Pink Floyd - Animals

[Hudini]

Listen to it nice and loud

Only on an LP. The remastered version is probably the most quietly recorded Pink Floyd CD, besides "Meddle".

[mandy35353535353]

Animals.
Ah.
I love this album. It's so neato.
Roger's voice is really neat in it too. me gusta mas.

[danielcaux]

Listen to it nice and loud

Only on an LP. The remastered version is probably the most quietly recorded Pink Floyd CD, besides "Meddle".

I have read that the 1997* Columbia remaster is the best version of the album, and one of the few re-masters that is superior to the original 80s CDs, and even better than the vinyl!

I think the quiet re-master you are refering to is the '94 EMI** one, which most people say wasn't very well done.


*'97 Columbia remaster has a grey picture of Battersea on the CD label.
**'94 EMI remaster has that picture of the dog in the green field on the CD label.

[Hudini]

I have a 1997 remaster, but it says on the label and in the booklet that it's printed in Austria. I don't know if that makes any difference. There's no picture on the label, also. Just text.

[drafsack]

This is the best - saw and heard the songs develop between 74 and 77 - can't get enough of it

[marksman]

It used to be my fav PF album for years.

Still it gives me thrills from the first note.

[princessDungan74D]

I love this album. Its one of my favorite album's of all time. I can't believe anyone could hate this album.

[snifferdog]

Chat to Old Hippy so! I'm still laughing at his immortal quote "If I could vote for an elephant farting in a tin I would. It would be musically superior then this sack of shit." on this thread

[zag]

Truely a huge disappointment. And that cover art... uh huh...

[Idisaffect]

5/5

Floyd proves that they are not spaced out hippies in the year of PUNK.

Best Pink Floyd album I will ever hear.
No radio play wearing it out, either. Which is nice.

[danielcaux]

Animals was not a very radio friendly album, even by '77 standards; three 10+ minutes long slumpy songs with ambient drones breaks, extended guitar solos and one short acoustic song played twice bookending the whole thing, I felt cheated. I remember hearing it for the first time and being a little disapointed, I was expecting something in the vein of DSoTM or OOTD, killer multitextured spaced out instrumentals and met just this huge quarter-tempo loose SONGS that played over and over again te same musical ideas. Then I began to realize how good Gilmour's playing was on it, specially on Dogs and some guitar fills on Sheep and the whole bleak atmosphere started to unravel and spread all over my soul like a disease. It has become my "personal" album since then, the one I have a direct unpolluted relation with, no memories of hearing the songs at parties, TV spots, friend's car rides, movies, mediocre musician covers, etc..



By the way has anyone heard the Les Claypool complete cover of the album? is it any good? interesting? mediocre?

[pato26473]

I prefer both DSotM and WYWH to Animals, but I think Animals is full of confidence, accomplished, and represents PF at the top of their game.

I think exactly like you do. I should add that "Echoes" (the song in "Meddle", not the compilation) is also better, IMHO, than Animals.

I gave this masterpiece a 5. Maybe, this was the last album where all the four members of the group worked together ... as a group.

An excellent album.

[mosespa]

By the way has anyone heard the Les Claypool complete cover of the album? is it any good? interesting? mediocre?

Other than the fact that both part of "Pigs On The Wing" begin with the opening G chord just being strummed ad nauseum, it's a remarkably faithful reading of the album.

As I recall, anyway.

I have a friend (whom I turned on to Pink Floyd in the first place,) who fell in LOVE with this album the first time he heard it.

We once took the album out into the middle of nowhere (no light poles or anything, lol,) on a winter's night with a little of our favorite indulgence; parked his truck in some field and just CRANKED the album with the doors open wide while we sat on the tailgate and just took it all in.

That memory's a keeper.

[Sonic Destruction]

One of the greatest Pink Floyd albums, and worthy of a five star rating. I would give it a six if I could.

I love Gilmour's awesome guitar sounds on all the three main tracks, and Waters' vocals never sounded better. Even though they didn't get a writing credit, Nick and Rick make important musical contributions on the last true "band" album by the classic Floyd line-up.

It is hard to believe that two of the key tracks were actually written several years before the breakthrough of UK punk, as Waters' lyrics and album concept perfectly capture the anger of 1977.

As if anything else were needed to complete the package, the cover is superb, and a perfect visual image for the musical contents inside.

What is there not to love about this album????

[MeanMrKetchup]

I personally gave Animals a 4, it'd get a 9 out of 10 probably, or an 8.5.

I'll come back to the Pigs On The Wing later - Dogs is fantastic, it begins with a funky acoustic strum from Gilmour before exploding soon into an incredible prog-rock epic. Gilmour really shines here, but when Roger's vocals peek in towards the end, it's a welcomed change. That's nothing against Dave's vocals, he's a technically better singer, but toward the end the song keeps that change in voice well and it works perfectly. The lyrics are cheeky and clever, and the last section is full of emotion in every note. Then again, the whole song is. On a side note, Nick deals with the drumming on this track very well. Pigs (Three Different Ones) begins with an uneasy but menacing tune played by Rick, and soon the lyrics kick in to suit this. A decent arrangement, and not a bad use of cowbell. I prefer this track live, alot more energy - this is the most layed back of the main tracks on the album. Then comes Sheep. It begins deceptively with a long drawn out bassline accompanied with little licks from Rick before the lazy but cool sounding drums kick in, and then an interesting technique, crossfading a long note from Roger and Rick together, this is very nicely done. The lyrics are fantastic, but it's the music that really shines here, particularly when that last section comes along. finally a word to Pigs On The Wing; it's a nice little tune from Roger and does well to bookend the album, giving a nice cadence for part 2.

Pure rock, and prog rock. Fantastic.