#alan needs an eric burdon (eric is right there)

[the-alan-price-combo]

a sequence of pure animal-silliness 🙏🐾

[hide-your-bugs-away]

IT HAS BEEN FINISHED. AT LAST. 🎹🎤✨️

Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon)

All Sections | Supporting One Another (1965-1968)

“[Eric] was one of the biggest influences on my music career, and gave me a tremendous insight into blues music.” - Alan Price, Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon).

It happened. It had to happen.

From March 12th to March 17th, 2024, @/tealightwhimsy (who I will be referring to as Tealight), my mother, and I all traveled to London, England. This was my first time ever on an airplane, ever getting a passport, ever traveling out of the country, and ever in a city bigger than Detroit - saving up every cent myself in order to make the journey. And before you think I only made this trip to have my own「Domino's App feat. Hatsune Miku」 moment… I promise I didn’t, haha. I made this trip to see Alan Price, yes, the real Alan Price with my own eyes! He performs in Barnes every second Thursday of the month, always delighted to play these small concerts to this day, and I wanted nothing more than to show my support and appreciation for that.

However, since we would quite literally be in the neighborhood, I thought to myself… Why not see if we can watch a very particular episode of Alan’s 1968 television series at the British Film Institute in Soho while there? It was entirely possible to do so, after all! The journey getting to this point was a bit of a complicated one -  and I’m not just talking about the eight-hour-long plane ride - but it was incredibly worth it for the rich, detailed, and affectionate footage Tealight and I bore witness to. Alan Price and Eric Burdon… on screen together… having fun…

The Price of Possibility:

So, my first exposure to the international treasure that is Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon) was in February of 2021, in a Discord group with a couple of Animals friends and I. One of those friends had randomly sent an image of that Music Echo/Disc Weekly photo (featured at the beginning of this section), plus the caption, that I eventually found out was from August 3rd, 1968. By eventually, I mean over a year later, when Tealight had discovered that huge archive of British magazines and I found the Music Echo issue it came from. However, at the time, my mind was absolutely blown. To contextualize things even further, this was still during my satirical “Alan and Eric were acting like petty divorcees in their 20s, lmao” phase, so outside of a few of those super affectionate Animals photos I had seen up until that point (the Pepsi-Cola bottle photoshoot, the photo of Alan holding Eric’s hand, etc.), this was my first time seeing a pleasant, non-antagonistically skewed representation of the pair, with a nice caption to boot. I started to put the pieces together… Eric flew over to “especially to appear on Alan’s new TV series ‘Price To Play”? You had “a great loon”? You guys did “What’d I Say”?!?

It goes without saying that this very much changed my perspective, even if just a little at the time. And I was eager to find this episode, if at all possible.

Doing a bit of quick, preliminary research at this time - again, in early-2021 - didn’t exactly come up with much, only some vague IMDb listings about the episodes and an old forum talking about the episode. I assumed that Price to Play, in its entirety, was just lost media, which was disappointing, but not surprising. Most televised footage from that period was filmed and scrapped like clockwork, with old film being quickly erased after airing in order to be reused. Even the incredible, culturally impactful Ready, Steady, Go! wasn’t safe from this practice, despite the star power behind it. Most recordings were archived thanks to eager fans manually saving the footage to tapes, opposed to studios themselves keeping track of the footage. Alan’s show undoubtedly suffered the same fate, and I had made peace with that - even after confirming the context behind it via the full Music Echo article.

That was until Ray Davies turned everything on its head.

You see, on August 5th, 2022, the BBC Archive’s Facebook page decided to post a random little clip from Price to Play: August 5th, 1968 (with guest star Ray Davies) (from the Kinks). Out of context, it’s just a generally fun clip, watching these two semi-awkward introverts talk about songwriting with one another. Especially funny considering that six years later, on a show called The Midnight Special, Ray Davies would host the June 7th episode (with guest star Alan Price). But I digress; what the BBC Archive thought was just an innocent, celebratory collaboration video they were posting completely blew the mind of a mentally ill lesbian who just woke up one Saturday morning and needed a Dr Pepper.

This… revealed a lot of things to me (Alan’s impeccable late-1968 style of dress, for one), but chief among them was the fact that Price to Play, in some form, was safe, archived, and stored somewhere in the BBC’s vast vaults of chaos. I should also mention that this was around the time I initially finished the bulk of this essay - a couple of months before posting it, in fact, just working on the revision stages. I hesitated to include information about the BBC Archive’s post as not to get anyone’s hopes up… but I certainly got my own hopes up. I didn’t know what to do with this information quite yet, but it was encouraging to know something was out there.

Then, four .gif files changed everything. AGAIN.

On January 3rd, 2023, I was scrolling through the desolate, yet familiar-to-me, depths of Animals tumblr when I came across a .gif set of Eric performing that I hadn’t seen before. It was posted by a user named @/sonand-daughter-1974, who has sadly deactivated since then, but I had reblogged these gifs before they did so. And that first .gif I saw completely threw me, because my eyes were immediately drawn to the keyboardist in the background who did an overly-dramatic hair-flip as he played. An overly-dramatic hair-flip I’ve seen many, many times before… Not to mention, the stage and set Eric was standing on reminded me of the set where Alan and Ray had been chatting in that clip the BBC Archive posted.

