Album Roundtable 10/26 - Animals

[Dawn]

Today’s album is:




Animals
Pink Floyd[/b]
Released January 23, 1977 UK / February 2, 1977 US

The track listing:
1. Pigs on the Wing (Part 1)
2. Dogs
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
4. Sheep
5. Pigs on the Wing (Part 2)

Like the albums I have featured most recently in Roundtable posts, this is an album I discovered after joining YL. I had heard only one of these songs, Sheep, which was included on the compilation A Collection of Great Dance Songs that I bought when I was 17, but hearing it out of the context of the Animals album, it didn’t make as much of an impression on me as it would later on. After reading discussions and recommendations from Adam, Pete, and others on YL and here on the Click, I was intrigued, and heard Dogs and Pigs (Three Different Ones) not long after that. Some time later, I became familiar with the two Pigs on the Wing tracks.

The concept of Animals was based on George Orwell’s satirical novel, Animal Farm, which classified all of contemporary mankind into three animal classes based on their standing and relationship to society. It’s a very dark, cynical album, with very vivid imagery in the lyrics from Roger Waters, and is among the most progressive of their post-Dark Side material. Although classic rock radio here has a tendency to overplay their ‘70s albums, especially Dark Side and The Wall, this is the one album that I never hear on any of the stations – in fact, a DJ on one of them once mentioned that his station didn’t even have a copy of it at the time. It’s a shame, too, as this album is very well done.

Dogs, a 17+ minute saga, is the crown jewel of the album. It starts out with soft acoustic guitar and keyboard, then gradually builds up in intensity before changing tempos and styles several times throughout the song. Despite the song’s length, it never grows boring, as there is always something interesting going on, and David Gilmour contributes some superb guitar solos throughout. Though at one time Sheep was my favorite song on Animals, in recent listenings, this track has edged that out.

Pigs (Three Different Ones) is an interesting track featuring oinking sound effects which begin the song and recur throughout, and again, some outstanding guitar work, especially on the extended instrumental segments. Though not as varied as Dogs, it’s a great piece with the classic Pink Floyd sound. I like to crank the last two minutes of this song way up – that guitar is awesome, and I love the bassline.

Sheep, the shortest of the main tracks, begins with Rick Wright’s soothing electric keyboard melody accompanied by distant sheep sound effects, before segueing into an intense, full-out rocker. It’s probably the eeriest of the three main songs, with some very sinister-sounding keyboard chord changes and muted vocal effects in the middle section.

The two short and very similar Pigs on the Wing tracks bookend the album, and their sparse but effective acoustic arrangement is a neat contrast to the much more lushly arranged main tracks.

This is a very complex and well-produced album, and one that I enjoy more and more with each listen. I would rank it second only to Dark Side of the Moon as my favorite album from their catalog.

What are your thoughts?

[SAT-I need more room!!]

Great one Dawn! Was this on that huge list I submitted to you? LOL!

To me, this is similar to Zeppelin's Presence album, which was released within a year of this one, in that it is a dark album and seems to be a forgotten album in their cataloges. Not to mention that the songs are rarely if ever played.

I remember seeing the album in my ex-girlfriend's brother's collection and not knowing a thing about it. Because I never heard anything from it, I dismissed it as some experimental album that must not have been that great. Boy was I wrong!

I really learned this album at the bar Bekki and I used to hang out at when we were dating. I know I've told this before, but they had the jukebox rigged where as soon as there was silence, it would cut out to the radio. Well during parts of Dogs, you can barely hear anything, so bits of other songs kept cutting in!

Anyway, someone there would play Pigs (Three Different Ones) and Dogs all the time and I thought, "Wow, what great, epic songs!" So dark and so cool.

Absolutely LOVE the drawn out fade in of Dogs. That's probably the darkest song to me. I like how it keeps building up to all these little explosions throughtout the song.

I have a tough time deciding if I like Dogs or Pigs better. I knew and liked Pigs first, but Dogs is just so cool.

I couldn't get into Sheep at first. (Wait, that just sounds sick!) I was surprised that they took that song to represent Animals on Dance Songs, but I guess because it was the shortest of three. I eventually warmed up to it and like it more now. And how cool is it to have a bible passage in the middle of all that?

I think one of the coolest things is how all the songs connect (well almost). It's like you can picture a video where they move to each scene of animals. I used to love cranking Dogs and having my dog Nikko go crazy hearing the dogs barking in the middle! LOL!

For me, this is the best Floyd album-SO underrated, and even stepping back and being more objective, I like it TONS more than Dark Side.

[KittyKat - RIP Luciano]

I'll refrain from making too many negative comments - suffice to say, this album is one of the main reasons I can't stand Floyd.
I loved reading your comments though.

[SAT-I need more room!!]

kittykat said:

I'll refrain from making too many negative comments - suffice to say, this album is one of the main reasons I can't stand Floyd.
I loved reading your comments though.

Oh no, I'd like you to say more! Especially since you said it's this album specifically that makes you not like it! I won't take offense!

[Ken]

Hey Dawn



I remember talking to Adam about the album and telling him how I fell asleep once while listening to it - LOL I borrowed the album from my oldest brother. He bought the album back in the 70's along with Wish You Were Here. I used to love to look at the cover when I was a kid.

My classic rock station has started to play selections from it more and more over the past year and a half or so. Before that they seemed to all but ignore it prefering to play tracks from Dark Side, The Wall or Wish You Were Here. If I had to pick a favorite track it would be Dogs - I love the atmosphere of the song.

[Dawn]

sat said:

Great one Dawn! Was this on that huge list I submitted to you? LOL!

To me, this is similar to Zeppelin's Presence album, which was released within a year of this one, in that it is a dark album and seems to be a forgotten album in their cataloges. Not to mention that the songs are rarely if ever played.

