The title is a bit of a misnomer; this double CD only includes the complete sessions that the Animals recorded with producer Mickie Most in 1964 and 1965. The 40 songs capture the band at their peak, including most of their best and biggest hits: "House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "Bring It on Home to Me," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "I'm Crying," "It's My Life," and "Boom Boom." Most of the rest of the tunes don't match the excellence of these smashes, though they're solid. The great majority of them are covers of vintage R&B/rock tunes by Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and the like, which aren't quite as durable as reinterpretations from the same era by the Stones and Yardbirds.

Sidestepping the horrendous title, Gratefully Dead 1964-1968, it's nice to see an Animals compilation that digs a bit deeper into their catalog, album tracks, B-sides, and curios, as opposed to rehashing the same old hits ad nauseam. The first ten tracks are mainly covers of blues and R&B tunes that were staples in the early Animals repertoire circa 1964 to 1966, such as "Dimples," "Bright Lights Big City," "Talkin' 'Bout You," and "Smokestack Lightning." The remaining 11 tracks from 1967 and 1968 are credited to the second lineup of the band now called Eric Burdon & the Animals, who plunge into psychedelic blues by way of bizarre tunes such as "Gratefully Dead," "It's All Meat" (which is a sped-up "Spoonful"), "Closer to the Truth," "Year of the Guru," and "White Houses." Rounding out the set is Eric Burdon's 1971 hit with War, "Spill the Wine," and while not an actual Animals track, it's still nice to have it tacked on as a bonus. Those only familiar with "The House of the Rising Sun," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," or "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" should definitely pick up this disc – and then seek out Winds of Change and The Twain Shall Meet.

One of the most important bands originating from England's R&B scene during the early '60s, the Animals were second only to the Rolling Stones in influence among R&B-based bands in the first wave of the British Invasion. The Animals formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic No. 1 hit single, "House of the Rising Sun", as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life", "I'm Crying" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm and blues-orientated album material and were part of the British Invasion of the US.

Of all the British acts that started messing with the blues in the early '60s, the Animals always sounded the toughest and most committed to the cause. They didn't have a genius guitarist like the Yardbirds or the Bluesbreakers, and couldn't write memorable original material like the Rolling Stones, but Eric Burdon was one of the few singers in the U.K. whose guts and ferocity approached that of his influences (without sounding like he was simply copying what he'd heard), and the tough, no-nonsense attack of guitarist Hilton Valentine, bassist Chas Chandler, and drummer John Steel drove the Animals with style and power, while keyboard man Alan Price gave the band plenty of welcome melodic flair…

This 22-song compilation features all of the essential recordings cut by the group in 1965 and 1966 after they broke with their original producer Mickie Most, and before Eric Burdon dissolved the core of the original lineup to pursue solo stardom with an Animals group featuring entirely different musicians. These tracks were perhaps more soul-oriented than their previous recordings, but the group still burns on the hits "Inside Looking Out" and "Don't Bring Me Down." Despite the absence of original keyboardist Alan Price, the group continued to showcase Burdon's passionate vocals and burning, vibrant organ (by Price's replacement Dave Rowberry) on both renowned and obscure R&B tunes, with an occasional original thrown in. Besides the entirety of their final British LP Animalisms (from 1966) and the above-mentioned singles, the CD includes the hits "Help Me Girl" and "See See Rider" (credited to "Eric Burdon and the Animals," these were possibly Burdon solo records). The four tracks from their first release, an independently released 1963 EP featuring primitive R&B standards, are small but noteworthy bonus cuts that close this collection.

Five CD set featuring all of the albums recorded by Eric Burdon & the Animals for the MGM Records label issued between October 1967 and December 1968. Eric Burdon & the Animals came together in December 1966 when the original Animals had ground to a halt. Vocalist Eric Burdon recruited Vic Briggs (guitar, piano), John Weider (guitar, violin, bass), Danny McCulloch (bass) and Barry Jenkins (drums) to form a new group which changed direction away from raucous rhythm and blues and embraced psychedelic rock and the influences of the emerging counter-culture…