Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Eric Burdon Edition

For whatever reason, The Animals seem to have been shunted aside when talking about the British Invasion, relegated to a couple of songs on the oldies stations. But The Animals were much more than that. Perhaps they didn’t have one legendary album, but they had many great singles and were one of the bluesiest bands of the era. And keying the band was the old soul of Eric Burdon. To be in his early-20s and still unleash the anguished vocal on the band’s classic take of “House of the Rising Sun” is pretty darned amazing, and that’s just one of his great vocal performances. Burdon progressed as time went on, exploring psychedelia with a later edition of the band, and then teaming up with War, jump starting their career, and waxing the classic “Spill The Wine”. Let’s pay birthday tribute to Burdon by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. They Might Be Giants — Birdhouse In Your Soul (Flood): The first single from TMBG’s third album and major label debut. Go on You Tube to find the Johns playing this song on the Tonight Show with Doc Severinsen and the band — it’s so cool. The TMBG documentary Gigantic makes it so clear what a triumph it was for such an odd band to gain even a footing in the mainstream. And this is one of John Linnell’s best compositions, one of the all-time great oddball pop songs.
2. Beny Moré — Corazon Rebelde (Cuban Originals): In the book 1001 Records to Hear Before You Die, writer Tom Moon selected this popular Cuban singer of the pre-Castro era. The review inspired to get me a compilation of this lush, romantic Latin pop. Moré is wonderfully emotive singer, and the songs have a bit of a jazz feel with great horn parts punctuating the tunes.
3. Game Theory — Real Nighttime (Real Nighttime): A fizzy pop concoction from the Bay Area power pop weirdsters. This bouncy song actually sounds a bit like The Three O’Clock, whose frontman, Michael Quercio, produced some early Game Theory material. Rarely were they more straightforward than this sugar rush of a song.
4. Queens Of The Stone Age — If Only (Queens Of The Stone Age): This is one of the songs on the bands debut that instantly galvanized me, as it set forth all of the aspects of Josh Homme’s music that I love. A tight rhythm section, a solid melody in the verse, Homme’s controlled singing, a big chorus and the mix of clean and dirty guitar songs. What a great band.
5. The Byrds — Hey Joe (Fifth Dimension): The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s version is the best known, and The Leaves did it first, but seemingly 50 percent of all ’60s bands took a crack at this tune. I like the shaky desperation in this version, in what I think is David Crosby’s voice. There is also some really nifty Eastern modal guitar work snaking in and out.
6. Sparks — The Decline And Fall Of Me (Angst In My Pants): While Angst may not rate as the best Sparks album, it’s the second one I owned and the one of played the most by far. It is a New Wave classic, as Ron Mael was really on the roll, creating a distinctive sound with this iteration of the band and then playing around with melodies and rhythms in a creative way. And Russell Mael was up for everything, especially because he didn’t always have to sing in a breathless falsetto. This song has an offbeat drum pattern, an interesting rolling melody, and silly, fun lyrics. Great stuff.
7. The Small Faces — Afterglow (The Immediate Collection): MOJO recently declared Steve Marriott as the greatest rock singer ever. While he wouldn’t be my pick, he’d be in my top 10. This fantastic soulful single provides evidence of his amazing pipes.
8. Jason & The Scorchers — Deep Holy Water (Halcyon Times): The 2010 Scorchers comeback album found the band hitting on all cylinders and playing to their strengths — big rock riffs deep fried in country music. This song fits that template, while Jason Ringenberg howls like always. This is a band that has never fully received its due.
9. Nikka Costa — Till I Get To You (Can’tneverdidnothin’): A few of Costa’s best songs rely on springy funk guitars that simply go up and down the scale. Nikki then threads a melody around that. This song uses that approach, with a bit of a bounce in the drums. Her turn towards more traditional R & B is a disappointment, as this stuff is what she excels at.
10. The Wonder Stuff — Golden Green (Hup!): After the Stuffies’ debut, which was just one hit after another of British guitar pop, the band totally opened up the playbook, to the chagrin of some fans. This was shallow criticism, as Miles Hunt was still the same sharp, sarcastic songwriter, with a band that was now trying on lots of styles. This song uses some country-folk instrumentation, and the song manages to let that flavor add to the song, even though it’s not really a true country song.