The full .gif set!

…Wait… WAIT.

Was this footage of Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon)?!? I messaged Tealight immediately. 

Honestly, this was a dumb question to ask, even if rhetorically, because quite obviously, it was. Eric and Alan are wearing the same shirts as the Music Echo photo, the set is the same as the Ray Davies clip… yes, this was indeed what I was looking for. Just to confirm things further, I replied to the post, asking the blogger about the context. Their replies are now gone due to being deactivated, but I remember them saying something along the lines of there being a clip of what they thought was Eric performing “What’s I Say” on the BBC Archive’s YouTube channel back in 2015.

…Well, there it is. I guess it was just the pure adrenaline coursing through my veins, dampening any shyness, but I ended up spontaneously emailing the BBC Archive’s official email account at 11:53 pm with a request for information about Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon) - just wanting to know if the footage was being archived, both the (with guest star Eric Burdon) episode and the others. To which I promptly got an email back the next day saying that they, indeed, had access to all of the episodes, even sending me a handy link to the British Film Institute’s online database! As it turned out, the August 12th episode was indeed featured there, right in the archive! Only accessible via VHS, but STILL! IT WAS THERE!

I ended up talking to someone at the British Film Institute at this time, as well, but with the episode only available via VHS, and thus only allowed to be digitized following a booked research viewing, I was at a temporary dead end. Not a distressing one, of course, as it honestly just meant a lot to know that the footage still existed at all. But I had reached the end of my actual search, with only the hope of the BBC Archive’s social media team potentially digitizing clips to post on one of their accounts. Why those other clips were removed off of YouTube, I have no idea… which implies something was digitized at some point, but I digress.

Anyway, at this point, Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon) had settled comfortingly in my brain, always as a possibility to emerge yet again, either through more lost tumblr gifs or a surprise clip on Facebook one Saturday morning. That was until the idea of traveling to London to see Alan was beginning to come to fruition… plane tickets and all, and we realized this would actually be possible to do, if I set up an appointment with the BFI. Their viewing center was in Soho, not terribly far from where we would be staying in Chiswick - right down the street from the tube station, in fact! All I had to do was pay a small booking fee and fill out an online research viewing form for Tealight and I, where I had to cite this very essay as the “non-commercial” research I would be using the footage for. Yes, this long, meandering essay about Alan Price and Eric Burdon’s relationship got me into a prestigious British film archive to watch some of the footage they’ve stockpiled… and I’m proud of that fact.

With all of that being said… March 14th, 2024. We would actually watch Alan Price himself perform right in front of our eyes later that evening… but first, we made a special stop in Soho to see a different type of performance, on the -1 floor of the British Film Institute. For research.

Let’s talk about it now.

Pure, Unadulterated Enjoyment and Affection:

Finally using the three pages of notes I hastily scribbled down in a corgi-themed notebook during the hour of viewing time we were allowed… Also, I should mention: the lady who took us to our viewing room was actually the one I had corresponded with for a year up until that point, which was really neat! She was incredibly nice to us, and never questioned why us silly Americans were going out of our way to watch such a niche piece of television… but I guess the citing of my essay on my booking form said it all, haha.

Alright, the moment you all have been waiting for: the episode proper. Prior to this, Tealight and I had no idea what the structure of this episode was going to be like, all we had was the context of the Ray Davies clip, the fact Alan was going to talk about music history, and that Alan and Eric were going to do “The Story of Bo Diddley”, “Don’t Stop The Carnival”, and “What’d I Say” at some point. That just made the anticipation rapidly evolve into pure excitement…

At the beginning of the episode, a sketch of Alan Price appeared on the screen. I audibly asked who drew it, to which Tealight replied, “Eric.” This cannot be confirmed, but it’s the right answer. He is an artist, after all.

The episode starts off with Alan and the Alan Price Set (on the verge of becoming the Paul Williams Set, if not already), doing a performance of “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever”. This song was originally covered by the Four Tops, with Alan later covering it for his first album, The Price to Play, and it’s certainly an… interesting choice, for an opener. With a later explanation following the performance, it was primarily chosen due to being a Motown piece, but the lyrical choice and contents also gel extremely well with the surrounding context of a “long-time coming” reunion between these two musical giants; one of them desperate to work with the other again in some form.

Following this first song, Alan talks about the general theme of the following episode: rhythm and beat in pop music, and their Spanish and African influence. He directly mentions Motown, “short for motor town”, and its respective groups, which I found very charming, as a metro-Detroit resident myself. Alan then proceeds to talk about the Old World discovery of the Americas, and the slavery/systematic racism that was enabled by said discovery. Which, while blunt, definitely deserves to be talked about in a candid, straightforward manner, even if by a white guy. It’s no secret that, if you want to be really particular about things, the Animals and other British/non-black R&B groups are technically “appropriating” black music, however respectful they are. “Appropriation” in its more neutral definition, opposed to outright negative, as they still put their own spin on the style, practically worshiped the original artists, and were highly enjoyed by black audiences… but still appropriation. However, Alan shedding light on the history is a great thing to see, especially since this program he hosted was intended for younger audiences: shedding light on specific musical styles an audience might not know the details about. He does the subject justice, even if he uses a bit of “it was okay 60 years ago, but not really now” terms.

