MGM
1968
The Twain Shall Meet
About This Album
Spring 2004 was turning into a kind of 37-year flashback -- the U.S. was locked in an unpopular war entered under false pretenses, a brain-damaged Texan who was in the White House by accident thought he was running things, and the country was at sixes-and-sevens about what to do about any of it. And in the middle of all of that, along comes Repertoire Records with this expanded reissue of The Twain Shall Meet by Eric Burdon & The Animals, which marked the peak of the group's psychedelic period. This was already the best of the group's albums, but it's better thanks to the sound of the remastering, which moves the strange guitar arabesques and psychedelic violin flourishes, the bells and the sitars, plus Burdon's charismatic voice is so close that it feels like it's next to you. The other improvement is the addition of the accompanying singles, which include the two-part version of "Sky Pilot" (part one of which made it to number 14 in the United States), the single edit of "Monterey," and the single edits of two of the better songs from the group's prior album, "Anything" and "It's All Meat." Coupled with the excellent essay by Chris Welch and some great photos -- of a band that never got a lot of pictures published -- it's all about as powerful a psychedelic experience as came out of England this side of The Beatles, and the musicianship is consistently interesting and occasionally fascinating. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,2,5,12 and 13)

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