Animals re-issue including 5.1 mix coming

[Wolfpack]

What is there to say about yet another remix of a decades old album?

I'm curious how 'Sheep' might be remixed, preferably without the muddy, dull sound of the original album.
For me, the sound quality of 'Animals' (1977) is obviously inferior to 'Wish You Were Here' (1975).

[theaussiefloydian]

Will the 'Animals' remix have a much improved sound quality?
'Sheep' sounds like too many overdubs to me. Dull, murky. As if the drums were done on a cardboard box, placed in another room.

Modern production techniques are already doing wonders for a lot of my favourite albums in terms of remixes. I've stated many times how impressed I've been with Giles Martin's remixes of Sgt. Pepper and The White Album, but I think a more relevant example is the upcoming remix of Muse's Origin of Symmetry. Undoing the brickwalling on the original mix and using modern production techniques has managed to bring all the details in the tracks debuted so far to light, making these mixes a MASSIVE step up in clarity.
I imagine with Animals it will be a similar story. I feel that album was produced for a heavier sound at the expense of sound quality in places, so bringing the fine details out into the light and making them clearer is probably a major goal here.

• Not sure how much "Pigs on the Wing" can be improved, given how simple that track is, but I'm open to thoughts on that matter.

• "Dogs" is for my money the best sounding track on the album, but even then I could imagine possible fixes to enhance clarity. I hope they keep the ADT on the double tracked solos though.

• I would love to hear Gilmour's fretless bass on "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" mixed up a little bit.

• And the outro of "Sheep" could be mixed better - it seems a lot louder than the rest of the album.

[telys]

I think Animals is their most modern sounding album. Feels like it could've been recorded yesterday. The other albums have a dated sound.

[theaussiefloydian]

I think Animals is their most modern sounding album. Feels like it could've been recorded yesterday. The other albums have a dated sound.

I feel I have to disagree with that statement. It's not as obscenely dated as, say, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, but to my ear it's still not an especially modern sounding recording. The only album I think could qualify as sounding like it could have been recorded yesterday was The Division Bell, and (for better or worse) that 2016 remix of Obscured by Clouds.

[DarkSideFreak]

Not to nitpick, but that particular song uses a fretted Precision bass, albeit with a big Gibson 'mudbucker' installed. He did play fretless bass on ..."Coming Bass to Life"...

This brings us to "Dark Side Of The Moon," and also gives me an opportunity to address the people who claim that "The Final Cut" is an inferior album because it's "nothing but leftovers from "The Wall."

I must've said this a hundred times before but the issue with TFC is not that it's leftovers (any PF fan worth their fandom will know that every PF album contained certain examples of self-recycling) but that the songs were not considered good enough for The Wall by Gilmour and Ezrin, and that Gilmour was now basically being vetoed inasmuch as he had to OK the songs he rejected before.

Also, your breakdown of DSOTM misses the point that "Brain Damage" had been kicking around for a few years already. In fact, it was one of the germs for the album itself with its themes of insanity.

Remember, this was the guy that fired Storm Thorgerson

If he'd hired him for his solo stuff, he could've skipped being sued for plagiarism and kept that settlement money.

If he'd hired him for his solo stuff, he could've sold more units. Roger's solo albums all had crappy artwork.

It might not matter in the long run but it certainly speaks to a deep set hypocrisy, which is pretty frustrating (to me, anyway).

This is also why I keep bringing up "The Ballad of Bill Hubbard" (on which he could have at least shared the writing credit with Jeff Beck and Pat Leonard) or the infamous "No Points Ezrin" buttons. Or why ostracizing Storm, Rick, Bob and David (in that order) matters. They were all good collaborators and Roger basically severed ties over often petty little things - and yes, he did have the nerve to ask Bob back for KAOS

Oh...and that last album wasn't good at all.

I have an Italian Mastiff who leaves higher quality shit in piles in the grass.

You and I are very much not on the same page, but on this matter I concur.

[NLX63]

