ANIMALS

"Animals" is the 10th full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Pink Floyd. The album was released through Harvest/EMI in January 1977. Most of the music on the album was written by bassist/vocalist Roger Waters, who at this point in Pink Floyd´s career, would more or less take over the creative process in the band. Guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour is credited as co-writer on the track "Dogs" though. Keyboard player Richard Wright has on more than one occassion commented that "Animals" was the album were Roger Waters ego centered ways really came out and the seed for the inevitable split of Pink Floyd was sown here.

"Animals" is indeed the brainchild of Roger Waters. The man wrote all the lyrics, wrote most of the music and sings most of the vocals too, leaving only a couple of vocal lines on "Dogs" for David Gilmour. As a consequence "Animals" comes off as a very different album compared to it´s two commercially successful predecessors "Dark Side of the Moon (1973)" and "Wish You Were Here (1975)". Personally I think "Animals" is the most progressive sounding rock album Pink Floyd ever made (if you don´t count the early psychadelic experimentation as progressive rock).

The album features 5 tracks. The two short tracks "Pigs on the Wing Part 1" and "2" bookend the album while there are three longer main tracks inbetween those two. The 17:04 minute long "Dogs" which occupied almost the entire Side 1 of the original LP release is an excellent track where David Gilmour´s and Roger Waters collaboration works wonders. I won´t hesitate when I call this track a progressive masterpiece. Even the ambient synth laden section in the middle of the track is greatly enjoyable to my ears and such parts can sometimes drag on for too long and become tedious. The 11:28 minute long "Pigs (three different ones)" and the 10:16 minute long "Sheep" which are dominated by Roger Waters presence and desperate sounding vocals are both very well written tracks too. Intriguing songwriting and great playing/singing.

To my ears the sound production is not quite as accomplished as on the two predecessors but it´s still professional and very well sounding, suiting the music perfectly. Upon conclusion "Animals" is another excellent album by Pink Floyd. I think it´s very admirable that the group opted for a more progressive and less commercial style on this album when they achieved so much success mixing their progressive rock with commercial pop/rock on the two predecessors. It shows that Pink Floyd were an act that went their own ways and always did what they felt was right. A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is well deserved.