Alan talks a bit about the history and rhythm style of “chain gangs”, before going into his own rendition of “Work Song”, which is an absolute treat to hear him perform. The Animals covered “Work Song” themselves (a stellar performance of it was featured on The Ed Sullivan Show in October of 1965, and eventually released on some reissues of Animalisms), and I’m also familiar with Georgie Fame’s version, so hearing also Alan perform it with a jazzy touch was a nice surprise.

After this, Alan talks about the brass bands that arose in the United States following the Civil War, due to the ease of access of these instruments to the black population. The brass Set members then do a stripped-back version of “When the Saints Go Marching In”, before Alan joins in for a cover of “Watermelon Man”. A performance that surprised my mom when I told her about it after the fact, since she actually played that song in a jazz band when she was in high school!

Then, the segue to end all segues occurs, with Alan talking about the introduction of string instruments to the Americas via the Spaniards, and the adoption of guitars by black musicians, turning it into a beat instrument instead of a purely melodic one, backing up the singer. It’s here that Alan mentions Bo Diddley, and the Newcastle Art College student that introduced Alan to his music… in which Tealight and I proceed to implode in on ourselves.

“...and one of the people who I listened to as a young player was an American blues guitarist called Bo Diddley. I first heard of Bo Diddley from a friend with whom I played in the early days, when he was at art college and I was working in a tax office. And his name is Eric Burdon.”

The footage then cuts to Eric, now standing in the center of the stage amidst the Set. He glances around a little, before (quite obviously) locking eyes with Alan, smiling when he does so.

“He was one of the biggest influences on my music career, and gave me a tremendous insight into blues music.”

While Alan’s speaking here, the footage is still focused on Eric. However, when Alan says “...gave me a tremendous insight…”, that’s when Eric turns to smile at him, and you can actually hear Alan smile in his voice as he speaks!! Yes, you’re going to hear me talk about the subtle inflections of Alan’s voice in this analysis, because that’s what you do when your favorite musical relationship in classic rock has a collective 75 minutes of footage in circulation featuring them.

“In my hometown of Newcastle, he was wholly responsible for the popularity of rhythm and blues, and with himself, I started a blues band which came to be known as the Animals.”

Now, the footage cuts to a photo from The Pepsi-Cola Photoshoot… a new photo we had never seen before! If you want a brief refresher on what The Pepsi-Cola Photoshoot is, it’s the photoshoot from July 4th of 1964, when “Rising Sun” was on track to top the charts, the Animals celebrating with a refreshing glass of… well, Pepsi-Cola. Such iconic images as “Alan looking up at Eric”, and “Eric nearly holding Alan’s face” and “Alan with his knee on Eric’s thigh” come from this series of photos, with this outtake resembling the latter photo. It’s at a bit of a higher angle… and you can see just how tucked against Eric that Alan is because of it.

I have this on a shirt...

Anyway, this photo hangs on the screen for the rest of Alan’s little speech, slowly zooming in on the pair.

“Bo Diddley was one of our heroes. And it was like a dream came true when one night, in Newcastle, we had the pleasure of meeting Bo, and one of his band played with us.

“And on the first LP that the Animals made, we had a song which told of this great event for us. Eric Burdon wrote it, and he called the song ‘The Story of Bo Diddley’.”

The dramatic zoom-in on the photo then quickens, before Alan starts out with those cutting opening notes of “The Story of Bo Diddley. If you haven’t heard it before, here’s a link! It’s a great homage to both Bo Diddley himself, “and the rock & roll scene in general” - with so many fun lyrical references and a general cadence that makes Eric seem like he’s improvising the lyrics, on both the album version and this live rendition - which isn’t too far from the truth.

Alright, now… we’re at the main event. Alan Price and Eric Burdon, performing together again. And it’s just as magical as you can imagine. Even with as straightforward of a rhythm as that initial “Bo Diddley” riff, you can really hear the way in which Alan adds little flourishes to further embellish Eric’s voice. Not to mention, it’s just interesting to hear Eric’s “New Animals” voice singing Original Animals’ tunes… like all of Eric’s performances, he never does things exactly like the album, which just makes particular live renditions all the more special.

At the 16:12 mark, the mystery was officially solved. This was where that previous .gif set was from, featuring Alan doing the hair flip and Eric clapping out Johnny Otis’ “Hand Jive”. It was from “The Story of Bo Diddley”! BBC Archive, please put this back on your YouTube channel! PLEASE.

And, just like the album version, we receive a duet…

Eric:

“In a little old country town one day

“A little old country band began to play

“It had two guitars and a beat up saxophone

“When the drummer let go, those cats begin to roam”

Eric and Alan together:

“Oooh we oh oh

Ooh la la that rock and roll

Ya hear me oooh we oh oh

Oooh la la that rock and roll”

Now, while on the album version, it sounds like Eric’s voice being layered, super keen-eared Price-Burdon fanatics might recognize that harmony from the 1982 Newcastle City Hall performance they did together. They didn’t do the entirety of “The Story of Bo Diddley” during this concert, mind you, just this little section, but the ease with which they did it suggested quite a bit of familiarity. And here they are, doing just that! During this entire duet, Alan is staring right at him as he plays, smiling as he sings, and Eric is turned towards him.

