THE ANIMALS EMI Best source on CD ?

You Eric Burdon!

mud-

 

We walked right into that!!!

 

Hey, not to threadcrap, here, but I have a question. Just how bad, comparitively, is the old Abcko CD, "Best of the Animals"? It's all I have right now, though I've been looking for a copy of "Singles Plus" with little luck. I already have a copy of Dennis Drake's Animals disc, so I'm pretty well set for the later material. So is the old Abcko disc as bad as the old Rolling Stones original Abcko discs? Also, is "Singles Plus" OOP?
Does anyone know of anywhere that I may be able to buy that brand new, possibly an online source?

Thanks for any help.

Fred

 

Fred,

This says Singles Plus BUT it also has a release date of 1999 so it must be a remastered re-issue. I beware of buying it:

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1392162&style=music&cart=298352289&BAB=E

This is what you need if you can't get a 1987 Singles Plus:

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6751287&style=music&cart=298352289&BAB=M

Get it before it goes OOP.

mud-

 

Hey Mudbone, thanks.

Actually I saw that same listing at Amazon with the 1999 release date, which kinda scares me off. I have a feeling that it's not the original late 80's release, & that that one may be OOP.

Regarding the SACD, I know, I really should pick that one up, especially since I just recently got an SACD player, & am still really excited about that. One thing that bothers me about the SACD though, is that, it seems to be weighted a little too much towards the later years.
I think there's only 8 (?) tracks from the original Animals lineup, & the rest are from the later incarnation of the band. I just feel that a little more material should have been devoted to the more "popular" version of the band. I don't know.

Ah hell, I'll probably just pick that up, too. Any excuse to get another SACD!
Besides, a local store by me has a couple copies of it left, & I just HAPPEN to have a $50 gift certificate that I got for Christmas to that store. I guess I know what about 1/3 of that gift certificate's value is going to go towards!

 

Gotcha! Go for the SACD and at least you'll have something until you find that elusive 1987 Singles Plus!

mud-

 

If you're ever in the city, there's a store called Norman's Sounds that I've seen a few brand new copies of "Singles Plus" at. The older, single disc version. For about 15 bucks. The store's on 3rd Ave. right off St. Marks.

Dan

 

Nothing spectacular, but I've never heard the Repertoire so I can't really compare. Mud said he has both... perhaps he knows which is better?

Dan

 

When will this hit the shops?

 

Late January, per the text you quoted.

 

I just nabbed a copy of this from an Amazon seller for $6 + $2.50
for shipping. Not bad, huh? The seller has a 100% positive feedback rating & he even listed the catalog # of the CD, which an
Amazon seller VERY rarely does, so I'm pretty confident that I'll be
getting the right CD. Assuming that I do, & the fact that I already have the Dennis Drake mastered "Best of Eric Burdon & the Animals" disc, should I STILL pick up the "Retrospective" SACD?
The only songs I would be missing are the U.S. version of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" & "Spill the Wine".

 

But is that a real street date or just a projected date?

 

Yes!

The U.S. version of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" is on "Retrospective" SACD!

 

Well, I just picked up the SACD yesterday & gave it a listen today. Boy, does it sound good! Lots of dynamics, tons of tape hiss, just really great-sounding overall. I compared some of the tracks to my late 80's Abcko "Best of the Animals" CD, & it just eats that thing for breakfast, no comparison whatsoever. I would definitely recommend the SACD for any Animals lover.

I also just ordered the "Singles Plus" CD the other day, so that should fill in the holes nicely for the early years. I can't wait to hear that one, too.

 

jamesmaya said:

You ANIMALS! ​

Sounds like WAR !!!!

 

Well....I just ordered this from a marketplace seller...I'll take my chances.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000K44Q/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When I asked him about the catalog number....he replied,

The catalog number is CDP 7 46605 2.

 

^ Well I got my Animals 'The Singles Plus' cd today. It came from Germany and arrived in about a week.

Yep...got lucky. No 'remaster' date...but 1987, Made in UK and the lettering looks very similar to the '87 Beatles cd's, EMI and all. Sounds GREAT and in near mint condition !!!

Only $7 total, including the shipping. The seller was very nice and prompt.

 

Anyone have the Most of the Animals on CD? It’s on the Music For Pleasure label. Is it worth picking up?

 

Bump.

Anyone?

 

Yea, I have the "Best of Eric Burden and The Animals 1966-1968, Polydor cd, 1991.Mastered by Dennis Drake, 15 tracks. AAD. Have "the Animals - Retrospective hybrid sacd stereo, 2004, Abkco Records, Sony & Philips, 22 tracks. This is one is my go too. Mastered by Bob Ludwig.

 

I have "Most Of The Animals", but it is on the Australian Raven label. Don't have the SACD or the original Singles Plus (I have the 2-CD version) to compare though. Would like to hear from anyone who has compared these?

 

I have the original Singles Plus and it is indeed superb, probably the best digital source for all of these tracks. I say "probably" because the tape drag on "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" really bugs me, as that's one of my favorite songs.

Our host says that disc is comprised of flat transfers. I don't doubt his expertise, but I do have to say I'm very surprised at how little tape hiss there is. Now admittedly due to the fidelity of these recordings, you could probably roll off any frequencies above 10 kHz and not lose a significant amount of audio. I'm not saying this is what the CD did, just saying there's not a lot of high-frequency audio in the music. But still, after how badly The Complete Animals neutered these songs, I was expecting this disc to be hiss city. It's not. It makes me wonder why EMI even bothered to use noise reduction at all.

Retrospective is pretty good, not very compressed, but I find the EQ to be a bit too forward for my liking. The 2013 box set The Mickie Most Years And More has better EQ, but is also louder and much more compressed. The CD box is long out of print and goes for insane money nowadays (not worth it, IMO - the box is flimsier than index cards and the CDs and artwork are bare bones). You can buy hi-res downloads of the same audio on the discs - again, I'd be stunned if there's any actual music in the extended frequency range, but it's a much better value than the box, and unfortunately that's the best mastering for a lot of these tracks.

Those are the three I would recommend looking into. The latter two of course have their caveats. The Complete Animals is not bad, but not great either. Don't Bring Me Down: The Decca Years is atrocious audio-wise (although the booklet folds out into a great Animals poster - I've been meaning to scan mine and print it for my studio). The pre-Retrospective ABKCO comps are acceptable but not revelatory. I think that's all the ones I've heard... may be missing one or two.