Pink Floyd - Animals (Poll and discussion thread)

i've always been a sheeple, mainly for the end

but i think i might have to switch to dogs

I love the Pink Floyd 'Animals' album so much I can't even tell you. For one thing, I love the singing, which is not the first thing that usually comes to mind when I think of Pink Floyd. I love how 'stone' echoes eternally. I love the conceit; it's one of the very few concept albums where the idea doesn't intrude on the mysterious beauty of the music. I love the melodies, they are indelible. I love the lyrics, especially 'Dogs.' Whenever I hear that song I think, oh God, my poor father. I LOVE the riff at the end of 'Sheep.' I love every fucking thing about this album, including the tremendous album cover.

god yeah what a great cover. ive never really listened to anything but piper, and dark side i guess. i'll have to give this one a go.

There's a noise buried in the middle of "Dogs" that, when I was 15, sounded exactly like my Mom calling me from downstairs. I swear at least half a dozen times I opened the bedroom door and yelled "What?" to nobody.

woah! i thought that was something weird only in my head. i used to do the exact same thing but had forgotten about it for around 25 years. thanks for the memory reactivation.

apart from doing dumb cash-grab tours staging his old records

I saw The Wall show the other week and thought it was fantastic. It's not just a rehash of the original show, it's a completely new show, much broader than the original and scaled up for stadiums so that it's even more spectacular.

There's a noise buried in the middle of "Dogs" that, when I was 15, sounded exactly like my Mom calling me from downstairs. I swear at least half a dozen times I opened the bedroom door and yelled "What?" to nobody.

I seem to remember there being a thread for this phenomenon, can't find it though. My mom calls me from downstairs during Bowie's "Fashion"!

I've noticed "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" becoming a regular part of a lot of classic rock cover band repertoires in recent years, which shows just how rehabilitated this album has become. Not that I want to be subjected to a lot of cover bands, but I'd rather hear one rock out on that than another painfully earnest iteration of "Wish You Were Here."

This was one of the most delightfully random things ever on "South Park":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPoIexOXm20

That's what introduced me to Animals! I was laying around on a friends couch watching South Park all like "what's he saying?" My friends was fortunately well-versed in Floyd and we decamped immediately to go listen to it.

Dogs sounds like some midpoint between Echoes and Aja to me, but isn't as interesting as either of them. I love the last two minutes or so but that's about it.

Oh man, just had a look over at Thread for coordinating the order and timing of ILM ballot polls and the Pink Floyd ballot poll will be on us before we know it. This is a nice warmup.

Just imagine if they'd went with this sleeve instead of the 'pig flying over Battersea Power Station' one they finally ended up with...

http://okladki.net/images/spec/pink-floyd--animals2.jpg

Would have gone down in history alongside Lovedrive and Force It, I imagine.

As much as I love 'Dogs', I eventually voted for 'Sheep'... the way the vocals blend with the wobbly synth at the end of each line (and the crashing guitar chord, of course), the vocodered Lord Prayer, Rick Wright shines here on keyboards... and of course, that ending where Gilmour just rocks the fuck out. It's a masterpiece.

Sheep is v likely the best thing post Syd Floyd ever did.

Turrican's previous post totally otm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1enfo8zn3_g

"do I hear dogs in there?"

"I DO"

Dogs is one of the essential songs of my life, probably the culmination of alot of what Floyd is about to me and of note as the last truly great Waters/Gilmour collab. Anyone who thinks Dave's singing on this is nuts. Anyone who doesn't get with this song is nuts. Dogs rules, case closed.

Agreed. I wrote this about Animals on the thread I started about the four "classic" Waters-era albums – and I'm bit sure I have the energy to make it better:

Certainly, it's Waters at his most bitter and cynical -- but lyrically, it also is the least self-absorbed thing he did in the 1970's. I like "Sheep" fine, though I've never been terribly hot for "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" which has always been a bit too strident.

But Animals has the best convergence of music, lyrics and production on any of these four albums: "Dogs," which is arguably the most dynamic and successful extended piece of music PF ever recorded. Unlike "Shine On," which loses it in the second half, not a note of "Dogs" feels out of place -- no section feels overlong, with much credit due, me thinks, to the fact that Gilmour co-wrote it and Wright's always subtle keyboard work.

That said, Waters' lyrics on it just KILL ("Who was broken by trained personnel...")-- I defy anyone to point to a more thrilling moment on any record of theirs than the build-up to "Dragged down by the stone" climax to end the first side.

All of which is to say, I'm not totally sure Animals the "best" record of this period, but "Dogs" is certainly the best track.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Voted for Sheep but I'm totally cool with these results.