That’s not the only duet that hit us like a truck! During the “Hard Day’s Night” section of the song, Alan also duets with Eric! …Gosh, you two… just because they couldn’t be Lennon-McCartney as songwriters, their musical dynamic is still something wholly unique to them. No duet during the “I Wanna Be Your Man” bit (makes sense 👀), but Eric does begin the section with, “Way down in the deep south, way down in Richmond-Surrey… A pair of lips, a pair of hips, belonging to Mick Jagger…” which makes Alan vocally laugh! A little “heh..” and all!! If you’ve seen my Alan Price Laughing Compilation (pinned post on @hide-your-bugs-away), then you know Alan’s laughs are a wonderful thing. ERIC MADE HIM LAUGH!!!!

Of course, this all leads to the climax of the song, with the actual “Bo Diddley” call-and-response, which Alan and Eric leap at the opportunity to do. Mimicking one another’s vocal inflections, glancing at one another as they do so… my jaw hit the floor when I saw all of this. When the song ended, Eric gave a relieved little “Wooo!”, to which Alan responded with another smile-in-his-voice “heh..” Alan, please………..

“I think that because Eric has played such an important part in my musical approach, it’s only right that he should continue with us for the rest of the program.”

Now that Alan’s finally got Eric performing on stage with him and the Set after all these years, he isn’t going to let him slip away that easily…

Alan then talks about the music that emerged from the West Indies, following this explanation with a performance of “Don’t Stop The Carnival”. Which, yes, Eric indeed does duet with him on! Only the chorus, and as backing vocals, but like the “Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted” outtakes, it’s just interesting seeing him perform a song that Alan is so heavily associated with!

Now, for the part that blew the fragments of our minds to atomic particles.

“In our part of the world, that’s where Eric and I come from - the Northeast - the singer is called a ‘chanter’. And now it so happens that one of the really important things for the blues, or, in fact, any kind of rhythmic song, is you’ve got to bring it to a climax. And the best and most effective way to organize a chant is to have a lead singer singing any sort of phrase. For example…"

Alan then turns to Eric, a huge smile on his face. “Do you feel allllllright?”

Eric shrugs, with his own coy smile framing his face. “...I feel… fine?”

“Are you sure you feel… fine?” Alan responds.

“I feel.. I..I feel alright!” Eric nearly collapses into laughter, and when the camera cuts back to Alan, he’s trying to hide his smile with a covert brush to his nose.

A little artwork depicting this exchange! They weren't standing next to each other, but I can still imagine it...

Yes, Alan and Eric shared banter with one another, right there on camera. I know this might seem like small potatoes for folks whose favorite musicians and songwriting duos have tons of readily accessible videos and interviews available of them, but as I said before, Alan and Eric barely have any, so this little bit of footage means the absolute world to us. Confirming the fact that, yes these two have a legitimate good time together, even independent of actively performing. They know how to joke, affectionately push one another’s buttons, and have a laugh. This is just so validating when the common consensus of Animals fans seems to be that these two despised each other and never got along. I respectfully disagree.

“This call-and-answer routine is the perfect way to achieve this simper. Perhaps the greatest favorite of Eric and meself  is Ray Charles. And he’s an American blues singer whose recording of ‘What’d I Say’ has become the most classic for rhythm and blues. And it’s only right, and fitting, that we should close with this number. See you next week.”

Here it is… here it is. The whole Ray Charles. Honestly, it’s still incredibly hard to gather my thoughts on the performance of “What’s I Say” here, even eight months later. It’s kind-of like my difficulties describing why the Golden Trifecta of Animals Songs (“How You’ve Changed”, “I Believe To My Soul” and “Worried Life Blues”) are so great because they just… blend so well with their instrumental and musical styles. Made all the more difficult that this is pure, unfiltered, unmitigated, uninterrupted Price-Burdon content. Playing the song that literally brought Eric to the church hall where Alan was playing ten years previously.

I think now is as good of a time as any to do a deep dive into Alan and Eric’s body language and emotions when they perform throughout this episode, with “What’d I Say” serving as the perfect demonstration of this. Since “The Story of Bo Diddley” was mostly Eric’s vocals, and “Don’t Stop the Carnival” was mostly Alan’s, this particular song finally depicts, in both a vocal and a visual sense, more of a balance between them. They trade verses with one another, with one adding little audible noises in the background as the other sings the actual lyrics. And if you’re familiar with the original song and wondering… Yes, they do the call-and-response moaning bit. Twice. 😐 Alan also does his backwards-back-arch-while-shaking-his-head-to-get-hair-out-of-his-face-thing when Eric starts singing, so do with that information what you will.

