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Pink Floyd - Animals CD (album) cover

ANIMALS

Pink Floyd

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

4.53 | 4094 ratings

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Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer
5 stars To open i'd like to quote Will Romano from his book "Mountans Come Out Of The Sky". "While FLOYD clearly still owed a tremendous debt to Barrett (if, for nothing else, the concept of madness and the strain of madness being shoved under Waters' nose as a viable theme for rock records), the band increasingly became a vehicle for Waters' repressed anger, misanthropy, and childhood scars.This was never more apparent than on the next three albums released by the band-1977's "Animals",1979's "The Wall" and 1983's "The Final Cut". At it's most basic, "Animals", written nearly entirely by Waters(perhaps informed by George Orwell), divides the human race into these classifications: pigs (the priviledged and ruling classes), dogs (the rebels, mavericks, hunters) and sheep(everyday people just trying to get through their lives). By personifying animals, it forces us to see human behaviour and archetypal human personality traits more objectively." It should be mentioned that Gilmour and Wright didn't view mankind with the same kind of cynicism.

So like the last two albums Waters takes care of the lyrics while Gilmour creates the music. Usually Wright helped Gilmour with the music but not here as it becomes the Waters and Gilmour show. Two of the tracks on this album were originally written for the "Wish You Were Here" album but left off. "Raving And Drooling" became "Sheep" and "Gotta Be Crazy" became "Dogs". It's intersting from the original titles how much more "Wish You Were Here" could have been about Syd. Instead the music industry became a target for Waters' and the bands wrath, while on "Animals" Waters takes a shot at society.This would be the first album not recorded at Abbey Road Studios by the band, instead they did it in their own studio.

"Pigs On The Wing 1" and "Pigs On The Wing 2" are the bookends of this scathing work, and almost seem to have been added to soften the blow of this bitter reality or to encourage us that as long as we have someone to love and who loves us then all is well. Waters apparently originally wrote this song as a love song to his wife, and except for the song titles they seem out of place except for the above reasons. "Dogs" is one of my favourite PINK FLOYD songs and it's hard for me to give a reason why. I just love it. I do really like it when the song slows down and you can hear the dogs barking and then Gilmour's guitar just soars. Gilmour sings on the first half of this tune and Waters the second half.

"Pigs(Three different ones)" specifically points out three "pigs"(real people) and really rakes them through the coals. The vocal melody with the guitar is catchy. I'm reminded of THE BEATLES when the vocals are distorted. Some great scorching guitar from Gilmour before this one is over. "Sheep" has a jazzy intro before it gets uptempo with intense vocals.

This album certaily doesn't have the uplifting and emotional moments that "Dark Side Of The Moon","Wish You Were Here" or "The Wall" has, but it is still an amazing record in it's own way. I'm surprised at how abrasive the instrumental work can be as Gilmour really made the kind of music to suit Waters' lyrics. This has perhaps their most famous cover art next to "The Dark Side Of The Moon". Highly recommended of course. This is a top three FLOYD album for me with "Meddle" (second) and my favourite "Dark Side Of The Moon".

Mellotron Storm | 5/5 |

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