I Used to Be an Animal But I'm All Right Now

The rock world has generated scores of books by music journalists and pop historians but few autobiographies, and here rock-blues singer Burdon, who led the Animals to international fame in the '60s, reveals the inner sanctum of the rock scene in a way that shows the limitations of outsiders' efforts. With telling observations, he chronicles his Newcastle childhood (attending a school sandwiched between a slaughterhouse and a shipyard), London R & B clubs of the early '60s, gigs in the U.S. (where Burdon played a key role in trying to break down racial barriers), orgiastic sex, endless parties and ""years of lunacy,'' recording-business ripoffs and his acquaintance with other stars such as Dylan, Jagger, Lennon, Joplin, Morrison and Hendrix. The author's considerable writing skill makes his escapades especially vivid and captures the winding down of the psychedelic era with hauntingly descriptive details, as, for example, in his portrait of paranoia in Los Angeles after the Sharon Tate murders. (March)