Love Is
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Album Summary
"Love Is" came into the world in 1968, a year when the whole musical universe was shifting beneath everybody's feet, and Eric Burdon & The Animals were right there in the thick of it, refusing to stand still. Released on MGM Records, this double album found Burdon and his new configuration of the band — a group reborn from the ashes of the original Animals lineup — reaching deep into the psychedelic soul of the era and pulling out something raw, ambitious, and restless. Produced during sessions that captured the band at a crossroads, the record wore its influences openly: the shimmer of psychedelia, the heat of soul, and that unmistakable blues-rock backbone that Burdon never could — and never would — shake loose. It was the sound of a man and a band betting everything on reinvention, cutting these tracks as the Summer of Love was fading into something harder and more uncertain.
Reception
- "Love Is" did not replicate the commercial heights of the band's earlier 1960s work, failing to match the chart impact of their iconic singles from the original Animals era.
- Critical reception at the time of release was divided, with some reviewers appreciating Burdon's bold stylistic reach across soul, psychedelia, and blues-rock, while others found the album's sprawling double-LP ambition difficult to reconcile into a unified whole.
Significance
- "Love Is" stands as one of the most earnest and full-bodied documents of the late-1960s psychedelic soul movement, with Eric Burdon stretching his voice and vision across covers of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep Mountain High" and Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" alongside original material, demonstrating a fearless eclecticism that few of their contemporaries matched.
- The album marked a defining moment in Eric Burdon's artistic evolution, showcasing his transition from British R&B frontman to a deeper, more spiritually searching performer, with tracks like "As The Years Go Passing By" and "Madman" revealing a vocal maturity and emotional gravity that set the stage for his later work.
- As a double album released on MGM Records in 1968, "Love Is" reflected the era's expanding appetite for ambitious, long-form rock statements, placing Eric Burdon & The Animals in conversation with the grand psychedelic gestures being made across the Atlantic and on the West Coast during that pivotal year.
Tracklist
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A1 River Deep Mountain High —
7:20
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A2 I'm An Animal 97
5:32
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A3 I'm Dying (Or Am I) —
4:32
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B1 Ring Of Fire 88
5:25
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B2 Colored Rain —
9:40
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C1 To Love Somebody 75
7:20
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C2 As The Years Go Passing By 169
10:12
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D1 Madman —
8:00
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D2 Gemini 91
10:45
Artist Details
Eric Burdon & The Animals were a bold reinvention of the original British Invasion Animals, led by the raw and soulful voice of Newcastle-born Eric Burdon, who reshaped the group in 1966 with a new lineup and a sound that leaned deep into psychedelic rock, blues, and the swirling spirit of the San Francisco counterculture movement. They gave the world timeless grooves like San Franciscan Nights and Monterey, painting musical portraits of the late-60s zeitgeist that felt like dispatches from the front lines of a generation in beautiful, turbulent flux. Their work stands as a crucial bridge between the British blues boom and the psychedelic era, cementing Eric Burdon as one of rock and soul's most passionate and underappreciated voices.
