When they recorded Every One of Us in May of 1968, the album Eric Burdon & the Animals were nearing the end of their string, at least in the lineup in which they’d come into the world in late 1966.

This album came just after the release of their second one, The Twain Shall Meet. The group had seen some success, especially in America, with the singles “When I Was Young,” “San Franciscan Nights” and “Sky Pilot” over the previous 18 months, but had done considerably less well with their albums. Every One of Us lacked a hit single to help drive its sales, but it was still a good psychedelic blues album, filled with excellent musicianship by Burdon (lead vocals), Vic Briggs (guitar, bass), John Weider (guitar, celeste), Danny McCulloch (bass, 12-string, vocals), and Barry Jenkins (drums, percussion), with new member Zoot Money (credited, for contractual reasons, as George Bruno) on keyboards and vocals.

Opening with the surprisingly lyrical “White Houses” –a piece of piercing social commentary about America in early 1968– the record slid past the brief bridge “Uppers and Downers” and into the extended, John Weider-authored psychedelic mood piece “Serenade to a Sweet Lady,” highlighted by Briggs’ superb lead acoustic guitar playing and Weider’s subdued electric accompaniment. This album would be one of the last times that this lineup of the group would appear on record – Briggs and McCulloch would leave later in the year, both to be replaced by Andy Somers (aka Andy Summers), and the group as a whole would pack it in with the waning of 1968.

PERSONNEL:

ERIC BURDON, lead vocals
JOHN WEIDER, guitar, celeste
VIC BRIGGS, guitar, bass
DANNY McCULLOCH, bass, vocals
BARRY JENKINS, drums
GEORGE BRUNO, organ, piano

SIDE ONE:

01. WHITE HOUSES
02. UPPERS AND DOWNERS
03. SERENADE TO A SWEET LADY
04. THE IMMIGRANT LAD
01. YEAR OF THE GURU

SIDE TWO:

01. ST. JAMES INFIRMARY
02. NEW YORK 1963 – AMERICA 1968