While I am a huge PF fan, I've never really considered Roger Waters to be much of a musician. He's certainly not a singer, and his solo albums, well ... let's be honest, they're bought by Pink Floyd completeists (like myself), and probably played once if ever. I think Waters probably knows this, and it's why he gets so upset about not being able to market his product through PF channels; if his art stood up on its own, he wouldn't need access to those channels. I expect David Gilmour would have had a strong career in music without Waters. I doubt whether Waters would have had much of a career without Gilmour. But it's equally true that the combination of the musicality provided by Gilmour (and Wright), plus the 'structure' provided by Waters (call it 'concept' or even 'architecture'), has led to some of the greatest music of my life. It has been said 1000 times before, that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Why anyone feels the need to take credit for it all is baffling. For anyone in doubt of Gilmour's contribution, listen to Waters solo albums first, then listen to TFC. Then take a few days relaxing in the garden to recover, put the records up for sale on Discogs or whatever you need to do to move on ... then listen to The Wall (which has its moments, typically those provided by Gilmour) ... and then AHM, Meddle, DSOTM, WYWH and Animals (espec. Dogs, which again has a lot of Gilmour in it) which are in places sublime. Basically, the more Gilmour is involved, the better it all gets. Which is not to say of course that Gilmour is a driving force; his solo albums can be bland in places and he freely admits to not being able to pen a lyric. When PF were at their best, it's where it was a group effort. Where they were at their weakest was when Waters started to dictate the show .. The Wall is OK despite being pompous & overblown, TFC is truly awful (except 'Not Now John', thanks again to Gilmour). I read the rejected liner notes for the Animals 5.1 release a few days ago. They read like something dictated by Waters and typed up by someone in his camp, and I can see why Gilmour would take exception. Personally, I prefer the 'enigma' to the vulgarity of seeing someone try to steal all the credit. If Waters thinks he's doing his legacy any good by this constant harping, he's much mistaken.

[theaussiefloydian]

Roger's solo albums all had crappy artwork.

Yeah they did, didn't they? I mean I find that I don't mind the 2015 remix cover of Amused to Death, but barring that most of his album covers were uninspired at best.

[ZiggyZipgun]

Boring people can be inspired, too!

[Gslatner]

While I am a huge PF fan, I've never really considered Roger Waters to be much of a musician. He's certainly not a singer, and his solo albums, well ... let's be honest, they're bought by Pink Floyd completeists (like myself), and probably played once if ever.

I abbreviated that quote but that entire comment is one of the most rational things I’ve read on a Pink Floyd board. You get a gold star and I think you hit the nail on the head with your explanation.

[ZiggyZipgun]

Basically, the more Gilmour is involved, the better it all gets. Which is not to say of course that Gilmour is a driving force; his solo albums can be bland in places and he freely admits to not being able to pen a lyric.

What's bizarre about the criticism Gilmour gets for not writing his own lyrics is that many people do not write their own lyrics. Elvis Presley, Elton John, Levon Helm, Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone? On one hand you have gifted vocalists and musicians, and on the other you have poets like Bob Dylan whose songs invariably sound better coming out of anybody else. I think if Dave had the option to write as well as Roger once did, he'd turn it down if it meant having to sound like Roger. Then again, Roger might jump at the chance to sing and play as well as Dave even if it meant giving up writing.

[Gslatner]

I don’t think Roger wanted David to get credit for anything there at the end. I bet it burns Roger’s ass David wrote the most popular song on Animals and The Wall and tainted his masterpieces with David’s name. I think David played it right, let Roger self destruct then do what he wanted.

[Yucateco]

What's bizarre about the criticism Gilmour gets for not writing his own lyrics is that many people do not write their own lyrics.

I don’t think anybody has a problem that he doesn’t write his own lyrics. He never did it anyway. The problem is that he is selling Polly as the best lyricist he ever had although her crap is at best cringe worthy. Plus that she thinks she is actually a part of Pink Floyd.

[ZiggyZipgun]

I don’t think anybody has a problem that he doesn’t write his own lyrics. He never did it anyway.

Plenty of people have criticized him for not writing his own lyrics from the mid '80s onward, including Roger. Dave has actually written quite a few songs, and a number them are my personal favorites by anyone. As is often discussed in their recent interviews, Polly's publicity is a relatively new thing.

[azza200]

What's bizarre about the criticism Gilmour gets for not writing his own lyrics is that many people do not write their own lyrics.

I don’t think anybody has a problem that he doesn’t write his own lyrics. He never did it anyway. The problem is that he is selling Polly as the best lyricist he ever had although her crap is at best cringe worthy. Plus that she thinks she is actually a part of Pink Floyd.

he is not though it just happens to be new music he released to go along side her book its not David decision its more the marketing person who runs Pink Floyd's social media networks. People's hate at David over the last year or so has got out of hand imo and the arse licking for taking Roger's side in everything is pathetic. I have seen people even on the Live 8 posts yesterday and today one said "the others are clowns i.e David, Rick and Nick" thats how toxic the Roger fans have got with their fandom for Roger and disregard for the contributions the others did. The whole Roger is Pink Floyd is a stupid biased comment.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

It's going to get sillier! There's a Football team mentality. Doctor Who (Doctor freaking Who!!) fandom has that infection. We'll be seeing it in this as well. Even without the anonymity of Facebook, people still go for it. Who can piss the highest.