Animals (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Animals | ||
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| Studio album by Pink Floyd | ||
| Released | January 23, 1977 (UK) February 2, 1977 (U.S.) |
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| Recorded | April 1976 - November 1976 at Britannia Row Studios | |
| Genre | Progressive rock | |
| Length | 41:51 | |
| Label | Harvest (UK original) EMI (UK reissue) Columbia (original US) Capitol (US re-issue) |
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| Producer(s) | Pink Floyd | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Pink Floyd chronology | ||
| Wish You Were Here (1975) |
Animals (1977) |
The Wall (1979) |
Animals is a concept album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on January 23, 1977 in the UK and on February 2 in the U.S.. Although the album proved a success in America, reaching #3 on the Billboard album charts, it was labelled a critical and commercial disappointment in comparison to its predecessor albums, The Dark Side of the Moon, and Wish You Were Here. As a result, it was on the American charts for only six months. However, to date, Animals has continued to sell solidly, to the extent of its having gone quadruple platinum, according to the RIAA.
The album appears to be heavily inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm as, through the central three songs, Roger Waters uses three animals as metaphors for human behavior: dogs, pigs, or sheep. Dogs are used to represent the megalomaniac businessmen who are finished by being dragged down by 'the weight [they] used to need to throw around'. Pigs refers to politicians and opinion leaders, with direct references to Mary Whitehouse, who at the time, was making considerable efforts to censor Pink Floyd's music, because of its political overtones. Those who do not fall into either of these two categories are sheep, who follow blindly, without any self-thought.
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[edit] Album information
Animals was the first album to be predominantly written by bass player/singer/lyricist Roger Waters. Singer and guitarist David Gilmour only co-wrote one track which was the epic "Dogs" as tensions in the band were increasing. Musically, Animals consisted of songs written before Wish You Were Here. The track "Dogs" was originally called "You Gotta Be Crazy". The song "Sheep" started as "Raving and Drooling". Arguably, the exclusion of those two tracks from Wish You Were Here was the start of the rift between Waters and Gilmour but the two made up the majority of the Animals album. This was the first Pink Floyd album without a composition from keyboard player Rick Wright.
Each song on the album reflects on Pink Floyd's beliefs about the class system found in capitalistic societies, with the pigs being a metaphor for the owners of large corporations (upper class), the dogs being the ruthless men who run the corporations (mid-upper class), and the sheep being the working class, the lowliest rung on the class ladder.
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. For the 8-track cartridge release, which looped, Parts 1 and 2 were linked by a guitar bridge performed by Snowy White (subsequently available on White's 1996 album "Goldtop: Groups & Sessions"), and the 17:08 song "Dogs" was cut into two tracks.
The giant, helium-filled pig seen on the cover was actually flown over Battersea Power Station for the photo shoot (under the direction of Storm Thorgerson). On the first day of shooting, a marksman was on hand in case the pig broke free. However, according to Thorgerson, this was considered an "insurance problem", and he was not hired for the second day of shooting. Ironically, on December 3, 1976, during the second day, 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. A passenger plane reported seeing the pig, causing all the flights at London Heathrow Airport to be delayed. 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. It finally landed in a farmer's field (without much damage). They then repaired the pig, and flew it up for a third time. The resulting pictures were not deemed suitable on their own (as the clear, blue sky from day three was thought to be much less evocative), and the final image was made as a composite of the power station picture from day one and the pig from day three.
The album had custom picture labels with drummer Nick Mason's writing for credits. Side one depicted a 'fish-eye' lens view of a dog and the English countryside. Side two was similar, but featured a pig and sheep instead of the dog.
Originally released on Columbia Records in the U.S. and Harvest Records in the UK, Animals was then re-released as a digitally remastered CD in 1994 in the UK on EMI. In 1997, Columbia Records issued an updated remaster (which sounded superior to the EMI remasters from 1994) in the United States, Canada, Australia, South America and Japan. Animals was re-released in April 2000, Capitol Records in the U.S. and EMI in Canada, Australia, South America and Japan re-released the 1997 remaster with the artwork from the EMI Europe remaster.
[edit] Quotes
| “ | It wasn't a great, one of the most productive periods of our life I don't think. We used those two tracks, which went back to '74 and changed the names and doctored them around and stuff and stuck them on the album. I like them, I love that album. It's exciting and noisy and fun and it's got really good bits of effects and stuff on it but it's not one of our creative high points really. | ” |
- David Gilmour, May, 1992, Pink Floyd: The 25th Anniversary Special, Westwood One.
| “ | I didn't really like much of the album. I have to say I didn't fight very hard and to put my stuff on and I didn't have anything to put on. I played on it. I think I played really well but I didn't contribute to the writing on it and also I think Roger was kind of not letting me do that. I think was the start of the whole ego thing in the band, Animals. | ” |
– Rick Wright, November 1994, BBC Omnibus Pink Floyd Special 1994.
[edit] Track listing
All lead vocals performed by Roger Waters, except "Dogs" with lead vocals by David Gilmour and Waters.
- "Pigs on the Wing 1" (Roger Waters) – 1:25
- "Dogs" (David Gilmour/Roger Waters) – 17:04
- "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" (Roger Waters) – 11:28
- "Sheep" (Roger Waters) – 10:24
- "Pigs on the Wing 2" (Roger Waters) – 1:26
[edit] Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Billboard Pop Albums | 3 |
[edit] Credits
- Roger Waters - Vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, vocoder, tape effects, sleeve design
- David Gilmour - Guitars, bass, vocals, talkbox, synthesizer
- 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
- James Guthrie: Remastering producer
- Doug Sax: Remastering
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Pink Floyd albums | 1977 albums | Concept albums | Harvest Records albums | Columbia Records albums | EMI Records albums | Capitol Records albums | Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson | Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis
