The Animals discography

The discography of the Animals, an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, contains 20 studio albums, six compilation albums, five EPs and 25 singles. Featuring a gritty, bluesy sound and a deep-voiced frontman in Eric Burdon, they are best known for their rendition of an American folk song "House of the Rising Sun", which is described by many as their signature song. This single had worldwide sales of nearly 5 million and became a Number One hit in both the UK and US in 1964. Overall, the group balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" and "It's My Life" against rhythm and blues–oriented album material. The Animals released separate UK and US albums, a practice common to other British Invasion bands of the time such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

The Animals underwent numerous personnel changes in the mid-1960s and suffered from poor business management. An incarnation using the name "Eric Burdon and the Animals" moved to California in 1967 and achieved commercial success as a psychedelic outfit, before disbanding at the end of the decade. Altogether, the group had ten Top Twenty hits on both the UK charts and US charts.

The original lineup had a brief comeback in 1977 and 1983. There have been several partial regroupings of the original era members since then under various names. The Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Studio albums
The Animals' studio album releases varied significantly between the UK and the US; even those with the same or similar names had different contents.

Off-sequence albums
These albums are principally a continuing re-release of a set of live recordings from Club A Go-Go, Newcastle, 1963, either solely The Animals or The Animals and Sonny Boy Williamson II. The track listing for the all-Animals set is generally all of or a selection from "Let It Rock", "Gotta Find My Baby", "Bo Diddley", "Almost Grown", "Dimples", "Boom Boom" and "C Jam Blues". The recordings were made in December, 1963 by Giorgio Gomelsky and involved seven live tracks of the Animals alone and eleven tracks with the Animals backing Sonny Boy Williamson.


 * The Animals (Capitol [Canada] T-6092, Sep 1964)
 * Mickie Most Presents 'British Go Go'  (MGM SE-4306, Jan 1965)
 * Wild Animals (Decca, 1966)
 * In the Beginning (Wand, 1970) - Live album, recorded 30th December 1963
 * Rock Generation Vol. 2 (BYG 529.702, 1973) - The Animals at the Club A Go-Go, Newcastle, 1963
 * Rock Generation Vol. 4 (BYG 529.704, 1973) - more of the same, backing Sonny Boy Williamson
 * Night Time Is the Right Time (Springboard 4065, 197?) - with Sonny Boy Williamson
 * Live (Woodford, 1991)
 * In the Beginning: Live in 1963 (Sundazed, 1993)
 * Almost Grown (Pazzazz, 2006)
 * The Animals with Sonny Boy Williamson (Charly, 2006)
 * Live at the Club A Go-Go (Hallmark, 2008)

Post-lifetime compilation and reissue albums

 * The Most Of (Music For Pleasure 5218, 1971)
 * Best of the Animals (ABKCO 4426, 1973, 2-LP set)
 * Best of the Animals (Springboard 4025, 1973)
 * Best of the Animals (ABKCO 4324, 1975, 1-LP --- first U.S. compilation to feature the UK "correct" version of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place")
 * The Best of the Animals (ABKCO, 1988)
 * The Complete Animals (EMI, 1990)
 * The Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals 1966–1968 (Polygram, 1991)
 * Original Hits (Disky, 1995)
 * The Best of the Animals (EMI, 1997)
 * The Best of the Animals (Liberty, 2000)
 * The Best of Eric Burdon and the Animals (Universal, 2001)
 * Interesting Life (2003)
 * Complete French EPs 1964/1967 (2003)
 * Retrospective (ABKCO 93252, 2004, Hybrid SACD)
 * The Hits (2010)