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For an opener, Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) is a rather fitting start. It's short, cynically romantic, and simple; just an acoustic guitar with vocals with an animal metaphor from the get-go.

Then comes Animals' most notable track, the seventeen minute 'Dogs.' Seventeen minutes is a rather long time on one subject, but in Pink Floyd style they make it count, with plenty of David Gilmour's wonderful guitar solos. For those who view rock and roll as guitar solo heaven, Gilmour is your god. Also add to the combination the lyrical genius that is Roger Waters. His imagery with the album-long metaphor of animals to humans is striking and fantastic. The dog in this song is a greedy businessman, who is always first to pick up stray meat, first to make a kill, etc. My favorite line is 'You have to keep trusted by the people that you lie to, so that when they turn their backs on you, you'll get the chance to put the knife in.' Even more incredible imagery fills the song as the lyrics describe the painful, lonely death of the dog, specifically from cancer.

Next on the album is 'Pigs (Three Different Ones).' Roger Waters' lyrics describe pigs as the overweight, overpowered authority of the 'farm.' This song spends more time criticizing authority figures like Mary Whitehouse (The Brit equivalent of Tipper Gore), than it does maintaining the pig metaphor. The song features plenty of grunts and voice box to decorate the song as it hops from one pig to another. You may have seen the South Park episode where Cartman tells his new fourth grade teacher 'ha ha charade you are, teach-a!' I say no more. Drummer Nick Mason keeps a great rhythm going through the slow track, certainly able to keep the beat.

The last opus of a song is the ten-minute rocker 'Sheep.' This is my favorite of the album. It features the trademark Pink Floyd 4/3 jumpy rock beat (as also heard in 'One of These Days' or 'Money'). Richard Wright gets his moment of shine with this song since his solos decorate much of the middle. Waters again delivers a powerful vocal as his lyrics describe the most submissive mammal, the sheep. They are pictured as mindless lemmings that do whatever they are told with no objections. They do rebel, however, as you can barely hear the satirical version of the 23rd Psalm, rewritten to include karate and meat grinders in the middle of the track. Do your research, it's funny. My favorite part of this song is the ending, the crushing guitar is as hard a rock as you're going to get out of Pink Floyd and its anthem-like tone will stay in your head long after the song ends.

The last track, Pigs on the Wing (Part 2) closes in its simplicity, ending what is a terrific album.

Apart from the music, the artwork of the cover is fantastic. That flying pig is actually an inflatable that was brought into the air above the power station. Its dream-like cloudy sky looks more like a painting, but ask cover artist Storm Thorgerson yourself and he'll tell you, it's photograph.

Just because you see two songs just over a minute and three songs averaging over ten, this does not mean the album is a messed up project or a throwaway. This album has such great consistency with defiant, symbolic lyrics, powerful guitar crush and Floyd cynicism. It was never appreciated when it was originally released, but it's totally worth reconsideration today.


Maximum Pink Floyd!   October 13, 2000
 29 out of 30 found this review helpful

How could this legendary progressive-rock band possibly top the classic double-header of "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Wish You Were Here"? Simple---drop the saxophonist and the female backup singers, make the music less spacey and more harder-edged, and lay down some of the most powerful, enthralling, bone-crunching prog-rock ever committed to tape! The mighty Pink Floyd did just that with 1977's "Animals," an astounding rock album that is not only an all-time classic, but it's also hands down the band's best work. Hey, I love "Dark Side" et al just as much as the next Floyd fan, but with "Animals," Pink Floyd ROCK with everything they've got, and for the very last time as a four-piece (session musicians were once again used by the band for "The Wall" and every Floyd album that has followed it).The theme of "Animals," inspired by George Orwell's "Animal Farm," is a journey through society split into three caste systems of animals---dogs, pigs, & sheep. The dogs are the ruthless cutthroats, the pigs are the stuck-up authority figures, and the sheep are the blind followers. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright blaze through this work with astonishing musical force. With no extra help from session musicians, the band have only themselves to play off of here, and because of that, the band's musical power is given extra strength. "Dogs," in particular, is a great example---Gilmour's shimmering acoustic guitar strums initially sound far off, but then draw closer. As Wright's eerie keyboards make a cameo, Gilmour lays down the strongest, most powerful lead vocal he's ever done for the band. Then the rest of the band kick in, and "Animals" becomes absolutely mindblowing as the band REALLY shift into high gear.I also love the album's intro and outro in the form of Waters' two parter, "Pigs On The Wing," which is actually a love song to Waters' then-wife, Carolyn. The first part of the song beautifully acts as a sort of "calm before the storm," as it settles you into your seat or on your bed, and gets you ready for the sheer musical force to follow. Forty minutes later, after the Floyd's incredible treatment of "Sheep" finally fades away into the distance, Waters comes in with the second half of "Pigs On The Wing," the peace *after* the storm, if you like. It ends the album on a very poignant, memorable note.Pink Floyd have got many brilliant albums in their catalog, but "Animals" is the big one for me. It's outstanding, and, as a concept album, it's also a very fascinating allegory about our own society. Simply put, "Animals" is a brilliant opus from one of rock's greatest bands.


