Animals
I don’t know where to begin with this album. This is such a big concept album, that introduced samples like they were never used before. Not only do the three main songs share the same subject, but they also feel alike. If you like one of them, you like the rest. The three animals each repressent a certain type of human.
- The dogs repressent business leaders, who think they control everything.
- The pigs respressent people in control: politicians and such.
- The sheep resepressent all the rest, people who are not in control.
Thus making the album based on George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm.
Pink Floyd animals cover
The album opens and closes with the same song: Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2, a very quite song that isn’t difficult for the ear at all. The song summarizes the entire album in only 1:25 minutes.
Following this soft intro we dive straight into the main songs beginning with dogs: a 17 minute long song full of guitar solo’s. The song starts with an accoustic guitar and soft percussion. but after less than 2 minutes we get our first guitar solo. After the second solo the rythm completely changes and we are introduced to the dogs: we hear dogs barking for about a minute, leading into the next guitar solo. In the middle of the song the music stops again, and starts building up from zero, and at the end we are suprised by a nice build up to the final words: Who was dragged down by the stone, referring to the business men who thought they were powerfull but in fact weren’t.
In the next song Pigs (Three Different Ones) the band keeps toying with the samples, and they present us with grunting pigs. The first four minutes we hear the same basic melody over and over again. The synth solo in the middle of the song is backvocaled by grunting pigs. The last four minutes of the song has the same melody as the first.
The song Sheep was also featured on their “Echoes: Best of Pink Floyd”-album. The song is basically build up the same way as Pigs. The first four and last four minutes are the same melody, and in the middle we get an excentric solo.
This album is overall just special because of the crazy sound effects and the storyline that flows through every song. You do have to give it a second and third listen before you understand it completely. Especially the three main songs are not exactly what you can call “easy songs”. They are a challenge for the ear, but once you get the feeling of it you will play this album over and over again.
Pink Floyd Pig (from Animals)
Funny trivia
During the recordings of the music video the giant pig flew away and created chaos in Heathrow, because the manager figured that he could save some money by not hiring a shooter to shoot the giant balloon when it would be set free.
Tags: Pink Floyd, progressive
August 25th, 2009 at 10:52
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
March 27th, 2010 at 06:29
[...] if you are into Pink Floyd like I am, and you like Pink Floyd’s Animals this album is going to rock your world. Seriously I’m fairly positive that in the history of [...]
March 27th, 2010 at 07:41
[...] if you are into Pink Floyd like I am, and you like Pink Floyd’s Animals this album is going to rock your world. Seriously I’m fairly positive that in the history of [...]