ANIMALS

"Animals" is a brilliant prog rock concept album, by the time of this recording, Roger Waters had basically taken complete control of the band and most of the album was his doing. Inspired by George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm," The songs of the album are named after Animals from the book. Dogs,, is about people who do what ever it takes to get ahead, but eventually die off like everybody else. This song contains one Gilmour's best solos. Pigs (Three Different Ones) is an attack driven song, attacking corporate pigs capitalists , Margaret Thatcher, And Mary Whiteside. Sheep talks about rebellion and the killing of the Dogs. This is Pink Floyd at its best.

1. Pigs on the wing Part 1 - a quiet, one minute acoustic song with Waters as lead vocals. Very good! 4/5

2. Dogs - David Gilmour and Roger Waters talk about one of the three classes of humans in the world. The middle of the song features an outstanding guitar solo from Gilmour, During the middle of the guitar solo, Water starts to sing, and at the end, he sings 'Have a good drown, all alone, dragged down by the stone...' The word 'stone' is then repeated for about a minute while it slowly fades away into nothingness. Essential!! 5/5

3. Pigs (three different ones) - An 11-minute piece, Waters bashes three types of 'pigs' in the world (the third being an actual person): the obese, the homeless, and Mary Whitehouse. I love this track, simply for its strong and powerful lyrics ('Hey you Whitehouse, ha ha, charade you are... Mary, you're nearly a treat, but you're really a cry'), and the great music accompanying Waters' bitter and angry voice. Awesome! 5/5

4. Sheep - My favorite part of the song is when in the background, the words 'stone' start up again from 'Dogs', fitting in perfectly with the melody; it sounds really cool when you actually hear it. 5/5

5. Pigs on the wing Part 2 - is a reprise of Part 1, with different lyrics. 4/5

Final Note: With the powerful lyrics that Waters conveys, its easy to see why Animals is one of, if not the most clever album ever; lyrically speaking. This album intelligently combines the euphoric sound that is the Pink Floyd, with lyrics that are not only listenable, but serve as a lesson in life. This is truly a masterpiece of fine art. Highly Recommended!

4+5+5+5+4 = 23

23 : 5 = 4,6

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music

Curiosity: The original Pink Floyd pig was designed by Roger Waters and built in late December 1976 in preparation for shooting the cover of the Animals album.