Notes on "The Animals- Retrospective," 2004, Abcko  (Scott Ericson)

For those who have suffered through not so great to just plain terrible compilations (including some of those old LPs with almost unrecognizable versions of the old Animals standards) there is finally a compilation that you can trust, and is well done, plus pretty comprehensive. Most of the debate has been on the early songs, and "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place" in particular. This IS the US version of that song (with the lyric "My Little Girl You're So Young and Pretty"). All of the other early singles check out pretty much right in line with the times on the original MGM label 45 rpm records, with one (good) exception: "House of the Rising Sun." This CD is an ABKCO release, and they also re-released most (if not all) of the early Animals 45's sometime in the 70's or 80's on light blue abkco labels. "House of the Rising Sun" came back there as the UK single version (4:18) with the long organ solo and ending intact (House also charted two additional times in the UK in 1972 and 1982). The original US MGM single (K13264) and radio play version chopped out most of the organ solo plus faded out the end before the final verse for a total time of 2:58. The playing time of 'House' on this CD is 4:31 (the song is exact, the 45 rpm disc just tracks 13 seconds faster). I think most fans prefer the "full length" version as presented here, but for the adamant (US) original singles collector, you now know.  "Sky Pilot" is the full 7 minute version, and for the 45 single, the song was split into part 1 on one side and part 2 on the other. 

The set also comes with an excellent booklet covering the history of the Animals. This is a great collection for those who have been looking for the early Animals singles in particular!