I couldn't get into Sheep at first. (Wait, that just sounds sick!) I was surprised that they took that song to represent Animals on Dance Songs, but I guess because it was the shortest of three. I eventually warmed up to it and like it more now. And how cool is it to have a bible passage in the middle of all that?

I think one of the coolest things is how all the songs connect (well almost). It's like you can picture a video where they move to each scene of animals. I used to love cranking Dogs and having my dog Nikko go crazy hearing the dogs barking in the middle! LOL!

I agree with you about both of those albums being forgotten. I've read that this one wasn't critically very well-received at the time, which I can't quite understand, as it's very well done.

I'm thinking that's why they chose Sheep also, although Pigs (Three Different Ones) is only a minute or so longer.

LOL - poor Nikko! That reminds me of our cats when I play Pet Sounds - they always start looking around wide-eyed when they hear the dogs barking at the end of Caroline, No!

[Dawn]

kittykat said:

I'll refrain from making too many negative comments - suffice to say, this album is one of the main reasons I can't stand Floyd.
I loved reading your comments though.

Thanks Kitty. But, like Adam, I'm curious as to what it is about this album that you dislike. Is it the length of the songs, or the lyrics?

[Dawn]

kenfrank said:

Hey Dawn



I remember talking to Adam about the album and telling him how I fell asleep once while listening to it - LOL I borrowed the album from my oldest brother. He bought the album back in the 70's along with Wish You Were Here. I used to love to look at the cover when I was a kid.

My classic rock station has started to play selections from it more and more over the past year and a half or so. Before that they seemed to all but ignore it prefering to play tracks from Dark Side, The Wall or Wish You Were Here. If I had to pick a favorite track it would be Dogs - I love the atmosphere of the song.

Hi Ken!

LOL - I think I remember that post! I agree that the artwork on the cover is very cool. While I was getting background info for the review, I happened upon a story about the cover photo - apparently the pig balloon somehow became untethered after one of the photo sessions, and eventually drifted onto a farm in Germany!

That's great that the classic rock station there has begun playing some of these tracks. I wish the stations here would.

[m c dornan]

It's a difficult LP to like. I prefer the pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd. On this one, I don't like any of the "pigs" songs, but do like "Dogs" and "Sheep". "Sheep" has a great rocking guitar solo at the end that's very unusual for them.

If you listen closely, you'll see that the distorted vocal reading in the middle of "Sheep" is a parody of the 23rd Psalm...

[KittyKat - RIP Luciano]

In response to Sat and Dawn's request that I elaborate on my dislike of Floyd or this album in particular I was kind of having a hard time putting my feelings into words, and then I read Ken's comment:

I remember talking to Adam about the album and telling him how I fell asleep once while listening to it

Exactly! This album for me is not musically interesting. Are the songs long? Yes, but there are plenty of other albums by other artists that I like that have songs that are just as long.
It's not the song length for me but the lack of substance that bothers me. The lyrics aren't really the issue here. I don't like much Prog rock in general but the stuff I do like has music that intrigues me in some way and Animals doesn't cut it for me.

Anyway, I'll stop ranting now.

[SAT-I need more room!!]

kenfrank said:

Hey Dawn



I remember talking to Adam about the album and telling him how I fell asleep once while listening to it - LOL I borrowed the album from my oldest brother. He bought the album back in the 70's along with Wish You Were Here. I used to love to look at the cover when I was a kid.

My classic rock station has started to play selections from it more and more over the past year and a half or so. Before that they seemed to all but ignore it prefering to play tracks from Dark Side, The Wall or Wish You Were Here. If I had to pick a favorite track it would be Dogs - I love the atmosphere of the song.

I was gonna ask you-you really don't like this? I knew you-like I-were sick of Dark Side and Wall, but I didn't know you didn't like Floyd on the whole.

[Ken]

sat said:

kenfrank said:

Hey Dawn



I remember talking to Adam about the album and telling him how I fell asleep once while listening to it - LOL I borrowed the album from my oldest brother. He bought the album back in the 70's along with Wish You Were Here. I used to love to look at the cover when I was a kid.

My classic rock station has started to play selections from it more and more over the past year and a half or so. Before that they seemed to all but ignore it preferring to play tracks from Dark Side, The Wall or Wish You Were Here. If I had to pick a favorite track it would be Dogs - I love the atmosphere of the song.

I was gonna ask you-you really don't like this? I knew you-like I-were sick of Dark Side and Wall, but I didn't know you didn't like Floyd on the whole.

I like them in small doses.I'm nowhere near as burned out on Animals as I am with The Wall or Dark Side. I like early Floyd - See Emily Play , Arnold Layne etc because my local station doesn't play them quite as much.

I like the band's musicianship - they are great players . It's just that my local station has been known to play their songs multiple times EVERY day - they don't play The Beatles as much as they do Floyd or Zeppelin.

[Ken]

admin said:

kenfrank said:

Hey Dawn



I remember talking to Adam about the album and telling him how I fell asleep once while listening to it - LOL I borrowed the album from my oldest brother. He bought the album back in the 70's along with Wish You Were Here. I used to love to look at the cover when I was a kid.

My classic rock station has started to play selections from it more and more over the past year and a half or so. Before that they seemed to all but ignore it prefering to play tracks from Dark Side, The Wall or Wish You Were Here. If I had to pick a favorite track it would be Dogs - I love the atmosphere of the song.

Hi Ken!

LOL - I think I remember that post! I agree that the artwork on the cover is very cool. While I was getting background info for the review, I happened upon a story about the cover photo - apparently the pig balloon somehow became untethered after one of the photo sessions, and eventually drifted onto a farm in Germany!

That's great that the classic rock station there has begun playing some of these tracks. I wish the stations here would.

I seem to recall reading about that same story.