Animals - Pink Floyd (CD 2000)

From 1971 to 1977, Pink Floyd had one of the most phenomenal run of albums anyone has ever released. Side two of Meddle in 1971 was the fantastic "Echoes," followed by Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and finally, Animals.

Although DSotM is the best known of this series of albums, I personally think that WYWH is the best overall album, "Echoes" is the best song and Animals is the best concept. I think that Animals falls a bit short of the previous albums because of the reduced participation of keyboardist Rick Wright. This meant a bigger role for David Gilmour, whose guitar I love, but the result is a somewhat less balanced album.

It is very interesting to note that Animals is the last "true" Pink Floyd album. The Wall was mostly a Roger Waters' solo project, The Final Cut is entirely a Waters' solo gig, A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Gilmour's release and The Division Bell is closer to a group effort, but the absence of Waters makes it a reach to call it the Floyd.

Indeed, the tour which supported Animals spelled the end to the band in many ways. The "In the Flesh" tour reached its peak one summer day in Montreal when a seriously annoyed Waters lost it repeatedly in the face of a crowd that had lost all sense of control in the presence of their heroes.

As Waters was starting to sing "Pigs on the Wing," someone blew off a firecracker near the stage. He stopped singing and shouted out "Oh, for f*ck's sake. Stop letting off fireworks and shouting and screaming. I'm trying to sing a song here." He admonished the crowd for a bit, and went on with the song, but things went downhill from there, and during "Money," Waters watched incredulously as one fan climbed the netting that kept the audience from the band and in his disgust, Waters spat in his admirer's face.

By the end of the concert, the band played an encore song, "Blues," to try and calm the crowd down without Gilmour, who watched from the soundboard. Waters recalls today that the basic concepts that would become The Wall came to him at this trainwreck of a show, July 6, 1977 in Montreal.


Animals

As with all albums after Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the band was Waters (vocals, bass, guitar,) GIlmour (guitars, vocals,) Wright (keyboards, vocals) and Nick Mason (drums.) Waters takes almost of the lead vocals on this album, which was something of a departure (it had largely been Gilmour in the past.) For Animals, Gilmour sings the beginning of "Dogs" and that's it.

As noted above, Wright plays a less pronounced role on this album as the keyboards generally accent the music and provide a foundation, rather that carrying the majority of melody, as was the case with Wish You Were Here and a lot of the earlier albums. That makes this a much moodier and dark release, which coincides with Waters' lyrical theme of alienation and distance in the analysis of people as three types of animals.


Track Listing

Pigs on the Wing, Part One

Simply Waters singing over an acoustic guitar, this introduces the alienation theme of the album effectively. Minimalistic, the vocal and guitar combine to give a haunting quality to the song.

Dogs

Absolutely one of Gilmour's finest songs, this track has numerous passages where the focus is on a brutal, intricate guitar in lengthy solos. It begins with an acoustic strumming that comes out of "Pigs on the Wing" and a fairly minor keyboard accent piece. We're fully a minute into the track before drums and bass appear. There is a stunning double guitar solo at about 3:45 and a crushing run by Gilmour that starts at 5:35 that remains one of the best technical guitar pieces I've ever heard.

At seventeen minutes, this moves through a number of different movements and moods, including some bits that recall Wish You Were Here. For fans of the guitar, it's definitely the high point on the album.

Pigs (Three Different Ones)

Beginning with the sound of pig grunts and a nifty Wright keyboard pattern, this song isn't my favourite, although that's rather a result of the lyric and vocal which I don't care for. Very nice bass work from Waters, and musically this song plays fairly well. Follows, to some extent, the premise of "Wish You Were Here" and "Have a Cigar" from the previous album -- you can't trust people in general, and those who offer you something, even less so.

The middle half of this track is an instrumental that noodles around a bit, but is a fine piece of music, particularly on guitar again.

Sheep

Starts out feeling a lot like a classic Floyd tune with Wright on electric piano, and a rumbling Waters bass bit, with background sounds of an English fen. Originally called "Raving and Drooling," this went from a crazed song in concert previews to a more placid one by the time it was officially released.

As Animals goes, "Sheep" is the closest thing to a full band effort -- there are excellent lead bits from Wright, Waters and Gilmour plastered throughout the song. Unless, like me, you're a huge Gilmour fan, "Sheep" will likely be the best track on the album for you.

Lyrically, a damning and clever indictment on those who are led to their own slaughter willingly, although in the end, the dogs are dead. Oh, and if you're a religious sort with a thin skin, you'd best steer clear of the "The Lord is My Shepherd" parody bit in the middle, although admittedly it's hard to understand.

Pigs on the Wing, Part Two

Quick reprise of Part One. Live, this was generally followed by a nice guitar solo coda from Gilmour, which is missed here. Nice conclusion to the album, though.


Conclusion

From a musical standpoint, this remains the last triumph for Pink Floyd. Although Waters had already begun to drive the band in his direction, the movement was not yet complete, and this stands as the last album that truly sounds like a Pink Floyd release. Gilmour was at his peak in many places on this album and the rest of the band played their roles quite well.

Does this album succinctly draw the comparisons between the dogs, pigs and sheep in humanity, as Waters set out to do? I suppose so, although a bit of the social commentary is lost in the translation, particularly among the Floyd fans on the "In the Flesh" tour who succumbed to the "sheep" mentality of the rock crowd.

So, in a sense, Waters and the band succeeded in spades -- not only did they manage to write a classic album about the basal instincts of mankind, but on the subsequent tour, they provided a living example of such in themselves and their fans.

From one dog to another...highly recommended.


Great Music to Play While: Howling at the fans