Animals, The Album

It may be surprising to find that, in fact, I'm not a fan of the album itself. Despite revering the album cover so much and being a fan of the band. Whilst I, do like so many of the other albums; Dark Side..., Wish You... and The Wall virtually to every note and nuance, Animals kind of passed me by. I found no reason to have it in my collection, my mates never played it (probably for the same reason) and excerpts from it never migrated to the wider population such as did so much of the excepts from the other albums did. It just wasn't Pink Floyd's finest. A different story for the cover of course...

In my personal opinion, this is not only Floyd’s weakest album since Dark Side of the Moon, I couldn’t really even describe it as a good album…certainly by Pink Floyd standards. Some remnants from Wish You Were Here and really, a working album in prepartation for The Wall which followed shortly afterwards and restored the band to triumphant ways again. 

The album is different, fundamentally, from Pink Floyd’s albums from Dark Side of the Moon right up to The Division Bell. For me personally, it seemed to lack something...'care' comes to mind. Just as it seems something exciting is going to happen or any drama sounds like it's building, then the direction would alter. Breaking the spell just as it was developing. It sounded, to me, like what Pink Floyd would sound if they didn’t have the writing talent that they had already demonstrated that they did. Well polished, well crafted but without the substance you’d expect from a band of this calibre. Pink Floyd are perfectly capabloe of putting you on an emotional journey where you are surrounded by gentle motifs and finely selected notes and before you know it, you're ears are being blasted from the deep chords that support the hightened emotions of whatever it is that is being hoisted into the air and ripped to shreds...and you can hardly notice the transitition...Like a frog in water being heated. None of that here though.

The album opens with Pigs on the Wing… A short prelude...Which sounds like an offshoot diversion from Wish You Were Here actually, title track of the album of the same name and then it morphs into what sounds like an early working of Mother that ended up on The Wall, just a year later where they made a proper job of the motifs attempting to emerge from this track.

Dogs follows and was written by Dave Gilmour, the only track that was (though it represented about 50% of the album) and contained glimpses of the guitar work that was to be found on The Wall and again, on Wish You Were Here. There’s nothing here for some 18 mins other than what sounds like a rough background track with Dave screaming into the mic. Not even a decent guitar solo. I was glad it was over.

Pigs (Three Different Ones), had Pink Floyd revert back to their psychedelic days in the late 60’s. Music, random, going where it will as some sort of intrumental piece amonst all those lyrics… Then returns, seemingly reluctantly, to the subject at hand and continues with the verses. Dave Gilmour’s guitar solo begins, what promises to be a hopeful and much needed recovery…it lasts for a good while but then fades away to mark the end of the track.

Sheep, to represent the (down trodden people), starts gently, seemingly cautious generating a gentle atmosphere as the ‘people’ are represented. It doesn’t last long. We’re back to soulless music for the most part with just precious glimpses of what they could have done with the musical composition if they’d bothered (the ending guitar work sounds like the basis of Run on The Wall).

Pigs on the Wing, brings us back to ‘Motheresque’ acoustic work  A short number. Finished as it started, true in more than one sense.

The albums just doesn’t gain any real emotional momentum. The album sounds like they were just not into it. And I suppose, not surprising really. The band were at the early stages of what was to become a most acrimonious divorce. Seems Roger Waters, who was the driving force with the greatest contribution, may have taken this just too far. Dark Side of the Moon was a concept album (lunacy). Wish You Were Here was a concept album (the music industry and the lament of their founder Syd Barrett). Now, Animals, another concept album (Orwellian social politics, Animal Farm (hence Animals)). The rest of the band (and in particular, Dave Gilmour) were tired of concept albums. The Wall followed, yet another concept album (‘Screwed up by the War’)… It was the end… The band fell apart. Roger went his way, the rest went, together, theirs. The majority won an expensive legal battle to keep the name ‘Pink Floyd’. Roger had to go solo. He could hear the reformed Floyd in a nearby stadium near to where he was due to play… “I could hear them” he said, playing MY songs!”.

Animals, perhaps, is a married couple on a final holiday before they broke up for good. And Animals was the child of the marriage at that time. That’s my theory.

All in all… Pink Floyd, but not Pink Floyd. Could the real Pink Floyd please stand up!