Eric Burdon & The Animals - Winds Of Change (1967)

The Animals were an English rock band active in the 60s. After the original band's breakup in 1966, a second lineup was put together by singer Eric Burdon.

1967 saw Eric Burdon and the one remaining other Animal (drummer Barry Jenkins) move to America. After the US-only Eric Is Here, which was essentially a Burdon solo album, they set about forming a new group to carry on The Animals name. They were joined by Vic Briggs (guitar/keyboards), John Weider (guitar/violin) and Danny McCulloch (bass), and became known as Eric Burdon & The Animals (sometimes referred to as The New Animals). Settling in California during the Summer Of Love, and no doubt fuelled by his first LSD experience, Burdon led this group into strange new psychedelic territories that had little at all in common with the R&B styled sound of the original British group.

Their first release was the single "When I Was Young", which did well in the US and made it to #15. The band then got the chance to play at the Monterey Pop Festival. Their first album together came out later that year. Winds Of Change was definitely a very strange record, the sort of thing that would (and did) divide fans of the original group. With unusually sparse instrumental arrangements, atmospheric sound effects and just as much spoken word as singing, it was a clear statement of Burdon's new direction and dedication to the hippie counter-culture.

Among all the 'experimental' numbers were a few more conventional songs, including a great cover of The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black". Two surprisingly gentle songs were released as singles - "Good Times" got to #20 back in the UK, and "San Franciscan Nights" made it to #7, also reaching #9 in the US (actually the highest charting single for The Animals in the US since "House Of The Rising Sun" back in 1964).

This version of the album has four bonus tracks in addition to the original 11-track album - the "When I Was Young" single and the three non-album b-sides (which compared to the album tracks are less strange and a bit more 'rock').

Eric Is Here (1967) <|> The Twain Shall Meet (1968)
More from Eric Burdon & The Animals

Download