Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted

Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted is a 1977 reunion album by the Animals.^[7] They are billed on the cover as the Original Animals.

Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted
Studio album by the Original Animals
Released	August 1977
Studio	Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, Goulds Farm
Genre	Rock, blues rock, rhythm and blues
Label	Barn (original)[1] Jet/United Artists (USA)[2]
Producer	Chas Chandler
The Original Animals chronology
The Greatest Hits of Eric Burdon and the Animals (1969) Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted (1977) Ark (1983)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Christgau's Record Guide	B−[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]

History

The album marked 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 since 1965.^[8] 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 good 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."

However, record company promotion for the album was weak, no tour was held, and the sound was out of time with the popularity of disco and punk rock; it thus reached only No. 70 on the U.S. pop albums chart, No. 24 in Netherlands and did not chart at all in the UK.

Track listing

Side one

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 aka James D. Harris) – 2:23
4. "As the Crow Flies" (Jimmy Reed) – 3:37
5. "Please Send Me Someone to Love" (Percy Mayfield) – 4:44

Side two

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" (Naomi Ford, Lee Hazlewood) – 3:24

Personnel

The Original Animals

• Eric Burdon – vocals
• Alan Price – keyboards
• Hilton Valentine – guitar
• Chas Chandler – bass
• John Steel – drums

Technical

• Alan O'Duffy – engineer
• Paul Hardiman – mix engineer
• Jo Mirowski – design
• Terry O'Neill – photography

References

1. "Italian Critics & Reviewers Assn. Chooses 28 Best LPs Of Year". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2 September 1978 – via Google Books.
2. Popoff, Martin (8 September 2009). Goldmine Record Album Price Guide. Penguin. ISBN 9781440229169 – via Google Books.
3. "Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted - The Animals - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
4. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: O". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 10 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
5. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 199.
6. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 17.
7. "Hilton Valentine obituary". the Guardian. 15 February 2021.
8. The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd ed.). Rough Guides Ltd. 1999. pp. 28–29.

External links

• Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted at Discogs (list of releases)