The Animals 1966

THE ANIMALS-Inside Looking Out/You're On My Mind UK Decca F.12332 1966

1966 saw a new era for Newcastle's Animals. They left EMI's Columbia and signed with Decca and new producer Tom Wilson. Their first Decca 45 release would be an explosive one, February 1966's "Inside Looking Out".

Based on a prison work song "Rosie", "Inside Looking Out" was credited to musicologists John and Alan Lomax (who it is alleged discovered the song) as well as band members Eric Burdon and Chas Chandler.  The band performed "Rosie"  at the Fifth National Jazz and Blues Festival at Richmond, Surrey on August 8th 1965 where it was captured by cameras and shown on American television as "Shindig Goes To London" (aired Friday December 4, 1965). I recall seeing a press clipping from 1966 mentioning an Animals track called "My Rebirth" so it's safe to assume this was either an early title or a misunderstanding. Released in February 1966 "Inside Looking Out" rose to #12 on the U.K. charts (simultaneously released in the US as MGM K 13468 it stalled at #34) and lyrically depicts the rigors of being a prisoner in a work camp. Propelled  by the twin attack of Hilton Valentine's taught Rickenbacker and Mike Rowberry's groovy organ it stands as one of the band's most powerful numbers. Burdon's impassioned vocals make you really believe he'd served time and experienced what he's singing about firsthand. It's breaks are punctuated by a lick that evokes a prison work song's pentameter of a hammer striking its target. The whole thing builds to a shimmering crescendo that bursts into a rave up with the Animals cutting a groove that they never topped.  It would also be drummer John Steel's last single with the band.

The flip, "You're On My Mind" is the polar opposite of the dynamic A-side. It's a mellow, slow ballad that's pretty nondescript and bordering on mundane.

Both sides are available on a host of Animals collections, some legit, others...not so much.......

Hear "Inside Looking Out":

https://youtu.be/D8PMWfBGLDs

Hear "You're On My Mind":

https://youtu.be/F7sXcdllHDk