ANIMALS

I remember buying this album as it came out in 77 and immediately noticed how different it was from their previous 2 smashes Dark Side (DS) & Wish You Were Here (WYWH). What would make it so different? Roger Waters. Reading the various band comments through this time Roger had started exerting full control over the band. The conflict between Richard Wright and Waters started on this album and would result in his firing during the Wall sessions. DS changed these 4 guys' lives as they suddenly became millionaires and as is so common, almost a necessity, marriages started breaking up and in Gilmour's case he had his first child. This gravely affected the writing and Waters was ready to full steam ahead push the next disc out and the others were going through various personal issues. Gilmour wanted more time to present some ideas but Waters was headstrong and pushed his way through.

Gilmour's own words on the album later were: "It wasn't one of the more productive periods of our life I don't think. We used those two tracks which went back to '74, changed the names, doctored them around and stuck them on the album. I love the album; it was exciting and noisy and fun. It really had some great bits and stuff of effects on there but it was not one of our creative high points really."

In the world of music, bands that pass from no one knowing about them to all out stardom, creates changes and sadly many for the worst. I consider Animals the last of the best of the Floyd albums with Waters. The Wall was way overrated in my opinion and I was not that fond of it when it came out and still am not today. Why? It was essentially a Roger Waters' album. There was very little collaboration. The Final Cut was just an extension of that album and was by far their lowest point musically.

When we read about the band's thoughts of the making of DS we hear of a band that were working well together and everyone was involved sometimes even treading into areas that were not normal theirs. WYWH was also more of a collaboration and it can be seen and felt but even then, Waters was exercising control. I cannot blame him for all of this alone. Again, the band's personal lives were a mess and busy so music took a backstage (pun intended) position rather than being center stage.

All this history and thoughts which my posts seem to have a lot of, the album is different but good. Gilmour only helped write Dogs and the rest was Waters. I personally think that Gilmour is a better vocalist so it would have been good to hear him more but Waters' voice on Sheep was perfect for him to sing. The book end Pigs On The Wong I think are nothing more than filler that really are unnecessary and just take up time on the record.

The sound effects with the various animals (dogs, pigs, sheep) are fine but a little too overdone. The mellow break in the middle of Dogs is somewhat reminiscent of Echoes off Meddle a but it drones on a little too long. Gilmour's guitar work on that song and the album was superb. The 3 main songs all have something to offer but they could have cut down the times a bit and made room for something else.

The best song for me was Sheep. Its attacks are brilliant and relevance to the sociopolitical situation at that time are brilliantly brought forth. As others have noted, like Orwell's writing's the world has taken its ideas far too seriously! It could be a 21st century anthem at this point! Prog wise, it is definitely that so I can give it a higher rating but Animals doesn't come close to touching the greatness of the 2 previous smashes. Sadly this led to the dreaded Wall and worse yet the Final Cut.