Animals album: Encyclopedia - Animals album

Animals (album)

• All Music Guide (4/5) link
• Q (3/5) August 1994
• Rolling Stone (4.5/5) (only user ratings available) link
• Pitchfork (10.0 out of 10.0) link

Animals is a Pink Floyd concept album, recorded at the band's own Britannia Row Studios in London and released on 23 January 1977 in the UK on Harvest Records and then released on 2 February 1977 in the US and Canada originally on Columbia Records. It is a concept album, loosely reminiscent of George Orwell's famous book Animal Farm. A digitally re-mastered CD was subsequently released in Europe 1994 on EMI and in 1997 in for the rest of the world on Columbia/Sony. The 1997 remaster was then re-released on 25 April 2000 on Capitol Records in the US and EMI outside the US. Animals quickly reached #3 on The Billboard US Album charts in 1977 but quickly fell off the charts due to the fact it had three awkwardly long songs and a heavy bass sonic quality which kept the album from getting radio play. However, when remastered for the 1992 Pink Floyd box set Shine On, the sound of Animals was fresh and still startling as compared to other albums from 1977. It went Gold on 12 February 1977 and Platinum on 10 March 1977 in the US which was good but some saw as a flop compared to Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. To date, Animals has sold over four million copies in the US alone, seven million worldwide and is currently listed as Quadruple Platinum by the R.I.A.A.. It marked the first-ever appearance of the Pink Floyd pig. For the 8-track version of Animals, guitarist Snowy White was brought in to play a short guitar solo which would combine "Pigs on the Wing, Part One" with "Pigs on the Wing, Part Two" into one whole song; "Dogs" was split between two programs.

Animals album - Track listing

1. "Pigs on the wing 1" (Waters) - 1:25
2. "Dogs" (Waters/Gilmour) - 17:04
3. "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" (Waters) - 11:22
4. "Sheep" (Waters) - 10:24
5. "Pigs on the wing 2" (Waters) - 1:25

Animals album - Personnel

• David Gilmour - Guitars, bass, vocals, talkbox, synthesizer
• Roger Waters - Vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, vocoder, tape effects, sleeve design
• Richard Wright - Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes piano, Yamaha piano, ARP synthesizer, backing vocals
• Nick Mason - Drums, percussion, tape effects, sleeve graphics

plus

• Snowy White - Lead guitar on "Pigs On The Wing" (8-track cartridge version only)
• Brian Humphries - Engineer
• Storm Thorgerson - Sleeve design
• Aubrey Powell - Sleeve design

Animals album - Commentary

The album appears to be heavily inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm as, through the central three songs, all of which are over 10 minutes in length, Roger Waters equates all humans to one of three types of animals: dogs, pigs, or sheep. Dogs are used to represent the megalomaniacal businessmen who are finished by being dragged down by the very weight they needed to throw around. The song "Dogs" was originally titled "You Gotta Be Crazy" when performed live in 1974 and 1975. Pigs represent the corrupt politicians and moralists (with direct references to Mary Whitehouse and Margaret Thatcher, who at the time was Education Secretary and would not become Prime Minster for another two years). Those who do not fall into either of these two categories are sheep, who follow blindly, without any self-thought. ("Sheep" was originally called "Raving and Drooling" when performed live in 1974 and 1975).

The three core songs are bookended by a pair of love songs written by Waters for his then-wife Caroline: "Pigs on the Wing, Part 1" and "Pigs on the Wing, Part 2". Both are in stark contrast to the misanthropic middle three songs, and suggest that companionship can help us overcome our flaws. Waters also refers to himself as a dog in Part 2. For the 8-track cartridge release, which looped, Parts 1 and 2 were linked by a guitar bridge performed by Snowy White.

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade covered the entire album in some concerts and eventually released a recording of this exact cover.

Animals album - Sleeve

The giant, helium-filled pig seen on the cover was actually flown over Battersea Power Station for the photo shoot. On the first day of shooting, a marksman was on hand in case the pig broke free. On the second day of shooting however, photography commenced before the marksman had arrived. Ironically, a gust of wind broke the pig free of its moorings. Because there was no-one to shoot the pig down, it sailed away into the morning sky, with the photo crew watching in horror. A passenger plane reported the pig, causing all the flights at London Heathrow Airport to be delayed. Legend has it that the pilot was breathalysed upon landing. A police helicopter was sent up to track the pig, but was forced to return after following the pig to an altitude of 5,000 feet. A warning was sent out to pilots that a giant, flying pink pig was loose in the area. The CAA lost radar contact on the pig near Chatham in Kent, at a height of 18,000 feet and flying east towards Germany. It finally landed in a farmer's field (without any damage), where the farmer was angry because it scared the sheep. The resulting pictures were not deemed suitable, and the final image is a composite of the power station picture from day one and the pig from day two. While Roger Waters had never intended for a composite picture to be used, it was the cloud coverage over Battersea Power Station that ensured a superimposition would be necessary.

Similar inflatable pigs have since featured in Pink Floyd concerts.

Animals album - The Spitting Incident

The album was promoted by Pink Floyd's 1977 In The Flesh tour, made famous by an incident in Montreal. A noisy fan, who was yelling and screaming was coaxed onto the stage by Roger Waters during "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" Waters then spat on the fan's face. Dazed, he staggered back into the audience. It was this incident which caused Waters to come up with the idea of The Wall.

Animals album - Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Animals album - External link

• Lyrics and trivia
• Detailed review

Categories: Pink Floyd albums | 1977 albums | Concept albums

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Animals album", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki