ANIMALS

"Animals" has always struck me not only as powerful, but also quite an important album. It is probably one of the strongest speaking and direct concept albums in rock history and strikes me as being a masterpiece. It is a concept album, based loosely on the roles of the animals in George Orwell's "Animal Farm", categorising humans as either Pigs (self righteous leaders), Dogs (greedy and money-hungry), or Sheep (mindless and unquestioning). But the concept is far deeper. It questions the human race in general, and how we all fit into it. The album is incredibly bitter and cynical, but is a pleasurable listening experience and ends on a surprisingly positive note.

This album holds some wonderful memories for me, I listened to "Animals" many, many times before I realised just how special it really is. It was appealing to me even before realising that it was a masterpiece - the music is colourful and powerful, and the lyrics are smart and direct. In my opinion, this is Pink Floyd's strongest album lyrically. But what makes this album is not only the lyrics, but how they are communicated. Despite the length of the tracks, the music of the album is incredibly direct and gets straight to the point. Another thing that I love about this album, is that this is probably the last "Roger Waters era Pink Floyd" album to have a distinct feeling of musical harmony between the members. Though most of the material was written by Roger Waters, there is an obvious sense of collaboration between the band members that is not present in any of their later releases.

Many people state "Animals" as David Gilmour's strongest moment. I can't fully disagree - the album contains some of the finest and edgiest guitar work ever presented. I find it surprising that "Pigs" isn't recognised as one of David Gilmour's greatest guitar solos. Richard Wright's synthesisers are excellent too, and they create an atmosphere that really makes the album what it is.

This is an album which should be listened to from top to tail to get the proper listening experience, though I do have a favourite track, which is "Dogs". It gives me chills on every listen and deserves recognition as one of the greatest progressive rock songs of all time.

Pink Floyd has been my very favourite band for as long as I can remember, and so it is no surprise that I give this album a solid 5 stars. But "Animals" has earned it's place among the essential progressive rock albums and deserves to be recognised as a masterpiece.