112 Hello Eric Burdon and Alan Price - Baby Let Me Take You Home

Chart  entered : 16  April  1964

Chart  peak : 21

Number  of  hits : Burdon  15  ( incl.  9  as part  of the  Animals, 6  with  a  backing  band  known  as  the  Animals ) Price  16  ( incl. 5  as  part  of  the  Animals )

To Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then, and a band who may have not quite reached the heights they did but for two crucial factors.

First was organist Alan Price, whose skills on the keyboard and in arranging ensured the band avoided being just another "beat" outfit by allowing more complex arrangements than the more traditional two-guitar line up favoured by many of their contemporaries.

Second were the roaring vocals of Eric Burdon, whose sneering looks give the band a certain menace deserving of their name. Certainly by sound and looks, you would imagine they would smash the shite out of the Beatles! Burdon's growl was one of the few on the British scene that could be held in the same esteem as the black American R&B/Blues singers that all the bands here were covering and learning from.

It was Burdon's recruitment to Price's blues band that completed the classic Animals line up. Alongside the two were bassist Chas Chandler, drummer John Steel and the magnificently named guitarist Hilton Valentine. When signed, they linked up with producer Mickie Most from the off, and "Baby Can I Take You Home?" was their debut single.

(Most would go on to become one of the prominent figures in English pop through the 60s and 70s, raking up numerous hits as a producer. His son, Calvin Hayes, would have several hits of his own in the 80s as part of the briefly huge Johnny Hates Jazz.)

As a debut, it shows the signs of a band adjusting from stage to studio. Burdon seems more restrained than he would be in future and they're not helped by the song itself verging on the lightweight. I've never had much time for songs that go down the "I'll love you for all time" angle, and lyrics such as "I'll love you all my life/you can bet I'll treat you right", it hasn't aged too well. That said, Burdon's voice does have the slightest of suggestions that he's just saying what she wants to hear to make sure he gets to take her home. Valentine is especially on good form behind the vocals, putting in some smart guitar lines.

From this initial success, the band would quickly find their feet, with their second single being on the defining songs of the era, only for internal squabbles to ruin their career. More of that when we reach the end of it !

D.C. Harrison