ANIMALS

After the huge succes of DSOTM and WYWH, Animals was commercialy not very good, compared to the precesors the sales were not very high. To make things worse, the album made after this one, The Wall, also was a big hit and sold millions of copies. I'm very happy music isn't about commercial succes, cause Animals is one of the bands most stunning, most powerful albums, it also is the last album before Roger would take control. In fact, Roger had more control than ever before on this album already, but I don't dislike that, Roger is a great musician and all the three albums of Pink Floyd under his lead (This one, The Wall and The Final Cut) were great.

I'll start of with the opener and ender of the album, "Pigs On The Wing (pt.1 & pt.2)". Roger did the lead vocals on these songs and played acoustic guitar on both, they are pretty much the bookends of this album.

The first epic is "Dogs", it's about the corrupt, money obsessed bussinesmen, who are being controled by the Pigs, their big leaders. The song has mellow vocals and a smooth acoustic guitar playing. The song has some softer parts and a lengthy (maybe a little bit too lengthy) synth solo. The Outro of the song is very powerful and confronts the dogs with their personalities. The true highlights of this song are the amazing guitar solo's, lot's of them. The first solo is fast, powerful, and gives me shivers every time I hear it. The second solo is played with two guitars in harmony, it's also great. The third solo is slower, but beautiful, it is the perfect example of a musician putting all of his emotions in his instrument, great job David! The fouth solo is once again a fast solo and the sixth is the same as the second solo. Dogs is an amazing song, beautiful lyrics wich are powerfully sung and great guitar playing, one of the best songs ever made.

After the amazing "Dogs" we get to "Pigs (Three Different Ones)". It's about the powerful leaders who only desire more power than they already have. The lengthy verses are very powerful, and have great lyrics. Mary Whitehouse, who claimed that Pink Floyd influenced young people to take drugs and destroyed their minds, is the one who is paid back in the third verse. The song features a great talkbox solo by David and a lovely outro solo, wich is often extended during live performances of the song.

The next song is "Sheep", it's about the people who always do what they are told because they are afraid of the pigs and the dogs. At the same time sheep is a parody about religion, for an example, during the instrumental section on the background are the lyrics of a psalm heard, whith slightly changed lyrics. The ending of the song is a powerful chord pattern. Sheep is, though being very powerful, much more accesible as "Dogs" and "Pigs (Three Different Ones)", nevertheless, it's a great song.

Animals is Pink Floyds most powerful, maybe even agressive album. Also, it shows slight signs of the dark, haunted mood of The Wall and The Final Cut. The album is essential for any prog collection, and definitely for a Pink Floyd fan!

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