Pink Floyd - "Animals" (1977) - Columbia Records
Hello Friends,
Warm weather is here and it seems like Summer 2017 has finally arrived!
Which means its time for some late night patio pounders and some 70's prog rock classics on the turntable.
We're jamming to Pink Floyd's legendary Animals LP tonight.
Sometimes overlooked as a fantastic Floyd record because its sandwiched between the hugely successful Dark Side of the Moon / Wish You Were Here records and the landmark double LP The Wall. Also, it generally didn't get as much FM airplay as these other Floyd records.
Who cares? We love it. We love the album's iconic cover. Its overt symbolism. Its loud-quiet-loud moments.
We love how its extremely dark & extremely cynical. Heavily influenced by George Orwell's dystopian Animal Farm and the conservative political climate in England at the time, Animals holds up remarkably well, musically and thematically.
Five songs in total. All written and (for the most part) sung by Roger Waters, the album opens (and closes) with a pretty little minute-and-a-half acoustic ditty, "Pigs On The Wing". Upon hearing this, the listener may think they're in for a folksy political record full of melodic ballads with a hint of cynicism. NOPE.
"Dogs" (previously titled "You've Got To Be Crazy") is a 17+ minute terrifying proggy opus co-written by David Gilmour which sounds like it picks up where "Welcome to the Machine" leaves off.
Side Two kicks off with the twelve minute epic "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and is followed by the funky-ish 10+ minute "Sheep" (formerly titled, "Raving & Drooling). In Waters' vision, the Pigs are the corrupt powermongers at the top of his satirical food chain; the Dogs are the soldiers, the enforcers, the businessmen who do the Pigs' bidding for them; and the Sheep are the mindless followers who fall in line and do what they're told.
By the last verses of the song "Sheep" though, it seems as if a revolution is taking place:
Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream
However, the "victory" is short-lived as the flock chooses to have things go back to their normal almost immediately afterwards.
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told
Get out of the road if you want to grow old
Sure the symbolism is overt and obvious (Roger Waters having never been one for subtley) but it holds up incredibly well, especially in the current socio-political climate.
A classic record through and through!
We're jamming to Pink Floyd's legendary Animals LP tonight.
Sometimes overlooked as a fantastic Floyd record because its sandwiched between the hugely successful Dark Side of the Moon / Wish You Were Here records and the landmark double LP The Wall. Also, it generally didn't get as much FM airplay as these other Floyd records.
Who cares? We love it. We love the album's iconic cover. Its overt symbolism. Its loud-quiet-loud moments.
We love how its extremely dark & extremely cynical. Heavily influenced by George Orwell's dystopian Animal Farm and the conservative political climate in England at the time, Animals holds up remarkably well, musically and thematically.
Five songs in total. All written and (for the most part) sung by Roger Waters, the album opens (and closes) with a pretty little minute-and-a-half acoustic ditty, "Pigs On The Wing". Upon hearing this, the listener may think they're in for a folksy political record full of melodic ballads with a hint of cynicism. NOPE.
"Dogs" (previously titled "You've Got To Be Crazy") is a 17+ minute terrifying proggy opus co-written by David Gilmour which sounds like it picks up where "Welcome to the Machine" leaves off.
Side Two kicks off with the twelve minute epic "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and is followed by the funky-ish 10+ minute "Sheep" (formerly titled, "Raving & Drooling). In Waters' vision, the Pigs are the corrupt powermongers at the top of his satirical food chain; the Dogs are the soldiers, the enforcers, the businessmen who do the Pigs' bidding for them; and the Sheep are the mindless followers who fall in line and do what they're told.
By the last verses of the song "Sheep" though, it seems as if a revolution is taking place:
Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream
However, the "victory" is short-lived as the flock chooses to have things go back to their normal almost immediately afterwards.
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told
Get out of the road if you want to grow old
Sure the symbolism is overt and obvious (Roger Waters having never been one for subtley) but it holds up incredibly well, especially in the current socio-political climate.
A classic record through and through!
RATING: 5 pigs on the wing out of 5
