Album Review: 'Til Your River Runs Dry by Eric Burdon

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Eric Burdon has released an album of entirely new songs, and whoever is doing his promo seems to be doing a great job!

He just might start to get the recognition that he so richly deserves, for that matter!

When you listen to this album  the one thing that strikes you immediately is just how distinct his voice sounds. It is his trademark, and it remains very recognizable and distinctive, even after all of these years (and presumably, after considerable substance abuse, which he himself admits to in his autobiography, "I Used To Be An Animal...But I'm All Right Now".

There are some real gems in the album. One such beautiful song is the eight track, a slow, brooding, reflective piece called "27 forever". It seems almost to flirt with the idea of joining the group of rock stars that have died at the age of 27. This is a rather surprisingly long list, which includes numerous musicians of Eric Burdon's generation, such as Brian  Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison of the Doors. More recently, some big names that have joined  Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Kristen Pfaff of Hole, and most recently, Amy Winehouse.

I remember Kurt Cobain's suicide, and how shocking that was. He was the first real rock star that I closely followed who died at such a young age. I remember a quote by his mother that I must have read in some paper at the time, where she said in reference to her son's death by suicide, "Now he's gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that stupid club."

Burdon takes a different approach in this song, almost seemingly longing for the opportunity (missed long ago, in his case) to, as he puts it:

"To stay at this level 
And be 27 forever"

Nor is this the only reflective piece about musicians. He has a relative throw back song "Bo Diddley Special", that has a bluesy feel to it, and hearkens back to the days of the Animals and "The Story of Bo Diddley". There is even a tease in the song of that old Animals piece.

He delves into politics a bit (being an old hippie, is this really surprising?) in "Invitation to the White House", and it is hard to tell whether he is criticizing the President, or really referring to a dream about him asking Burdon's advice. He slips into politics several points in his lyrics throughout the album. The opening song, "Water", seems to hint at a political message, although it could be interpreted as putting out the fire (which could be interpreted as substance abuse) with water. Just a guess, and I'd have to watch or read one of his promotional interviews to say for sure, if he addresses that.

The album is good, solid rock, although he also at times shows the R & B roots of the early Animals, when he was just making a name for himself.

In any case, this was a very good and enjoyable album. It had been a very long time since I'd heard original music from Burdon, and not some rehashing of old stuff. So, kudos to him on a solid effort of original work! Hopefully, he'll be doing a follow up tour, and do some of these works live!