I’ve mentioned this a handful of times now, but the most obvious indicator of the pure joy they feel while performing together (besides the quality of the music, of course) is Alan’s expressions. Oh, Alan’s letting a lot go here. I won’t show any of the covert pictures that Tealight took of our computer screen, out of respect for the archiving services… but when we showed my mom a couple of the pictures after the fact, she audibly said that she had never seen Alan look that happy before. Like, legitimately, he had the biggest smile that you could possibly imagine, all dimples and smile lines around his eyes and… agGhgh. Alan’s eyes are a give-away as well; you see, Alan usually doesn’t like playing with his eyes open. Much like his musical inspiration in Ray Charles, Alan prefers to purely play by feel. Not to mention, playing on the stage and in front of others makes him quite anxious, so closing his eyes just helps him calm down and lose himself in the music.

“Basically, I dislike being on stage. I don’t like performing in front of people. I used to be very shy. I still am. I still close my eyes and ignore the audience. Which looks like bad taste sometimes - as though I’m disinterested - but really, I’m embarrassed. I often get the horrors sitting in the dressing room. Sometimes in the middle of a number I shut my mind off and think, ‘Just what am I doing here?’” - Alan Price, Music Maker, July 1967.

So, yeah, this is a guy who's prone to panic attacks backstage and frequently, if not always, dissociates while performing in order to not have a panic attack in front of a live audience. Which just makes those moments where he does open his eyes while performing, to communicate with his band members, all the more meaningful. Not to mention, what it means when he smiles as he does so… He’s actually relaxed, in other words. Enjoying himself… and not having a panic attack. The fact that he’s doing this while sharing the stage with Eric speaks volumes, and it’s not a one-time occurrence either - he does it during the New Musical Experience Poll Winners Concert from 1965 as well, among other performances.

Playing around with a more detailed, painterly style to use on occasion... and depicting the smiles. THIS IS HOW THEY WERE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER, I'M NOT KIDDING.

These elated emotions aren’t exclusive to Alan, of course, as Eric is also all smiles throughout the episode as well, especially that last song. Frequently turning his head to glance at Alan, which is thankfully a little easier than usual, as Alan’s not positioned behind him like he usually is. Alan’s beside him, allowing the camera to actually catch moments where they’re both on screen, looking at one another. And Connie proceeds to throw a handful of confetti in the air.

The episode then ends on the finishing notes of “What’d I Say”, with Tealight and I in complete awe, five minutes left to spare before our allotted booking time was up. And, less than seven hours to spare until we met The Actual Alan Price later that evening, but that’s a story for another day…

Meaningful Satisfaction - There’s More to Come:

Like every facet of this passion-project-turned-essay of mine, I did this for the sake of the positivity present in the Animals’ general dynamic as much as I did this for myself. I wanted to satiate my own (and Tealight’s) burning curiosity, of course, after years of knowing that something Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon)-related was out there. However, beyond receiving that vindication I had anticipated, I wanted the world to know just how much these two got along and enjoyed one another. Previously, if you wanted to be extra uncharitable, you can look at that Music Echo caption and assume Eric was dragged there primarily against his will, or was only roped in via money. We only had Alan’s excitable side of the story, of course. But now, I’ve seen the results of this collaboration with my very eyes. Like the affectionate sleevenote Eric wrote, those quality sounds, that dynamic, the passion on display between them and for the music… it can’t be forced. It has to come from two individuals that wanted this, and wanted this to work. It’s no surprise that when this collaboration happened, it was when Jefferies was finally out of the picture for the New Animals. Nothing was forced; everything was natural.

This footage was, honest-to-goodness, incredible to witness. It’s the two of them, in the 60s, having an absolute ball together like it’s still 1959 and they were just beginning to learn about one another. I absolutely love that 1982 concert of theirs as well, which is also just the two of them, but the affection is nearly stifled by the undercurrent of what was to come in ‘83. It doesn’t at all ruin the experience, of course - I mean, they literally hug and it looks like Eric kisses Alan on the shoulder at the end - but again, the cynics can point at the time period and dismiss it on that basis alone. With this performance in 1968, though, it establishes the fact that their relationship is so much more than anyone seems to give them credit for back in the 60s.

If I may be a cynic myself for a moment: besides the general narrative about the Animals that seems to be perpetuated nowadays by hearsay, I think the bias against purely written materials with no visual reference whatsoever, be it through images or video, is one of the reasons why these positive aspects of their history are so frequently glossed over. There’s the fact that most people aren’t actively seeking out these obscure, 60-year-old sources when they’re learning about the band, of course, but it’s also a bit… disheartening that the main biographies/documentaries published/released about the Animals and Eric don’t even try to dig them up or reference them, instead relying purely on all of the band members’ bitter, present-day accounts. And that’s not to say these vintage articles aren’t written with any sort-of bias in mind themselves - they’re meant to be sensationalized, after all - but as I mentioned before, you can’t fake the intent behind the things that happened between Alan and Eric, mentioned in these articles. However, this 1968 footage of Alan and Eric performing together, completely independent of the Animals, and having a good time doing so, finally provides a clear, visual reference of their relationship, entirely on display. No more having to assume articles are written with toxic positivity in mind; absolutely no room for nuance. Price-Burdon had a spark between them.

Something I find charming in retrospect about Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon) is the fact that Alan never actually interviewed Eric, like he did with Ray Davies. This was probably because the episode was more a history lesson, if anything, with Eric as a relevant guest cameo, but I really don’t think an interview or co-hosting was necessary. It’s all information that Alan can easily relay himself… and it’s information that he learned from Eric. Eric taught him about the blues, the styles, the artists, the feeling… and now, he gets to sit back and listen to Alan teach an entire audience of eager listeners, of all ages, everything he taught Alan. I just think that’s very neat… “full-circle”, and all.

