, with poppy stuff that suffused the radio waves of that era with the skiffle-infused “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” “I’minto Something Good,” “Listen People,” and “There’s a Kind of Hush All Over the World.” There was also “Henry VIII,” an old Vaudeville tune resurrected by Peter Noone, the Herman of the Hermits.
For most of us, the Hermits are an interesting footnote, a homogenized memory of fluffy pop. But the Animals remain the rebels. Their aggressive, hard edged, street-scuffed anthems of despair and angst are still as powerful today as they were back then. Their new collection listens as good as it looks — still shiny and dangerous after all these years.
Grant Britt