Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941; Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne) is best known as a founding member and vocalist of The Animals, a rock band formed in Newcastle, England, his funk rock band War.
He had a great show at Stargarden Festival in Budapest, Hungary. I’d recorded the hole concert with HD cam and MiniDV camcorder.
The first song was “When I Was Young“. This song performed in 1967 by The Animals.
“Don’t Bring Me Down” is a rock song composed by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded as a 1966 hit single by The Animals. Eric Burdon has performed it with Shaffer, Robby Krieger and Brian Auger, as well in his own bands of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s too:
The 3rd song was “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood“. This song written by Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell and Sol Marcus for the singer/pianist Nina Simone, who first recorded it in 1964. Eric Burdon would later say of the song, “It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately.“The Animals gave it one of their trademark R&B-unto-rock workups, speeding up the tempo and starting off with a memorable electric guitar-and-organ doubled riff from Hilton Valentine and Alan Price, that was picked out and expanded from an element that originally appeared in the Simone recording’s outro. This riff immediately led into Burdon’s trademark deep, impassioned vocal line:
The 4th was “I Believe To My Soul” from Ray Charles.
We’ve Gotta Get out of This Place” is a rock song which recorded as a 1965 hit single by The Animals. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular among United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. Let’s listen to it:
A short detail from the original lyrics:
“In this dirty old part of the city
Where the sun refused to shine
People tell me there ain’t no use in tryin’
Now my girl you’re so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true
You’ll be dead before your time is due, I know
Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin’
Watched his hair been turnin’ grey
He’s been workin’ and slavin’ his life away
Oh yes I know it
He’s been workin’ so hard, yeah
I’ve been workin’ too, baby, yeah
Every night and day, yeah
We gotta get out of this place
If it’s the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
Cause girl, there’s a better life for me and you…”
The next song was “It’s My Life” at the show. It was written specifically for The Animals as their producer Mickie Most was soliciting material for the group’s next recording sessions. As laid down it was a natural fit for The Animals. It was propelled by a bass guitar riff from Chas Chandler, soon joined by a ringing electric guitar riff from Hilton Valentine. Then Eric Burdon’s classic low growl entered with lyrics seemingly direct from his native working class Northern England:
“Boom Boom” is a 1961 song written and performed by John Lee Hooker first. Many Blues bands have covered this over the years, but I think Burdon’s version’s one of the best ever!
An acoustic version of “House Of The Rising Sun” was next:
“You Got Me Floating” was the last (9th) song at Stargarden. This is a song composed by Jimi Hendrix. The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded it in 1967 and released it on their album Axis: Bold as Love. This version was performed by Eric Burdon since 1994. It’s still part of his recent setlist:
I’d taken lots of photos with my Panasonic Lumix FZ38 camera from Eric Burdon.
⧉ Kazohinia 