I also like their outfits in this. “Eric has pinstripe pants”- the last note I wrote. 😐

Anyway, 5500 words later, I should probably wrap this up, haha. I’ll probably only ever do full-section updates like this when big discoveries like this are uncovered, like if those Ready Steady Go! episodes ever resurface, or that cinéma vérité documentary about the Animals is ever released (I’d probably write a separate analysis for that), or something major along those lines. Tealight and I are considering traveling to London again to see Alan, and if we do, I’d definitely want to try and watch the other episodes of Price to Play and write an analysis of those, too. I truly love and appreciate Alan to pieces (no hetero) so just seeing this previously “locked��� content and being able to share it with other Alan and Animals fans would be incredibly meaningful for me!

Also, if any clips from Price to Play: August 12th, 1968 (with guest star Eric Burdon) are ever released online, I’ll definitely add supplementary visuals, whether through images, gifs, or actual video, to this section. I’m just using my art and other reference images at the moment - again, out of respect for the Archive and the work they’ve done preserving and digitizing this for us. Holding out for the possibility that Price to Play becomes available on streaming sometime…

Alright… time for a Dr Pepper and to draw more funny Animals art… Alan and Eric art… wAHHHH!!

All Sections | Supporting One Another (1965-1968)

[the-alan-price-combo]

In The Beginning (1959-63) -

All Sections | Next Section

[Interviewer: “But then, of course you came together as the Animals. Now, tell us about the Animals, because that was the first time you really made it, wasn’t it? Was the Animals?”]

“I don’t know whether you can say there’s a first time. I think, really, when I met Eric for the first time was when I ‘made it’, because I found somebody with a common soul, you know?” - Alan Price, Northerners, 1975.

Alan… Alan, I swear!! What a way to describe your connection with someone…

Anyway, this section is going to be dedicated to miscellaneous things from ‘59 to early ‘63, most of these events not having exact dates tied to them, but still documented and decidedly pre-Animals.

Friendly Competition -

An interesting group of shared events Alan and Eric talk about involve talent competitions they would compete in; not with bands, but by themselves. The date of Eric’s particular recounting is unknown, but it appears to be sometime in ‘58 or ‘59, during a talent competition at the Majestic Ballroom:

“...I saw a list of the other competitors. One name stood out, and I caught a glimpse of him at the bar. His name was Alan Price. I’d seen him before at the Methodist Church Hall, doing Larry Williams’ ‘She Said Yeah!’ with a group fronted by Thomas Hedley. He was fucking good. And on this night, he was planning to do his rendition of Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’’. I kind of knew then that I was sunk. This guy sang and played piano. I figured I didn’t stand a chance just singing with a big band, especially with such a straight crowd…

“…I knew before either of us went on who was going to take the show.

“At the side of the stage, Alan came up and said hello. He told me that he’d been playing with Hedley’s group, but that he was playing guitar, not piano, which he would have preferred.

“‘Well,’ I told him. ‘We’re thinking about putting a real R&B band together. You can play piano with us anytime.’

“When the band leader announced Alan’s name he climbed onstage, headed right for the big black Steinway, and the 88s began to roll. Microphone stand between his legs, hair flopped over his forehead, Alan got into it, speeding up at the end and throwing off the big-band drummer, just like Jerry Lee.

“When he walked off, Alan seemed surprised at the enthusiasm of the applause, but this was basically a straight crowd seeing and hearing live rock and roll for the first time!

“At least he warmed them up, I thought as I was called on next.” - Eric Burdon, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, 2001 (p. 11).

Eric ended up winning this particular competition, however, Alan has a little more to say about these talent shows…

“Eric is an old, old friend and figures a lot in the formative days of Alan’s musical career. Alan recalls a holiday with him at Butlins.

“‘We paid for it by winning talent competitions,’ he says ‘Eric did a wonderful Presley act and I won the musical section with my Jerry Lee Lewis impression.’” - Beat Instrumental, November, 1966 (p. 6).

…So you went on a private vacation, just the two of you, that you paid for with the money you pooled together from talent shows? …hmm… Said holiday doesn’t seem to be elaborated on further by either of them, besides by Alan in this one article… but to be fair, it doesn’t need to be.

Anyway, this is a perfect representation of the immense amount of respect they had for one another’s talents. A common, misguided observation of most interpretations of their relationship is the idea that neither of them seem to want to “back down” in relation to one another, per-say (which is somewhat true, they are both quite stubborn). However, if there’s one undeniable consistency within their dynamic, it’s that they never lose respect for one another and will always acknowledge when the other is performing well. Enjoying the other’s talents, unabashedly.

