The Animals were one of the most underrated bands of the 1960’s English “invasion”. With their mixture of blues and rock they infused the music scene with something a bit more edgy than the Beatles, or the Dave Clark Five. Groups like Herman’s Hermits and Freddy and the Dreamers, with their “bubblegum” brand of rock and roll, will always be remembered. At the same time, groups like The Animals are an example of the more serious of the bands that came over from England in the mid-sixties.
A blues based band, similar to the Rolling Stones in many ways, the band never sold out and kept on releasing blues-rock recordings, never giving way to the musical changes of the 1970’s. This version of “We Gotta Get Out of this Place” was recorded at the Richmond Jazz Festival in England sometime during 1965. It’s a great example of what the band was doing at the time. The mixture of blues and rock was already well established, but these guys took it to a darker place.
In this song you can feel the youthful frustrations which
were rocking the world at the time. Released on the the heels of The Rolling
Stones “Satisfaction”, this song highlighted a new generation’s dissatisfaction
with the status quo. In Eric Burdon there was a match for the sneering visage
of Mick Jagger. And both groups projected a menacing working class attitude
that things needed to get better.
I know I am a dinosaur when it comes to the music I love,
but what can I do? Groups like The Animals really influenced an entire
generation of young people; for better or worse. 
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