ANIMALS

This album is great.... The matter is going on from a long time, but I never understood it: Everybody, I mean critics, fans, people generally talking, when they deal with this album always complain the role reserved to Richard Wright in the album, his absence.... In this album there's plenty of keyboards parts, there's no lack of him at all, the fact that Roger here took comlete control of the band doesn't affect Wright contribution to the work...of course not the same matter talking about "The Wall", but that's another story. We've got to think about Wright as maybe the most relevant part in the making of Floyd's own sound, and in this album, because this is a review, Floyd's sound is always there; it is also in my opinion very close to its predecessor "Wish You Were Here".

Let's talk about the songs

The weakest moments in it are surely Pigs on the wings p.1 and 2..which respectively open and close "Animals"...two songs very simple featuring Roger singing accompained only by an acoustic guitar. The songs are quite complex especially "Dogs" which has tempo changes, mood changes, and it is articulated in a way recalling the same way "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", in fact this song was supposed to be inserted in the "Wish You Were Here" album, but then it's been left on the shelf until 1977. With "Pigs (three different ones)" we can assist to Roger favorite argument: politic, in fact this song's lyrics are very strong and accuse Mary Whitehouse and some other politician of that era. Sheep is about those people who tend to "follow the leader" too much, so hypocrites and those who refuse to have personal thoughts and ideas, and let somebody else thinking for them; musically this song is the most direct and energic,for sure.

It's a great album, often underestimated, but very Floydian.

4 stars for sure.