''Eric Is Here'' is a 1967 album billed to

Eric Burdon & the Animals The Animals, currently billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals (featuring original frontman Eric Burdon) and also as Animals & Friends (featuring original drummer John Steel (drummer), John Steel), are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Ne ...

, although the actual bands with Burdon are the

Benny Golson Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...

orchestra and the

Horace Ott Horace Ott (born April 15, 1933) is an American jazz and R&B composer, arranger, record producer, conductor and pianist. He is noted for his work since the late 1950s with a wide variety of artists, including The Shirelles, Don Covay, Nina Si ...

Orchestra.Credits - ''Eric Is Here''

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

. Retrieved 2017-07-07.

History

The album was released in the United States only, by

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

, during the gap between the time that the original incarnation of the Animals broke up, and the new incarnation, billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals, was being formed. The "new" Animals were formed in November 1966, though MGM chose to focus on ''Eric Is Here'' during the initial period of the band's formation and performing career, releasing "Help Me Girl" as a single in December 1966, and the album ''Eric Is Here'' in March 1967. ''Eric Is Here'' featured Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins recording the works of various pop songwriters, accompanied by the orchestras of

and

, with arrangements by Ott and Golson. Ott had co-written "

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964 for her album '' Broadway-Blues-Ballads''. "Don't Let ...

", which had been a 1965 hit for the Animals. Golson had previously co-led, with

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, doub ...

the Jazztet The Jazztet was a jazz sextet, co-founded in 1959 by trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, always featuring the founders along with a trombonist and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section. In its first phase, the Jazztet lasted unti ...

. At the time of recording the album, Golson had given up jazz and was concentrating on orchestral work, as well as contributing to the music of various

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

. It is possible that some members of the first incarnation Animals were present during the sessions, or that the record included material previously recorded by the group.

Song backgrounds

"Help Me Girl" reached No. 29 in the US and No. 14 on Decca F12502 in the UK.

the Outsiders The Outsiders may refer to: Literature and stage * ''The Outsiders'' (novel), a 1967 novel by S. E. Hinton * ''The Outsiders'' (musical), a 2023 musical based on S. E. Hinton's novel * ''The Outsiders'' (play), a 1911 play by Charles Klein * ...

also had a version of the song, which hit No. 37 in the UK. "It's Not Easy" was also a No. 95 hit for the pop group the Will O Bees. It was composed by

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early ...

and

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (October 18, 1940 – June 1, 2023) was an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Weil and Mann were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 2011, they jointly received the ...

, who co-authored the Animals' earlier hit "

We Gotta Get Out of This Place "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", occasionally written "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place", is a rock song written by American songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded as a 1965 hit single by English band the Animals. It has become ...

." "The Biggest Bundle of Them All" was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''

The Biggest Bundle of Them All ''The Biggest Bundle of Them All'' is a 1968 American crime film set in Naples, Italy. The story is about a mobster and a novice gang of crooks who team up to steal $5 million worth of platinum ingots from a train. The film stars Robert Wagne ...

'', with an alternate version of the song in the film. "This Side of Goodbye" is the

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...

and

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

composition " On This Side of Goodbye", originally recorded by

the Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the L ...

(1966).

Track listing

Side one

#"In the Night" (

Tommy Boyce Sidney Thomas Boyce was an American singer songwriter. He was a part of the songwriting team Boyce and Hart with Bobby Hart. Boyce was born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1939. Before writing songs with Hart he released three singles as a solo arti ...

, Bobby Hart) 2:28 #"

Mama Told Me Not to Come "Mama Told Me Not to Come", also written as "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)", is a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman written for Eric Burdon's first solo album in 1966. Three Dog Night's 1970 cover topped the US pop singles chart. Tom ...

" (

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

) 2:15 #"

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (or "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today") is a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It appears on Julius La Rosa's 1966 album ''You're Gonna Hear from Me'', Eric Burdon's 1967 album '' Eric Is Here'', on N ...

" (Randy Newman) 2:01 #" This Side of Goodbye" (

) 3:24 #"That Ain't Where It's At" (Martin Siegel) 2:58 #"True Love (Comes Only Once in a Lifetime)" (Bob Haley, Nevel Nader) 2:33

Side two

Help Me Girl "Help Me Girl" is a song performed by Eric Burdon in 1966. It was billed to Eric Burdon for his 1967 solo album, '' Eric Is Here'' which also featured drummer Barry Jenkins, the only group member besides Burdon to remain during the transition f ...

" (

Scott English Sheldon David "Scott" English (January 10, 1937 – November 16, 2018) was an American songwriter, arranger and record producer. He is best known as the co-writer of "Brandy" which he wrote with Richard Kerr. The song became a No. 1 hit fo ...

Larry Weiss Laurence D. "Larry" Weiss (born March 25, 1941) is an American songwriter and musician. He wrote " Rhinestone Cowboy", a US no.1 hit for Glen Campbell in 1975; and co-wrote " Bend Me, Shape Me", " Hi Ho Silver Lining" and several other internatio ...

) 2:39 #"Wait Till Next Year" (Randy Newman) 2:15 #"Losin' Control" (Carl D'Errico, Roger Atkins) #"It's Not Easy" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) 3:07 #"The Biggest Bundle of Them All" (

Ritchie Cordell Ritchie Cordell (born Richard Joel Rosenblatt; March 10, 1943 – April 13, 2004) was an American songwriter, singer and record producer. He wrote and produced several hits for Tommy James and the Shondells, including " I Think We're Alone ...

, Sal Trimachi) 2:11 #"It's Been a Long Time Comin'" (

Jimmy Radcliffe James Radcliffe (November 18, 1936 – July 27, 1973) was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer. Biography James Radcliffe was born in New York City. He released such singles as "My Ship is Coming In", a so ...

, Joey Brooks) 2:42 Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7 and 10–12 arranged and conducted by Horace Ott Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 arranged and conducted by Benny Golson

Personnel

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer and songwriter. He was previously the lead vocalist of the rhythm and blues, R&B and Rock music, rock band The Animals and the funk band War (band), War. He is regarded as one of the Br ...

– vocals *

Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film '' Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Inde ...

– drums * The Horace Ott and Benny Golson Orchestras

Other personnel

Source: *

Val Valentin Luis Pastor "Val" Valentin (January 6, 1920 – March 24, 1999) was an American recording engineer with six decades of work in the music industry. Much of his work was done for MGM Records and Verve Records. His large discography includes Jazz al ...

– direction *

– arranger, conductor *

Nancy Reiner Nancy Beth Reiner (April 21, 1942 - September 9, 2006)

– cover art *Acy Lehman – cover design *Bill McMeehan – recording engineer *Gene Radice – sound mixer

References

{{authority control Eric Burdon albums 1967 albums Albums produced by Tom Wilson (record producer) MGM Records albums Albums arranged by Benny Golson Albums conducted by Benny Golson Albums arranged by Horace Ott Albums conducted by Horace Ott