Emergence of a Combo -

Amongst all of this, the fundamental elements of what we now know as the Animals were beginning to take shape. Once Alan had joined the Pagans, they had changed their name to the Kansas City Five (KC5); however, he didn’t stick together for too long. After performing with the KC5 for a few months, Alan ended up being a no-show at a particular gig, having been snatched by another band known as the Kontours. It was within this group that Chas Chandler entered the picture, supplying bass guitar within the Kontours. Around this time, the Pagans/KC5 were beginning to disband, with Eric making a trip down to London to explore the scene there and John taking on a real job while playing music on the side. The Kontours had their own fluctuation in members, with Chas and Alan seeking out musicians and the Alan Price Combo emerging from this unit (John was in and out of the band for a time). Like the others, working slightly more stable jobs alongside their musical hobbies, Alan was employed at an income tax office during this time.

Meanwhile, for Eric, London was an unforgiving place; musically and as a general environment, and he was intrigued, especially by the blues music he was hearing. While Alan describes Eric coming back from London as “with his tail between his legs” (Alan Price tour program, 1975), Eric seemed to have a much more excitable, hopeful outlook on things.

“I returned to Newcastle full of enthusiasm, going from one friend’s house to another, telling them they must see what was cooking in London. I made a special trip to Alan’s place of employment, a tax office in the city centre. I told him he must go to London. But Alan was very serious about finishing his time at the tax office and making sure he was secure for life. One day, when the time was right, he too would feel the pull of the smoke.”  - Eric Burdon, I Used to Be an Animal, but I’m All Right Now, 1986 (p. 35).

Such a great description of Alan’s outlook on things, courtesy of Eric�� I love the phrase, “feel the pull of the smoke”, which can mean just as much or as little as you want it to. Eric knew Alan had reservations, and even once he was physically in the city, he still wouldn’t entirely be there and Eric didn’t pressure him; not too much, at least. Instead, he provided excitable suggestions, wanting their band to flourish. Wanting to work together again.

The Alan Price Combo, circa 1962. Note Chas on the bass!

Giving Up the Reigns -

However, Alan’s hesitation didn’t just surround “moving to the big city”. No… he had further reservations… mostly revolving around Eric himself. This is where things get just as speculatory and muddled as they are clear-cut. Alan definitely harbored a bit of jealousy towards Eric, which became obvious when Eric held the ‘lead singer’ role in their groups. Just by the nature of this musical position, Eric is the focal point of the band; the focal sound of the band. This was true in the Pagans and KC5, and would be true in the Animals… and if Eric was to join the Alan Price Combo, it would happen there. Eric’s voice would dominate the others, dominate Alan’s piano, dominate Alan’s own voice, and this was something the prickly and stubborn Alan Price didn’t like very much at the time. Sure, Chas and John didn’t take any shit, but their particular instrumentation meant they were never a “threat”. Eric was a “threat” to his image and his sound…

“I don’t think AP could deal with me as the front guy. His attitude is, ‘Here I am, I’ve studied piano all my life, I’m the musician in the band, and this fucker’s out front getting all the adulation.’ The guy’s got problems. Always had problems. Great player, no doubt about it. He was the Animals to a certain degree.” - Eric Burdon, Animal Tracks: The Story of the Animals, 2012 (p. 82).

Now, this sounds mighty antagonistic, doesn’t it? …Yeah, it does. However, this behavior in Alan doesn’t last too long. And the fact that he did harbor these feelings at this time makes many of the things he does a few years from now hold a lot more meaning, indicative of how much he will embrace Eric’s presence in his life… but, we’ll get to that later.

Though, as a small aside - and I might just be reading too much into this - but Alan’s behavior in trying to avoid the inevitable (Eric eventually joining their group) gives me “furiously avoiding his crush” vibes…

Here’s some of the Animals’ takes on the early Burdon-Price dynamic:

“It was Alan who had organized the band from the start. But he realized that he didn’t have the voice for that kind of material. He had to get Eric in. From then on, it was Eric who had the ideas, even though Alan was the leader of the band.” - John Steel, Wild Animals, 1986 (p. 21).

“[Price] did the administration, he was the one that got the money and divided it out, but Eric seemed to be the dominant one.” - Hilton Valentine, Animal Tracks: The Story of the Animals, 2012 (p. 30). (lol thanks Hilton, I kind of figured)

[Interviewer: “Was there an element of frustration with Alan Price wanting to be lead vocalist when he knew damn well that you were doing a fine job, and he really didn’t have much of a chance?”]

“To the outside world, it would appear to be that it was a problem of Alan and his need to be heard, vocally. Maybe it was. I didn’t see it that way because my relationship with Alan was always a love-hate, delicate relationship from the very beginning.” - Eric Burdon, BBC Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFTtReqO9bs&t=0s)

“Love-hate, delicate relationship”... believe me, the first time I heard this, I just about fell apart at the seams. Because, yeah, despite the tension, there was something very delicate there…

Anyway, hello, Hilton Valentine! Of course, he was the last piece of the Animal-puzzle, joining in mid-’63, after Chas had seen him performing around clubs with a skiffle group known as the Wild Cats. He was honestly the perfect final addition, not only providing the lead guitar the group desperately needed, but also more of that rock-image, which Hilton was practically schooled in. John also permanently joined around this time, truly rounding the group off. At this point, the band was still referred to as the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo, however, this wouldn’t last for too much longer…

Music to His Ears -

I talked enough about Alan being a bit prickly and restating what dozens of online articles who don’t read obscure Beat Instrumental articles daily have said already, so let's get to the beginning of the absolutely soft content. Again, this is something they were basically doing since ‘59, and probably later on throughout the decade, but it’s most documented and palpable here.

