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The Animals
The Animals is het debuutalbum van de Britse popgroep The Animals. Er bestaat een Britse versie, die in oktober 1964 uitkwam, en een Amerikaanse versie, die een maand eerder, in september 1964, verscheen. De inhoud van de twee versies verschilt aanzienlijk; slechts zeven nummers (van de twaalf) staan op allebei de versies. Alle nummers op beide versies zijn covers van bestaande liedjes; geen enkel nummer is speciaal voor dit album geschreven.
De Amerikaanse versie haalde op 31 oktober 1964 de zevende plaats in de albumhitparade Billboard 200 en bleef drie weken op die plek. De Britse versie bereikte op 14 november 1964 de zesde plaats in de UK Albums Chart.
The Animals is the American debut studio album by the British Invasion group, the Animals. Released in late summer 1964, the album introduced the States to the "drawling, dirty R&B sound (with the emphasis on the B)" that typified the group.
The album includes several R&B standards, written by the likes of Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker, as well as the number one single "House of the Rising Sun", here presented in its truncated-for-radio form (it would be restored to full length on the February 1966 compilation The Best of the Animals, and later CD and digital reissues of The Animals would feature the full-length recording). "I'm in Love Again" is incorrectly listed as being written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. It is actually a cover of Jimmy Reed's "In the Morning", which was penned by Al Smith and Tommy Tucker.
The British album The Animals was released a month later, the group's debut album there albeit with substantially differing contents.