As the 1960s drew to a close, Burdon and his new Animals released a final album, Love Is, featuring future Police guitarist Andy Summers, then disbanded. Burdon returned to the spotlight almost immediately, teaming with harp legend Lee Oskar and producer Jerry Goldstein to form the groundbreaking blues and funk crossover band WAR in 1969.

“There were other things in my life that I wanted to do,” Burdon says of his progression from the Animals to WAR. “Also, I loved black music. That was America to me, along with the terrible journey experienced by Native Americans. What other culture does this great country have? Race has been and is the real test for this land to emerge as a true democracy.”

WAR’s debut album, Eric Burdon Declares WAR, was an instant success, featuring the song “Tobacco Road” as well as the international hit “Spill the Wine.” The band toured extensively, and completed one more album, The Black-Man’s Burdon, before Burdon left the group in late 1970.

“By the time I got together with WAR, I felt I could apply myself to anything and make it work,” he says of the experience. “However, it was not as easy as I expected. You think you know race until it’s in your face.”

Burdon says his next project was a personal favorite, pairing with blues great Jimmy Witherspoon to record the 1971 album Guilty, later released on CD as Black & White Blues. “I wrote on the sleeve notes, ‘Oil is the Devil,’” he explains. “I still think it is.”

Burdon’s career changed directions again after that collaboration, as he reunited with the original Animals to release a new album, Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted, in 1977. The band also reunited for a successful UK tour in 1983, producing the studio album Ark and the live album Rip It to Shreds. After that release, Burdon resumed touring as a solo artist, teaming with ex-Doors guitarist Robby Krieger for the live album Access All Areas, and completed the manuscript for his first autobiography, I Used to Be an Animal, But I’m Alright Now.

He also found time to star in some prominent film and TV roles, including appearances in
China Beach and Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Acting is still one of Burdon’s greatest passions, and he has also had memorable roles in several successful independent and foreign films. “I did one in Germany,” he says. “Several, actually, but one I’m proud of. It never saw the light of day—its title was Snowfall on New Year’s Eve.

The original Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and Burdon continued touring throughout the ’90s as Eric Burdon’s I Band, producing two live albums and completing his second autobiography Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. The live albums, The Official Live Bootleg and The Official Live Bootleg #2, were intended as a clear statement against the ever-growing bootleg industry, which Burdon says he still has mixed feelings about.

“My basic belief is that music should be free,” he says. “Really, I couldn’t care less, but then again one must eat. I have collectors all over me like a plague of rats. What’s left of me, you’re welcome to it, if you can get away with it.”

The Animals were inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in 2001, and Burdon followed this success with the release of a new solo album called My Secret Life in 2004. The following year, he released a live album called Athens Traffic Live, recorded in Athens, Greece during a European tour.

These days, Burdon still shows no signs of slowing down, touring virtually non-stop and continuing to release solid albums of relevant and soulful blues. His latest album, Soul of a Man, was released in 2006 as a response to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans.

“It’s a good album with good intentions, great musicians, and wonderfully simple arrangements,” Burdon says. “The album was a response to Katrina. Old songs proving that nothing much has changed since the time those songs were written.”

Fresh off a US and Canadian tour with Hippiefest, Burdon says he is also working on both a studio album and a new live disc. “I just did a one-off reunion performance with WAR in London at Royal Albert Hall,” he says. “I’ve also been really busy with TV and radio appearances. I’m constantly working on new projects, CDs, DVDs, and paintings, and I just cut a track called ‘For What It’s Worth’ for a benefit CD for children of war in Africa.”

As usual, Burdon is also preparing to go on the road, this time for a series of early 2009 shows across North America. “It’s my duty, my vocation,” he says of his extensive touring. “Without music and movies and books, I’m soulless.”

Watch: The Animals, “It’s My Life” [at youtube.com]

Tags: Eric Burdon, Animals, WAR

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