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.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 12 December 2020 16:24 (three years ago) link
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
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Saturday, 12 December 2020 16:29 (three years ago) link
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
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 12 December 2020 16:50 (three years ago) link
also as many ppl have pointed out animals is really groovy
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 12 December 2020 16:51 (three years ago) link
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.
― Tizer Beyoncé (Tom D.), Saturday, 12 December 2020 20:12 (three years ago) link
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.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 12 December 2020 20:38 (three years ago) link
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)
― mookieproof, Saturday, 12 December 2020 20:43 (three years ago) link
Obscured By Clouds & More! also, bootlegs like those BBC sessions
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Saturday, 12 December 2020 21:15 (three years ago) link
and also
https://www.discogs.com/Richard-Wright-Wet-Dream/master/43573
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Saturday, 12 December 2020 21:18 (three years ago) link
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.
― Hideous Lump, Sunday, 13 December 2020 06:32 (three years ago) link
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.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 4 June 2023 13:11 (ten months ago) link
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.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 4 June 2023 17:22 (ten months ago) link
The latter apparently both a symptom and cause of Wright's slow fade from the band. Nice synth work on "Dogs" tho.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 4 June 2023 17:27 (ten months ago) link
it's the best floyd album, it's very proto-balearic. propulsive, groovy and spacey
― ufo, Sunday, 4 June 2023 22:19 (ten months ago) link
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.
― Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 01:58 (ten months ago) link
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
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 02:05 (ten months ago) link
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
― ufo, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 02:25 (ten months ago) link
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.
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 07:08 (ten months ago) link
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
― ufo, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 08:01 (ten months ago) link
Probably significant that they both put out solo albums the year after.
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 09:49 (ten months ago) link
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.
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 10:31 (ten months ago) link
Wright's album is pleasant (some nice piano chords as per!) but he hasn't really got the voice for an entire album.
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 10:44 (ten months ago) link
The Snowy White version of "Pigs on the Wing" seems like it could have actually been a single, I wonder if that was contemplated.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 13:23 (ten months ago) link
it was!!
https://www.discogs.com/release/5513999-Pink-Floyd-Pigs-On-The-Wing
― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 14:20 (ten months ago) link
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.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 14:27 (ten months ago) link
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).
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 14:30 (ten months ago) link
stripped-down
a lot less synth driven
What record is this?
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 14 June 2023 19:21 (ten months ago) link