Sublime   October 19, 1999
 26 out of 33 found this review helpful

There appears to be an unfortunately divisive element in the Pink Floyd fan club - those who followed Roger Waters to his solo career, and those who breathed a sigh of relief when Dave Gilmour and his pals (don't forget the brilliant compositional skills of Nick Mason - Speak to Me? Inspired...And John Bonham learned how to play the drums from Ummagumma) were left alone to make Division Bell etc.

It might be expected, as a big fan of Page, Clapton and Hendrix, that I would follow the Gilmour camp with a disgusted sneer at Waters and his "pretentious" lyrics. Well...no. And part of the reason is this album - for me Animals represents the transition of Pink Floyd from Obscured By Clouds rock band to The Wall rock icons, [not particularly inspirational] self-professed political spokespersons, and, most importantly, pioneering and archetypal musicians. It was not the first concept album, not the first time Dylaneque brilliance shone through in lyrics (obviously), not the first time even that excellent music had been combined with these two.

However - and forgetting that Dave Gilmour is a superb guitarist, as the solo on Pigs and, more importantly for me, the Dogs performance, demonstrates - what this mid-life Pink Floyd reached was the sublime: Gilmour was given the chance to touch the stars by his visionary partner...For me, the most memorable words in music, if only for as simple a reason as the way they are sung, are "After a while you can work on points for style...the firm handshake,/ A certain look in the eye and an eeeaaasy smile".

And to those who complain about Roger Waters' increasing influence over the band - I wonder that so many plaudits were thrown at the Smashing Pumpkins, an accomplished band that managed to produce Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, a highly recommended album, but one with almost deafening limitations...sorry Billy Corgan - but you don't even have a good voice.

I am not going to argue whether this is one of Pink Floyd's best album. But whether you are a Beatles, Stones, Who, Zeppelin, Pumpkins, Radiohead or Beautiful South fan - if you appreciate these bands for their musical qualities and lyricism (OK - not Zeppelin!), not their populism or image, then surely this album must stick out for its simplicity as much as its complexity.

If you've read this far, congratulations, and send me an email.


Dogs, Pigs, and Sheep, Oh My!!   March 5, 2004
 18 out of 19 found this review helpful

Without a doubt the most underrated album in the Pink Floyd legacy, ANIMALS had three unfortunate circumstances thrust upon when it was released in 1977. Number one, it wasn't as accessible as the band's multi-million seller DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, which was still on the charts when ANIMALS was released. Number two, the blistering punk movement had erupted and painted progressive rock into a corner. Finally, number three, the album had the unfortunate luck of being sandwiched in between Floyd's two most popular albums - the warmly atmospheric WISH YOU WERE HERE and the double concept album THE WALL. But despite all those shortcomings, ANIMALS is a solid album from start to finish and has gained some recognition over the past 20 years. It is now widely regarded as one of Floyd's best works, as it should be.

Pink Floyd were always dark and cynical in their music, but they also had a tinge of beauty that was undeniable. For ANIMALS, they decided to focus a lot more on the darkness and cynicism due to the subject matter, resulting in their most unfriendly recording. Roger Waters' theme on the record is inspired by George Orwell's classic novel ANIMAL FARM (it's a great book, everyone should read it), by taking all that was horrible and disgusting about society and human nature in the late '70s and classifying the humans as dogs (blind money grubbers), pigs (totaliterian "leaders"), and sheep (the weak followers). Lyrically, this is some of the best stuff Waters has ever written.

The album is bookended by two parts of "Pigs on the Wing," which are both a minute each. Despite their short length, these songs have really beautiful acoustic guitar and vocals. It's actually a bit misleading, since the album is much darker. I guess they wanted to be optimistic before turning pessimistic. The 17-minute epic "Dogs" is a brilliant and well-written piece of music. The lyrics are deep and thought-provoking, the melodies are stunning, and the band's interplay is tight. Incredibly textured keyboard work from Rick Wright permeates throughout the song, complimented by simple yet consistent drumming from Nick Mason and raw, spellbinding guitar playing from David Gilmour. The music effortlessly flows from dark parts, to heavy parts, and to mellower parts, and everything in between. Just an amazing song.

"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" is 11 minutes long, and sounds like a terrific leftover from WISH YOU WERE HERE. More great keyboard playing from Wright is shown, but Gilmour's guitar definitely comes to the forefront this time around. It also has a bouncy, playful rhythm that gleefully mocks the hypocrisy of the pigs. The 10-minute "Sheep" is a combo of the previous two tracks, by combining the epic feel of "Dogs" with the energetic moodiness of "Pigs." There's some really awesome bass playing from Waters on this one, and the song does take a left turn with a really spooky mid-section before the end.

With five songs and three them over 10 minutes long, ANIMALS won't be everybody's cup of tea. It's the band's least enjoyable album (from a musical standpoint) and the music and message will take a while to sink in. But when it does, you'll be grateful, and that's what makes ANIMALS stand head and shoulders above Pink Floyd's other material. Instead of pleasing the punk rockers, they rightfully followed their own path.