This album had a huge influence on me politically, and, to a certain degree, still does, although I have, in recent years, become rather tired of his world viewpoint, especially on Israel. But the characters, a kind of Animal Farm set to music, still resonate. “All alone, and dying of cancer”, the fall of a man who thought he had it all, and treated everyone else accordingly. Quite brilliant, really. And the analogy of sheep for humanity following any old sh*te dished out to them still screams loudly.

Musically, it is raw, and as fresh as a daisy, and much credit for this must go to Gilmour as well as Waters. I think that people forget that Gilmour gave his all for this and The Wall, and brought into the concept completely, probably surprisingly for a rather mild, middle class, Guardian reading liberal.

The album is one of the most important in rock history in my opinion. An easy five stars still, and crucial for students of social history in the eyes of a supreme lyricist and artist.

Animals is very special to me; Pink Floyd were the second prog band I discovered. This was when The Wall came out around the beginning of 1980. The Wall, Relics, and Animals were the first things I heard, and Animals impressed me most, I loved how the music flowed and the songs had time to breathe (not so much on The Wall and Relics). I didn't get much of the lyrics at the time and I'm generally often not much interested in lyrics, but this was good for my long term appreciation of the album, because it allowed me to discover another aspect of it over the years when my English got better, and my understanding of the political and societal developments. These days I understand that its music isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it was groundbreaking for me, so it will always have a special place for me. When it comes to having great music that goes perfectly with great lyrics, there's hardly anything better.  

SteveG wrote: I can't think of any album in which the music is so apropos to the lyrics. It's Waters highpoint as a lyricist, imho. Your thoughts please on Animals

Not so sure I'd call Animals as Waters' apex, because both Dogs and Sheep existed at WYWH time.

Floyd was in major financial trouble by the time of recording this album. Their management had done terrible investment and the band itself had built a studio that they will rarely use in the future (unfit to record Animals anyways).

Sooooo, with the band nearly bankrupt, Gilmour & Wright saving their best ideas for their own solo albums the year after and doing other musical endeavours (discovering Kate Bush, for ex) and racing cars (Mason), Waters spend a lot of effort with Rourke to save the band.

Soooo, not sure Waters had that much time to devote much thoughts to new music. The concept of Animals is based on Orwell's  Animal Farm. Don't know precisely when Warers decided to use the two existing tracks and add Three Different Pigs to make it the concept the album became.

In either case, Animals is a masterpiece, but probably also the seed of troubles of what lays ahead for the band's internal squabbles.

I might also add that the financial problems were not prevalent during the recording of Animals. They manifested themselves in 1978 at the time when Waters presented the band with two potential projects. One became The Wall, and the other his debut solo effort, Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.

Wright was sacked because he couldn’t be arsed to do anything, and Mason and 

Gilmour reluctantly went ahead with The Wall, both studio and live, because the band were in danger of utter financial ruin had they not.

The investment scandal had nothing to do with Animals.

Great album, both lyrically and musically. At least 4.5/5, #6 in my ranking of PF studio albums. Nice artwork too.

Highlights: Sheep, Dogs.

I never said it did, but it sure as hell happened before, during and after its recording.

Therefore it was in the background and most probably affecting the bleak mood.

Sorry, Hugues. It didn’t happen, or manifest itself, before and during. It happened after, as I said, when they were planning the follow up album which became The Wall. They had no idea about it during the period before that.

I agree under this point of view.

But, if I had to evaluate the beauty of the musical contents, I would say that Animals is not a peak of Pink Floyd discography.

In my opinion, it is a transition opera, a good album but not a masterpiece. 

Animals is made up of three good rock songs, with a gritty or epic trend, dilated to form suites, but without the structure and arrangements of a suite, they are sober songs, dominated by singing, rhythm and guitar. All in all it is an album that marks a ebb of Pink Floyd towards a more rock sound (guitar oriented), with less experimentation in the arrangements.

Wish You Were Here is more successful from a musical and melodic point of view, and also as a structural organization of the songs. 

The Dark Side of the Moon is more enjoyable and captivating and innovative as a format. 

Atom Heart Mother is definitely more innovative from a prog point of view (the suite) and with more beautiful songs from a melodic point of view.

