Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted

History

This was a reunion of the five original Animals from the group's first incarnation — Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler, and John Steel, in their first recording sessions (and, save for a one-off concert in 1968, their first musical project at all) since 1965. Bassist Chandler produced the effort using his Barn Records team.

The title refers to the first sentence of William Connor's first column in the Daily Mirror after World War II: "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted...".

The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2000 by Repertoire Records.

Reception

The album has received strong critical notices. Rolling Stone writer Dave Marsh called it "a surprisingly successful [...] one-shot, with the original group, again dominated by Price and Burdon, turning in fine, hard-nosed blues performances." Bruce Eder of Allmusic judged it "just short of a lost classic." The Italian e-zine Viceversa ranked it #42 on their top 100 albums of all time.

However, record company promotion for the album was weak, no tour was held, and the sound was out of phase with the popularity of disco and punk rock; Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted reached #70 on the U.S. pop albums chart, #24 in Netherlands and did not chart at all in the UK.

Track listing

1. "Brother Bill (The Last Clean Shirt)" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Clyde Otis) - 3:18
2. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Bob Dylan) - 4:39
3. "Fire on the Sun" (Shaky Jake) - 2:23
4. "As the Crow Flies" (Jimmy Reed) - 3:37
5. "Please Send Me Someone to Love" (Percy Mayfield) - 4:44

1. "Many Rivers to Cross" (Jimmy Cliff) - 4:06
2. "Just a Little Bit" (John Thornton, Ralph Bass, Earl Washington, Piney Brown) - 2:04
3. "Riverside County" (Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler, John Steel) - 3:46
4. "Lonely Avenue" (Doc Pomus) - 5:16
5. "The Fool" (Lee Hazlewood) - 3:24

Personnel