@somebodywhocares isn't yours stereo? Or am I confusing it with something else? I remember they had two stereo mixes of Mickie Most productions, both of them ridiculously lopsided - one of them was "Blue Feeling", and I thought the other one was "Misunderstood". EDIT: "Misunderstood" on the SHM-CD is indeed stereo. Very poor stereo at that. Maybe on the EMI CD they folded it down to mono to make it listenable.
Interesting, could you give some examples for dropouts and short fades, or does it apply to all songs?
That whole series ( I have The Animals one and The Shadows one) is promoted/labelled as mono. Not to say some mixes aren’t possibly foldowns from stereo. But I doubt it for UK pop records of this era although I have no detailed knowledge of the recording/mixing history for The Animals.
Don't see an entry on Discogs. I wasn't aware there was a CD issue. It would be amazing if the mastering was good. Does it have the bonus tracks of most of the 1966 compilations?
It’s up on Amazon. Track Listing One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show Maudie Outcast Sweet Little Sixteen You'Re On My Mind Clapping Gin House Blues Squeeze Her - Tease Her What Am I Living For I Put A Spell On You That’s All I Am To You She'll Return It Inside Looking Out Don'T Bring Me Down Cheating Help Me Girl See See Rider I Just Wanna Make Love To You Boom Boom Big Boss Man Pretty Thing Don’t Bring Me Down See See Rider Help Me Girl Cheating
Thanks! Here's a direct link: https://www.amazon.com/Animalisms-Animals/dp/B07C53MXJK Curious if anybody has picked this up. Same track listing as the Repertoire CD. Hopefully the sound quality is good.
As requested per the OP, @InStepWithTheStars : Animalisms. ¹⁹⁶⁶ 2018 CD reissue on Secret label catalog SECCD087 upc: 5036436114221 Spoiler No indication in the liner notes accompanying this CD reissue, but my ears are telling me that it is a needle drop - and a damn fine one at that ! I could very well be wrong about this. Partly influencing my hunch is a mindfulness of the oft-observed tendency (when half-century-old master reels are transfered to digital) toward producing a result that is vaguely less than authentic .. meaning that reissues from studio-vault sources native to that time-period will often get mastered too loud, get crushed into overly-narrowed dynamic range , or NR'd into lumpy mud ..all this presumably owing to the fact that 50+years-old source tapes are likely to require substantial restoration work under which, as it frequently turns out, they end up being sonically violated by misguided, commercial-minded intuitions instructing the modeling of a sound that will appeal to the prevailing palate as current trend dictates. Bottom line is this CD sounds as if the vinyl mix and mastering (as I remember it ) is as very close to intact as one might hope for on a CD. The highs are fairly clean and crisp as one might expect from a vinyl-spin on modest playback rig; detectable analog compression a valued attribute here; nice separation between mids and lows; oh, and its mono ! , (except the four bonus tracks appearing in both mono & stereo). Hilton Valentine's nicely detailed guitar work is authentically preserved, , again in consideration of the form in which these recordings were originally produced and cut to vinyl (as best as my audiographic memory and knack for pinpointing the vinyl-nuanced spectrum vs. digital here serves). As I mentioned before it has been decades since I've actually heard this specific vinyl recording, and I have no other digital copies with which to compare this reissue, thus I am giving my review primarily from a standpoint as if hearing it for the first time in this form. That's said, I'm not inclined to seek out a better sounding CD of this material as I am quite satisfied with how this sounds, e.g.- there are no specific problems that jump out at me. On their cover of Bo Diddley's "Pretty Thing", I notice the natural vocal distortion is here intact, (just as I had remembered it) the details of which are glorious to tease out; Burdon's voice being particularly well showcased by primitive capture on record. I can sum up thus far by saying that everything I like about records in general seems to be in no significant shortage here.
I have to say i still would love a career spanning type, chronoligical order maybe box set for the Animals. I love 'em. And their stuff is very confusing on cd.
Thank you for that very detailed review! It would seem like the new Secret CD is the best available version of the early 1966 tracks. The 1999 Repertoire Animalisms CD (which has the same track listing) allegedly sounds bad - Repertoire CDs not mastered by Eroc generally sound poor* - and Don't Bring Me Down: The Decca Years is sonic torture. I have not heard Inside Looking Out: The 1966 Sessions, but per @Bill earlier in the thread, it sounds inconsistent, with tracks from varying sources. Needledrop or not, if this one sounds good, I'm happy. I plan to add this to my collection now - thank you! *Eroc did master the two reunion albums for CD on Repertoire - Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted and Ark - and by all accounts they sound good, but it is my understanding that he did not master the 1999 Animalisms CD. I only own one Repertoire CD and the mastering is indeed awful, so I have an idea of what I could expect if I were to buy it.
