Pink Floyd - Animals

Genre: Progressive Rock, Pink Floyd

Released: Capital Records 1977



The Band:
Guitar: Dave Gilmour
Bass Guitar: Roger Water
Drums: Nick Mason
Keyboards: Richard Wright

Track List:
1. Pigs On the Wing 1
2. Dogs
3. Pigs (Three Diffrent Ones)
4. Sheep
5. Pigs On the Wing 2

Background Information
Released in 1977, following the incredibly popular Wish Were Here(1975), Animals is seen by many as a turning point for the band. Roger Waters starts to take control of the band on this album. Many people did not respond well to this "new" Pink Floyd portrayed on this album, with the dark and angry music and lyrics. The ablum is based on George Orwell's Animal Farm, the political novel about communist Russia. The album describes the three classes of humans - The dogs, who are the animals used by the pigs to supress the other animals and are only looking out for their own good, the Pigs, who are the smartest of all the animals and use it to control the farm, and the Sheep, who are the mindless followers of the Pigs.

Track By Track:
Pigs On the Wing 1:
A nice, slow, acoustic song, which I find completely necessary to set up the rest of the album. Waters writes this song more as a love song for his new wife, Carolyne Christie. Acording to Waters, this song and the other Pigs On the Wing are the only things that kept him from making it a 45-minute "Scream Of Rage"
4/5

Dogs:
The album's centerpiece, and truley one of Pink Floyd's best songs. This song was played live as early as 3 years earlier, under the original title "You've Gotta Be Crazy." The dark lyrics in this song, such as "the stone", is Water's symbol of depression and his own emotions that clearly lead to The Wall. This song features amazing guitar work by Gilmour, and even at 17 minutes, it will not leave your bored. There is a cool middle section where the word "stone" is repeated over and over again in the backgroud. A must hear for any Pink Floyd fan.
5/5

Pigs (Three Different Ones):
The Pigs are the animals who impose their will and thoughts on all the other animals in order to control them. Waters attacks three different people in this soung - Obese People, Homeless People, and Mary Whitehouse, a leader in fighting for censorship in Britain who had attacked Pink Floyd on issues before. One of the harder-rocking Pink Floyd songs, the instruments are again fantastic and the Gilmour solo does not disappoint.
5/5

Sheep:
The albums final epic, the sheep are the mindless animals who follow whatever the Pigs say and are easily controlled through fear of the Dogs. Again, it is more of a hard rock song the most Pink Floyd, it fits into this album well. The band began playing this song live around the same time Dogs was introduced, under the title "Raving and Drooling". Like Pigs and Dogs, there is a creepy interlude part. The riff which closes out the song is amazing, probably my favorite Floyd riff ever.
5/5

Pigs On the Wing 2:
The "Bookends" of the album, and is very similar to the first one.
This song is a positive way to end such a negative album, again dealing with Waters new love and happiness. Essential for the album, but nothing special as a song.
3.5/5 (just because its nearly identical to the first song)

Overall, I give Animals a 4.5/5. It is my personal favorite Floyd Album, however, I do realize it's not for everybody. Many people prefer the lighter Pink Floyd on albums such as Dark Side and Wish You Were Here, but I enjoy Waters new direction found on Animals. To me you get the musical quality of Wish You Were Here mixed with Waters strong influence of the Wall. It's probably my favorite Floyd Album.

Great Review Lunch998, I would give it a 4/5 though.

Yea most people probably would. But since its my favorite Floyd, I tried to stick up for it.

Great review :thumb: I don't own this album.

It's a must own.

Good review, this is probably my favorite Floyd album

I changed it to only a 4.5/5, just because 5/5 implies that just about everybody will like the CD, and thats probably not true for Animals.

I really need to check out Animal Farm, it would make listening to this CD more interesting.

Yea, I plan to start reading it soon. Plus you can never have enough of communist Russia. :thumb:

Good job lunch :thumb: You did it justice, and Animal Farm is a great book.

I was hoping I wouldn't dissapoint.