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gotta admit that i'm a little bit confused

Just imagine if they'd went with this sleeve instead of the 'pig flying over Battersea Power Station' one they finally ended up with...

― Dog Man Star took a suck on a pill... (Turrican), Friday, September 20, 2013 7:22 AM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just thinking about the blimp here.

this album rules

"pigs" has a crazy good bass line

which uh apparently that's gilmour playing bass on "pigs" and "sheep" damn

! i never knew that

this album forever

also i kind of love waters' vocals on this even though i think he sounds like absolute dogshit on the wall (not necessarily a knock, it's just... part of the experience of that record)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnbO7jjoDIs

the "pigs on a wing"s joined by a guitar solo by snowy white, included in the 8-track version of the record only. pretty sweet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DosQVZbySY0

uhhh and here's a fucking incredible contemporaneous show. pink floyd rules

this is the best or 2nd best floyd album

it's pretty easily their best imo but i've never been particularly into them

Dreary, turgid and insanely overrated is my verdict.

Much better than "The Wall" though.

Feel like they saved a lot of hooks til the end final 2 minutes of the songs:

Pigs: Gilmour's screeching solo over his disco bassline on a fretless
Sheep: Gilmour's catchy rockabilly outro
Dogs: Roger's proto-Wall "who was..." litany

wright's solo intro to "sheep" is fantastic though

That's the best part of the record.

"Sheep" is the best post-Barrett Floyd song full stop

thinking back at the time "wish you were here" was a letdown after "dark side of the moon". and "animals" another letdown after "wish you were here". but it still is a very good record. but my perception could well have to do with the fact that i always listened to "dark side of the moon" at my friend's house and never bought the record until much later. usually we listened to dsotm by candle light and/or at parties iirc. there was a certain mystery to it for me which stayed. and tom d. is right, this is much better as "the wall" which was the total final sell-out and complete rubbish. as with so many bands there was a peak with pink floyd and afterwards it all went down the hill. maybe the peak was even before dsotm but i don't think so. meddle has never really done it for me but must admit that i didn't listen to it a lot.

Definitely my favorite Floyd record.

I so wish someone had flown the Trump baby balloon over the Battersea Power Station when he visited London.

beginning to think Dogs is the best thing they ever did

it is!

Dogs rule!

Sheep too!

Dogs is indeed their best song! In a neat symmetry, Dogs of War is their worst song!

It’s funny how many times I’ve thought to myself “I’m a guy in a white collar job. There’s nothing interesting to write a song about.”

That's why we invented self-loathing.

Definitely some of the best Floyd lyrics too -- the way the first verse refashions cliches into new idioms that sound like cliches but aren't ("Sleep on your toes" "pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed" "you've got to strike when the moment is right without thinking")

And honestly probably Gilmour's bet soloing, and one of Nick Mason's finest moments too

Most underrated? Neither More nor Obscured by Clouds appears on Acclaimed Music's Top 3000 albums. I think Ummagumma should get equal credit with The Court of the Crimson King for ushering in full-fledged progressive rock.

of all the major floyd records, animals is prob still the least thought-of and canonized on u.s classic rock radio so it is hard for me to think of it as overrated. maybe it’s overrated in the uk and on ilx

Not only on ILX tbf. RYM rates it ahead of Meddle and right behind Dark Side of the Moon. Its reputation seems to have greatly improved over the past decade or so, which is totally warranted, just… not to this extent.

the response is generally, "Oh yeah...they did make one between Wish You Were Here and The Wall! You're right! Wow, I'd forgotten all about that! What songs are on that one?"

yeah I think the main thing is it's the one "peak" Waters era album that didn't produce any radio staples

i guess for me, someone whose gone through several phases of disowning the waters-era stuff in favor of the barrett-era (piper still rates high for me and i think it's a really special record) and later the sort of headless exploratory unit they became after barrett left (their live peak, it takes a really incredible band for me to seek out their bootlegs but pink floyd rules), rediscovering animals was revelatory; i know there was a really black mood growing among the members at this point but they all sound like they're at the peak of their powers and are responding to each other's ideas even as these ideas were growing increasingly siloed from each other. also anytime wright stretches out it is just beautiful. every song brings something to the table sonically, melodically, and thematically, which is also true of wish you were here (i love dark side and would include it but i lost the ability to actually hear it decades ago) but it's not necessarily true of my previous favorite floyd record meddle. in conclusion pink floyd rules and i think debating what is internally overrated and underrated in their discography may be really silly

also as many ppl have pointed out animals is really groovy

I think among Floyd buffs, "Animals" is especially highly rated in a kind of "Let me shock you" way. I think I said my piece on it somewhere else itt.