You're welcome .. my pleasure! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I am ! Regarding your mention of "..Rudely Interrupted" and "Ark", I am excited to report that on the inside of the back cover (the jewel case sports a clear tray-insert) the label announces three new Animals' reissues coming out in "autumn 2018" ; " Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted", "Ark", and 1984's "Greatest Hits Live" (the latter-two originally issued on the I.R.S. record label) I'm pretty excited about this !
Thanks for the heads up on this..just ordered. I've got Sequel's 'Inside Looking Out - The 1965-1966 sessions', it's an abomination to say the least. I don't care if it's a needle-drop as long as it sounds decent. I've got Flawed Gem's mono needle-drop of 'Animalism' and that sounds good to my ears, so hoping for the same results with Secret's release. Cheers!
Can you comment further on the sound of Inside Looking Out? The most I've heard is that the tracks sound like they come from mixed sources. It's from 1989 (IIRC) so I wouldn't imagine the sound could be that bad... but then again, that's what I said about The Complete Animals, and this thread has been a document of my attempts to rectify that mistake.
Well, I'm not an audiophile but it sounds re-channeled to my ears, and the version of 'Inside Looking Out' (one of my fave tunes) just sounds so lifeless and bassless.. the added Graphic Sound EP at the end of the disc sounds ok though.
Thx for the review. I'm going to order this 2018 cd. I need to replace my 2009 Rep reissue cd which is a POS.
Let me know which one has the surround sound 45 sky pilot I know its 1968 but I've never seen this version on cd
Urk. Fake stereo is the worst! I snagged a mono Animalisms LP last weekend (E-4414) but it's got that awful rechanneling on it. Still a better mix... when not listening through headphones. Thanks for further clarification on Repertoire's release being poor.
What a hodge podge of releases that us Animals fans have to deal with.The band deserves a lot more respect than the record companies are giving us..as someone mentioned before, the 63-66 Animals entire repertoire can fit onto 4 cds. (In my perfect world they would be standalone cds) I would trust Bear Family, Real Gone, Cherry Red to do a decent job of it. Heck, I'd never thought I'd see a Bobbi Gentry box in my lifetime, so there's still hope!
Bear Family would be a good candidate to handle The Animals catalogue as they’ve done a Herman’s Hermits collection and both catalogues are managed by ABKCO. Perhaps @Mychael might be able to address this as he appears to have some contact with Bear Family.
As mentioned before I have been compiling a complete list of the band's recordings. Most people are unaware of the song recorded under the moniker of "The Wolf Pack", and there are a number of edits and different versions which appeared on early albums, compilations, and stuff like that which are maybe not necessary but worth preserving for the historical factor. And they'd all fit very comfortably on four CDs.
I have to thank you for this heads up. I bought 16-bit FLAC from 7Digital, and they sound really terrific. I bought all four on offer. They are a big improvement over the previous CD reissues that I have. It's no problem to burn CDRs of the UK albums, plus a singles comp, plus Animalization... the sound is great. There are only a couple of tracks missing from the UK animalism LP. The Repertoire CD that I sourced for those doesn't sound nearly as good. I've been on an Animals jag as a result of this thread and have assembled CDR artwork for the various collections. I'd be happy to share it if anyone is interested. Thanks again.
OK, I've just done some comparisons on my computer (with some good-sounding Altec Lansing speakers) of the 1966 Animalisms/Animalization tracks. I would say my findings agree with the consensus that I've seen regarding the various available cd sources. The 2013 "box set" remasters I was streaming on Spotify. The others were ripped to my computer in Apple lossless. Disclaimer: I'm not an audiophile and don't play one on TV or music forums. But I do think I have a good ear. Here are my thoughts. 1. Best of 1966-68 (1991 compilation) is the best for Don't Bring Me Down, Inside Looking Out and See See Rider. They sound great. Don't Bring Me Down and See See are in stereo. 2. The Rhythm and Blues Collection is very good. All tracks are in mono. Typical of most 1987 -era cd's, it is mastered at a low volume, so you have to crank it, but it sounds really good. I would recommend this as your first choice to get most of the 1966 tracks in one place. 3. US albums on Spotify (2013 box set mastering): OK....passable. Seem to be mastered a little too loud. 4. Don't Bring Me Down: The Decca Years: pretty bad; everything seems pretty squashed and unpleasant sounding 5. Animalisms (Repertoire): Terrible! Loud, obnoxious, bloated and poor EQ. Avoid. I don't have the 1990 cd "Inside Looking Out". I've heard mixed things about it. There you go....happy listening!
