The Animal Speaks was written by Akron bandleader of The Numbers Band, Robert Kidney, and recorded for the band’s first album in 1975. Earlier versions of the Numbers Band had Chrissie Hynde’s brother and future members of Devo on board, but by the time they recorded their first album, a live one, they had a different lineup.

They went on to make three albums over the next ten years, popular success didn’t find them the way it did Pere Ubu, let’s say, and for a while Robert Kidney toured with the Golden Palominos.