I think Animals is about accurately rated. It’s a little bit like Presence - it has one all time epic track and a few other very good songs that are neither masterpieces nor hits. Real heads get burned out on the more popular albums and convince themselves it’s really the best one, but a little distance reveals that to be an absurd claim - this band made fucking Dark Side of the Moon.

it's the one "peak" Waters era album that didn't produce any radio staples

otm. even meddle had 'one of these days', which got some radio play

when you're burned out from overhearing dsotm/wywh/wall, where else can you go? (don't say the final cut)

Obscured By Clouds & More! also, bootlegs like those BBC sessions

and also

https://www.discogs.com/Richard-Wright-Wet-Dream/master/43573

i know there was a really black mood growing among the members at this point...

It's interesting that "Shine On" and the early "Dogs" and "Sheep" ("You've Got To Be Crazy" and "Raving and Drooling") were all written and played live in 1974--so this wasn't the Animals-era black mood, but one of their earlier black moods. In Nick Mason's memoir, he calls it a "gloomy period for the band" in the time between the "Household Objects" experiments and actually starting to work on Wish in earnest.

The 1974 Wembley concert versions that came out on the Wish Expanded Edition show how much of the sound, structure and specific instrumental parts of "Dogs" and "Sheep" were already set at that point. Gilmour may have played the bass on "Sheep" in the studio, but Roger was playing that chugging bass backbone for years before.

On a bit of a Floyd revisit, this is the album that’s really doing it for me. Partly because it’s the one I listened to least during my adolescent Floyd phase so it sounds freshest to me of all their post-Meddle stuff. Gilmour’s playing is really great throughout, and it also has a stripped-down four-guys-in-a-room vibe compared to the grandiosity of most of the ‘70s albums.

Animals sounds extremely nice and unique in the floyd cannon; there's kind of a muted quality to the bass in particular, and a lot less synth driven than the previous two records.

The latter apparently both a symptom and cause of Wright's slow fade from the band. Nice synth work on "Dogs" tho.

it's the best floyd album, it's very proto-balearic. propulsive, groovy and spacey

I'm pretty into this album but I checked out the 2018 mix when it was released last year (?) and I struggled to remember any differences from the regular one. I kind of remember thinking, hmm, ok well the exceptionally dry drums have a little bit more of an in-the-room sound to them, and the bass is louder? Am I missing something? Also isn't there the Quad 8-track release where a version of Dogs (IIRC) that has a completely different guitar solo not even played by Gilmour? Would seem like a cool thing to release more widely at this point.

Not Dogs, but there's this Snowy White solo on Pigs on the Wing (which ties it all together into one song). It's pretty nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFY171Ui7gI

apparently it's only ever been re-released on a compilation of snowy white's session work? it's the sort of thing you'd expect to have ended up on a deluxe reissue at some point, but i guess tensions between waters & gilmour were too bad to do any digging in the vaults for the recent reissue & i'd imagine there's not much else anyway for animals beyond maybe some live recordings

Gilmour and Wright both released solo albums the following year, but IIRC neither of those were made up of any unused Animals material. I wonder if there any alternate (alternative directions?) of "Pigs" but I think that was pretty much built as is. We're well into Imperial Roger and his fait accompli for outside contributions was in force.

i think both gilmour & wright said they were relatively low on ideas during the animals sessions due to issues in their personal lives, and waters was very set on what he wanted to do and wasn't too interested in anyone else's ideas anyway

Probably significant that they both put out solo albums the year after.

I've never heard Wet Dream but Gilmour's 1978 self-titled solo début is a drab affair. If those were all the ideas he could muster up I'm not surprised Waters dismissed them.

Wright's album is pleasant (some nice piano chords as per!) but he hasn't really got the voice for an entire album.

The Snowy White version of "Pigs on the Wing" seems like it could have actually been a single, I wonder if that was contemplated.

it was!!

https://www.discogs.com/release/5513999-Pink-Floyd-Pigs-On-The-Wing

That "combined" Pigs on the Wing doesn't work at all, no fault of the lead guitar. It's not interesting enough to justify three uninterrupted minutes, splitting in half and putting 35 minutes of much better music in between was smart.

he hasn't really got the voice for an entire album.

Wright only sings on half the songs on "Wet Dream", but more to the point he doesn't have the vision to make a whole record sound like more than "Shine On parts X to XIX" (though I haven't heard it in 35 years).

stripped-down

a lot less synth driven

What record is this?