A performance by the original Animals was one of the first concerts I ever attended. During 1966, they were touring the United States with Herman\u2019s Hermits, but their performance at the Cape Cod A-Go-Go Club was just them and a local band, whose name has completely disappeared from my mind during the intervening 47 years. In fact, I had to Google The Animals\u2019 1966 tour to pinpoint the date, which was August 2, 1966.<\/p>\n
Nearly a half century later, I still have a loyalty and affection for the bands of my youth. As with many music lovers, they give me a connection to a time long past, the memories of which age well, if inaccurately at times. I have lost track of Eric Burdon for periods of time, but he always seems to resurface.<\/p>\n
Time has passed for both me and Eric Burdon.\u00a0 Now in his early seventies, he is one of the grand old men of the original British music invasion and of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll itself. His journey toward The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame began with The Animals, who occupied the middle ground between rock and blues. They managed to strike a chord with the music mainstream with such hits as \u201cHouse Of The Rising Sun,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood,\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s My Life,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n
The second half of the 1960s found him embracing the California lifestyle and culture with such hits as \u201cSan Franciscan Nights\u201d \u201cMonterey,\u201d and \u201cSky Pilot.\u201d They may have been a little self-indulgent, but they were good vehicles for his gritty vocals. <\/p>\n
During the early 1970s, he went in a funky direction with the band War and a blues direction on two albums with Jimmy Witherspoon. He has consistently released solo albums for the last thirty plus years. He has now returned with his latest solo effort, \u2018Til Your River Runs Dry.<\/i> <\/p>\n
The old dog may not have learned any new tricks, but the old ones will do just fine. Many of the tracks run the gamut from rock to blues and everything in between. \u201cDevil And Jesus\u201d and \u201cWater\u201d look back to his blues\/fusion work with The Animals. \u201cMemorial Day\u201d would have fit in well with his late 1960s material as he philosophizes about hating wars but loving the soldiers who fight them. Traveling in a different direction, \u201cWait\u201d is a poignant love song. The Bo Diddley\/Muddy Waters \u201cBefore You Accuse Me\u201d finds him exploring his blues roots. No Eric Burdon album would be complete with some pontificating, and here it is his \u201cInvitation To The White House,\u201d in which he preaches to the President about how to improve the country.<\/p>\n
The face staring out from the album cover shows the wear of the years. \u201cOld Habits Die Hard\u201d and \u201cIn The Ground\u201d find Burdon reflecting on his journey through life. In many ways, these two songs form the heart and soul of the album.<\/p>\n
Burdon\u2019s voice may have aged a bit, but it is still one of the more distinctive in rock music and the material fits it well.<\/p>\n
I am betting that he does not remember very much, if anything, about his performance on Cape Cod almost 47 years ago. Still, though the years have passed, I find myself reconnecting with his music again. It is an album that should resonate with any fan of Burdon\u2019s or anyone who just likes good music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":31365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[9070],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-43066","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-eric-burdon","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43066"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43066"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}