The man could tear a song apart right from the first time he had hit way back in 1964 and of course The Animals "House Of The Rising Sun" will always be his most iconic song with it's underlying Geordie threat to the vocals. It also rang the bells of change for pop songs being the longest at around 4 minutes.
He was Hendrix's mate since he'd been brought over to England by Chas Chandler (an ex-Animal) and was the last gig Hendrix played when Eric Burdon and War were playing a week at Ronnie Scott's, London. They were joined by Hendrix on stage on the last night for an impromtu jam. Several days later Jimi was dead in his flat. It was Burden that Jimi's girlfriend first rang when turning for help on the night of the fiasco. Burdon has talked at length in interviews about the events and still appears sad and angered by the whole sorry business.
In 1974 he released probably one of his most least known albums "Sun Secrets" with a lengthy track being a painful exorcism of a prisoners views from the county prison. For fans of Burdon it was one the best and hardest blues of the seventies amongst what was at the time a deluge of underwhelming adult orientated rock (AOR).
Eric Burdon always made tough music. Here is "Letter from the County Farm" in all it's grit and pain.