In short, in my opinion Animlas is a minor art-work of Pink Floyd, good, but that does not reach the heights of their production.

as opposed to the other peak era Floyd albums that are paragons of sunny optimism 

Too many college friends back then played DSOTM and WYWH to the point that I can't really listen to them these days except in small doses. I was 2 years into my marriage before Animals came out and it never really clicked with me....though it is of course a well done piece of music.

It was an icon of its time, especially with Battersea Power Station, the flying Pig, the anti-establishment lyrics, a jaded and bitter album, a cold and pessimistic journey. An 'in the streets' sign of the times. 

I STILL prefer the original versions of the album during the time of the later DSOTM tours ... "Raving and Drooling" was a far out space rocker (for lack of better description) and then "Gotta Be Crazy") was the other big piece ... both went through massive changes until the album was released much later as "Animals" ... AND it was also missing the original cover which Hipgnosis had created according to the Hipgnosis book.

To me, the difference between something that is more ... "free" and better live, to something that became MANIPULATED to (supposedly) make it better, was quite strange and hypocritical in my estimation ... the best writers work on their instinct, not on their ideas ... because ideas change every hour on the hour, so to speak ... and changes would make that original completely different.

For me, "Animals" is the perfect example of over abuse in the originality and creativity which the band had showed before ... for the sake of some kind of "meaningful" bullcrap! It really became a "Roger Waters" album, not a PF album!

While both "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy" are both great tracks in their own right, in my opinion i would have not liked them to have been featured on the Animals album. "Raving and Dueling" was harking back to an Interstellar/Echoes era in sound, and as much as I prefer certain parts of "Gotta Be Crazy" to "Dogs" some of the lyrics and delivery of such had much to be desired. 

Overall the production and feel of Animals could quite easily sum up the mid to late 70s, for me anyways.

Pink Floyd were never really openly about being political in their early incarnation, they were more about making social commentary on society at the time. You are correct though, from Animals forward until their split, you could hear the driving force of politics in Roger Waters lyrics and then even more so when he was unleashed unto his solo career. 

However, to me both Animals and the Wall are also masterpieces. They both have a different sound and production to WYWH and DSOTM, and I like to see some changes in a band as they mature. 

"Raving and Drooling" or "Gotta Be Crazy"? I've heard both versions and I don't mind either. "Gotta Be Crazy" is more developed in terms of where Roger Waters is taking the band and as THE lyricist of the band it's his decision as he gets more and more political with each album after DSOTM. David Gilmour is more interested in the musical side and so they complement each other until the eventual acrimony and split of the band and then we have the influence David Gilmour's wife on the lyric writing on post Roger Waters, Pink Floyd music. 

It's true what you say, but then what does "mature" mean. More polish? Better orchestrated? Superior playing being able to bring in outside musicians? Does that make it more creative or innovative than the earlier incantations of the band? You can argue either way.

iluvmarillion wrote: It's true what you say, but then what does "mature" mean. More polish? Better orchestrated? Superior playing being able to bring in outside musicians? Does that make it more creative or innovative than the earlier incantations of the band? You can argue either way.

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I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you. Robin Williams.

I heard an earlier live version of each of these, not sure whether it's the ones you are alluding to. I'd echo the sentiment of another poster who stated that they wish we'd have an official live release of these. Because the studio versions are quite different indeed, but in my opinion come with their own qualities. I think it's legitimate to work on tracks and change them for the studio version, even if that takes away some of the original charm and spontaneity, and maybe also quality, because it doesn't overwrite the earlier versions - or at least it doesn't "in general perception" if they are officially released. These tracks have a life and develop almost like human beings, and the same character at the age of 60 is different from the age of 25, and both superior and inferior in several respects, which is all fine by me.

iluvmarillion wrote: Basically the lyrics of Animals don't appeal to me. There's a lot wrong with Capitalism and you can argue there was a lot wrong with Donald Trump's tenure as president of the US, but do we have to put up with Roger's diatribe about Capitalism all the time, especially coming from someone who has made all his money from Western Democracy Capitalism? Music should separate itself from the left and right polemics of the world and be more general in criticizing the injustices of the world. Marillion have done it so much better on their last two albums, which have a far more humanistic egalitarian approach to the world's injustices.