Eric had a huge impact on Alan musically, because one of the things Eric would do was sit him down and play Alan records that he hadn’t heard much before; of pianists he hadn’t heard much before. Pete Johnson, Memphis Slim, accompanying pianists on Gene Vincent and Elvis records… and, of course, Ray Charles. This was a world of wonder Alan had never had the chance to fully be exposed to before, and after hearing this music for the first time, he would try and emulate it on a piano as soon as he possibly could. Eric knew how good Alan was with his jazzy, more lounge-ish style, as well as church-esque music… but he also knew he could foster a more bluesy, more rock-based sound within him as well. And Alan not only let him… but considers these moments they shared to be some of the most formative in his entire career.

“Eric was always introducing me to new artists which I hadn’t come across before.” - Alan Price, Beat Instrumental, November, 1966 (p. 6).

“Eric is an old, old friend and figures a lot in the formative days of Alan’s musical career. …It was the music he heard through Eric that made him a follower of quality, a seeker after big sounds, as near perfect as perfection itself.” - Beat Instrumental, November, 1966 (p. 6).

“I think, perhaps, if there were any big influences, musically there was Ray Charles, in the beginning, and all of rock and roll, but Ray Charles, because he sang like I felt. I didn't want to imitate him, I didn't want to do a Joe Cocker.

“The next one was Eric Burdon, who educated me to blues music in the real sense of the word, Joe Turner, Pete Johnson, and I found I could play like these people. It's funny to find out you can actually play. I mean, when you're self-taught and you can't read, and you suddenly play and you find that you are playing what these people are playing, as well as getting the same thrill, that's a nice sense of identification…

“…I'd say I owe most to those two, Eric and Lindsay [Anderson].” - Alan Price, interview from October, 1975 (http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/alan-price/6673)

“Alan didn’t know much about blues until Eric started ramming Ray Charles at him. He was more into Jerry Lee Lewis. But it was always Eric who had dug out some good, unheard-of blues thing or other. …It was Eric who was always looking for that kind of stuff, and Eric who was always wanting to play it.

“If it hadn’t been for Eric, I expect Alan Price would still be a tax inspector, playing Jerry Lee Lewis on the side.” - John Steel, Wild Animals, 1986 (p. 17).

Shout-out to John Steel for saying one of the absolute most telling statements up to this point. Because… yeah, he’s completely right: Eric changed Alan’s life for the better… and Alan seems to agree. Eric completely shifted his outlook on music and the way he would approach his own style… and this would have a profound impact on the sound they created together.

Also, the image of an excitable Eric and a curious Alan huddled around a record player, just the two of them, is adorable. Wonder if they did a lot of “listening” on that holiday they went on together…

(Edit: 11/28/2024) Here’s another Alan-and-Eric-listening-session tidbit sent to me by tealightwhimsy - from a radio show called “Tales from A Very Minor Celebrity”, recorded in 2002, around the time Alan’s Based On A True Story was released! The whole interview is a treat for any Alan fans, but Alan also talks quite a bit about Eric’s musical influence on him... (Video link: https://youtu.be/ABkX2W7Vx8M?feature=shared)

[Interviewer: “You mentioned Eric Burdon. What was your relationship like with him?”] (very classy, very to-the-point - I’d do the same)

Alan: “He was a chap who had a record collection. He lived in Newcastle, and he lived next door to a merchant seaman. This was long before the record shops used to stock blues records, and this guy would bring them back from his travels, from Canada and from America. Eric was the fountain of all wisdom when it came to that. And he had a great influence on the kind of piano styles that I had, because he used to copy a singer called Joe Turner, and I was his sort-of amanuensis, like Pete Johnson used to play boogie piano. I learnt to play like that. He had a great influence, and he’s a marvelous singer. So, we had a very good relationship, actually, gkdkkwwjkjsfkj, musically.”

Alan then proceeds to talk about the Animals being “fated” to break up due to their personal differences, and even compares the band’s lifestyle to that of living in army barracks - forced to be together, get along, and protect one another more out of necessity than anything... however, that bit of affection he describes Eric with doesn’t at all go over my head. Especially that emphasis on their good relationship... before hastily adding the “musically” after the fact, haha. I understand why he did it, in case Eric somehow stumbled across the interview and pettily refuted it - love-hate, delicate relationship is definitely a better way to put it, but in my own soft delusions, I certainly see all of the good they shared. Lots of good... and a lot more good to come! For now... the image of them listening to music together is soooo strong... As well as applying it to the early music they played together.

“When Eric Burdon and I first started in Newcastle, we used to play in Fenwicks, the local store. Everyone used to shout at us to do numbers like ‘Living Doll’ and that, and we would do Pete Johnson - Joe Turner numbers like ‘Roll ‘Em Pete’ and Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Reed numbers and everyone used to hate it.” - Alan Price, Hit Parader (No exact date, since this was from a clipping lot I got on eBay), 1969 (p. 27).

Alan and Eric doing what makes them happy and suits their styles... as they should!

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