ANIMALS

Pink Floyd's 'Animals' is their second mainstream bluesrock infused symphonic progrock album, right after 'Wish You Were Here'. By now all sixties psychedelic charm is replaced by a disciplined and rather cold production that does sound rather good on a high-fi set. The short opening 'Pigs on the Wings' is symptomatic for the psychedelic preacher-like persona Roger Waters would pick for himself. The opening chords of 'Dogs' have a mystical charm about them and this section will prove to be the best the first side of the record has to offer. The rest of the song has some good synth and modernized bluesrock sections, but ends up not delivering on its promise. The whole 'Who was born in a house full of pain'-section is rather blunt in my opinion. On side two 'Pigs (Three different ones)' is one of the weakest tracks the band recorded in the seventies. To me it sounds like an awful reworking of 'Inside the Machine', which was also based on the same two-chord pattern. The ten minutes of 'Sheep' prove to be the highlight of the album; a strong and exciting space-rock song with a great instrumental section. In some way a good follow-up of what was established on the innovative 'One of These Days', back in 1971. Also a track that gets a spin once in a while on classic rock radio stations and will likely be the best song of that particular hour. As a whole this proved to be an lp I could give away to a friend who was quite happy with it, with me having not a single feeling of remorse. On the next album 'The Wall' the band (or rather Roger Waters) would find new song formats, atmospheres and lyrical ideas, which would prove much needed to regain my interest in Pink Floyd's music.