Pink Floyd - Animals
Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. Today, we are reviewing the third album in Pink Floyd's Big 4, Animals. This record was fueled by political instability and the displeasure with the goverment that the band had at the time. Tensions between Mr. Roger Waters, lead writer and bassist of the group, and Mr. Richard Wright, piano player of the group, were rising, later leading to Wright getting temporarily fired for a short amount of time. Let's see how this album sounds.
We start with Pigs On The Wing Part 1, a short acoustic song, with an overall really warm feel.
The previous song lasted just over a minute and a half. The next song, Dogs lasts 17 minutes... yeah. In this album, the band talks about the three classes of society: Pigs, Dogs and Sheep, in this descending order. We start with a nice, slower rock song, talking about a metaphorical Dog, who is growing older and older, getting more and more paranoid, and he grows older, he starts getting darker and darker thoughts. Then, around the three and a half minute mark, one of the best guitar solos in all of Pink Floyd history, stirs up. Slowly, the track gets groovier, as the lyrics talk about how the Dog gets even more paranoid, and will eventually get dragged down and drowned by a stone, stone, stone, stone, stone, stone, stone... And this goes on for a bit. That sound is forever engrained into my brain. In the meantime, a surprisingly psychedelic section lasts on for a while, as s t o n e continues to echo. We return to the rock section from earlier.
We now move on to Pigs (Three Different Ones). We open on some echoing synth pads and electric guitar chords. Here we see how the lyrics laugh at the Pigs of society, the Pigs representing those in power, and how poorly they govern the country. We generally here the same sound across, so the progressive label doesn't quite work. But the guitar solo around the nine and a half minute mark is just p e r f e c t .
Sheep opens much calmer, with some soft piano keys and a generally easier vibe. That is until the vocal kick in, and they sing about how the Sheep of society, being the common man, keep their heads down, and avoid any trouble. The instrumental is pretty nice too. The guitar around the eight and a half minute mark is really epic.
Finally, we reach Pigs On The Wing Part 2, which sounds pretty much the same as the first part. A short, acoustic song, with calm vocals.
Now, some people adore this album, and I can totally see why. But this album just isn't quite my cup of tea. Especially considering the fact that this album is considered progressive, but the music does not progress into different stages. People are gonna kill me when they see this score...
Comments