This looks to me like a comment on Waters' work in general rather than Animals as an album listened to in isolation. I disagree that "Music should separate itself from the left and right polemics of the world and be more general in criticizing the injustices of the world" - I think music should be about how it sounds in the first place, and when it comes to the lyrics reflect the musicians thoughts, feelings, and observations. The musician may be left, right, rather in between, or whatever. I don't go to music for political messages and this is not the job of music in my view, but in Animals we have a masterful expression of Waters' sentiments and views at the time. It is bleak, sharp, and angry, in my view in a credible way, and this, I'd think, can be appreciated without sharing these views. That Waters went on and on in the same direction is another matter and doesn't have much to do with Animals taken on its own, and how he made his money doesn't have much to do with it either - surely his message isn't that you shouldn't earn a lot of money with music. There are many problems with capitalism but if Waters thinks this is not one of them, I'm fine with that.

Regarding being "general in criticizing the injustices of the world" I'd think if you want to change something, you get into conflict with some people, and probably with whole political streams. If you avoid that, you won't get anywhere ultimately. But then of course it's not the job of music anyway. Feeling Waters' anger and his struggle with where society is heading by listening to PF music surely gives me more of a musical experience than listening to a message to which pretty much everyone agrees anyway. (That said I'm not criticisng Marillion or dispute their authenticity - I'm addressing your point, not their music.)

Now I want to listen to Animals, DSoTM, and WYWH.

Great lyrics, great music, more edgy.

One of the best ever.

I prefer the gentle and subtle allusions of DSOTM to the more direct approach Waters started to take on this one (and also on Wall).  But I love Dogs in particular (and again, it's less in your face and has lines that could be about anybody in general - "you need to lose the weight you used to need to throw around"). Might be my second favourite long piece of Floyd (after Echoes). I love the general direction they took in Animals.  I am in the minority that found WYWH rather sentimental and heavy going for a Floyd album and I appreciate the relatively visceral approach of Animals.  But I have become less satisfied than I used to be with the execution of this approach as well as the lyrical concept. 

Hi,

They were "released", I think it was in a WYWH album that was either remixed or remastered, not sure which. I didn't bother buying it, as I thought that it would be hard to improve on the originals, although the CONCERT version of SHEEP (at least at Anaheim Stadium) was incredible as the massive chord change pretty much took your stomach with it in the middle and it was far out ... but the original was, for me much better and I liked the fell of the space rock thing, which PF kinda showed they could do it with the very best of anyone! There were, I think, never checked, at least 5 or 6 bootlegs that had these originals, and they were all fantastic in feeling and expression ... something that is lacking in the album "Animals", and replaced by a voiced bunch of opinionated comments and disguised as humor or satire!

I'm a writer, and I have never been able to write from ideas ... I don't write about "anything", and when I sit down I do not know what will happen and how ... but the fluidity of the story magically continues and I do not endure the famous "writer's cramp" which is another word for changing what you already had, because your great great mother in law didn't like it, and thought it didn't say anything!

For me, the only changes necessary, at the end mind you, is the clarity of the wording, not the change of the ideas and story, the changes of which myself, or another writer could easily write something else ... and in the case of Roger and PF, I think they had too much time in their hands and too much studio so they could make a few details more "far out" and clean up the lyrics.

A poet, does not worry about his lyrics ... he just flows with it, and this has been shown to be very valuable and important for a lot of people, and PF had a VERY POETIC side to things that disappeared with WYWH, which had been played during the DSOTM tour, but supposedly was not well developed, however, the sad part was, that after that piece, the album became a second version of DSOTM in ideas and concept, and I have always stated that it was the record company that fought against R&D because it was not in the same vein as DSOTM ... to which all of us would have to agree to a great extent, but it also tells you that PF now had the power and ability to do much more of what they wanted, but they must have agreed with each other to do what the record company thought, since it had been very clear before that many bands that "changed" from something to another thing, did not fare very well at all as time went by.

I do not dislike the album "Animals" ... I merely dislike the control of the album to make a point ... which was less of a point before ... and now the band had to make a "statement" of opinion, even if it was just Roger's.

"Animals" for me, is not on the list of top five albums by PF at all ... and I would even likely not list it in a top ten at all since many of the other albums had a beauty and charm that was totally left behind ... something that most artists, writers, painters and musicians hope to be able to do once in their lives and PF did it really well for many years with great results ...