| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Pigs On The Wing (part one) | | | | | |
| 2. Dogs | | | | | |
| 3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) | | | | | |
| 4. Sheep | | | | | |
| 5. Pigs On The Wing (part two) | | | | | |
Animals has somewhat of a curious place in the Pink Floyd legacy. One would normally expect that an album released between Wish You Were Here and The Wall in PF's output would be ranked with their best material, and would be an regarded by all fans as an integral part of the group's development. Instead, devotion to this album seems to be reserved to hardcore fans only, and the Floyd themselves have not performed any material from Animals in several years. Moreover, no songs from this album have become regular staples of "classic rock" stations (and the inclusion of "Sheep" on the Collection Of Great Dance Songs compilation seems to be little more than a token affirmation of the album's mere existence). Aside from the hardcore fanbase, the album seems to be generally ignored.
What can explain this? Part of the problem may be that there are no "classic rock" tracks on the album to follow the tradition of "Money" and "Have A Cigar" -- "Pigs" may come close, but, at ten minutes, it was stretching the limits of 1977 radio somewhat. "Sheep", also at ten minutes, doesn't really come close either -- and "Dogs", at 17 minutes, is even further removed from this standard. Many of the "rank and file" modern Floyd fans, in search of tracks on the level of "Comfortably Numb" and "Wish You Were Here", might find little reason to bother collecting this work.
Even among prog fans, however, the work is often regarded as somewhat peripheral... and, indeed, the album itself must take some of the blame for this. The individual songs, judged only on their own merit, are fine... but as a whole, the album lacks some of the impact of previous PF works. Where Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here both suffered slightly from tracks which marred the thematic development ("Money", "Welcome To The Machine"), Animals suffers from a thematic development which is at once too obvious and too vague to last for an entire album. The album, in spite of the individual tracks, is only a half-success.
The basic concept of the album is fairly simple: the pigs are the oppressors, the sheep are the oppressed, and the dogs are the ones used by the pigs to keep the sheep "in line". Eventually, the sheep overthrow the dogs (without, of course, removing the real oppressors). The metaphor of class struggle is too obvious to be elaborated on (Waters, himself of the English middle class, appears as a reluctant "dog" throughout the album, eventually becoming fully aware of his status in the final track). Not (ahem) the most original theme imaginable, perhaps, but not so overwrought as to ruin the course of the album. Unfortunately, the plot development of the characters is necessarily limited by the archetypal nature of animals in question -- aside from the "reluctant dog" sections, there isn't terribly much in the way of character development here. Perhaps this explains Waters's decision to create the extremely personal narrative that eventually emerged as The Wall .
As regards the individual tracks...
The three primary works are bookended by "Pigs On The Wing", a fairly simple mix of strummed acoustic guitar and Waters's earnest-though-vague vocals. The introductory piece obviously isn't a highlight of the album, but it's short, concise, and obviously just a "lead-in" for that which follows.
"Dogs", beginning with a rhythm line vaguely similar to "Another Brick In The Wall", is easily the best track on the album. Gilmour's guitar lines in the middle of the track compare well from his other work in this period, and the bass line prior to the "Who was..." section are highly recommended as well (though I have to wonder who actually played them). Wright's keyboards never really do anything overly complex in this track, though they are granted a brief "texture" spotlight after the line, "dragged down by the stone". As regards lyrics... it might not be overly presumptuous to argue that these are the unrelentingly grim of Waters's entire career. Gilmour's second-person vocals are absolutely condemnatory; Waters, singing from the first-person, can only respond by realizing his frustration in the face of his position. This in, in general, an excellent track. If only it had a proper home...
"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" isn't quite as good, due mostly to a somewhat inappropriate Frampton-esque vocoder/guitar section, which comes off as overly gimic-driven. Aside from this, though, the song remains generally worthwhile -- more condemnatory lyrics match with a somewhat bluesy jam, obviously leading to a guitar solo towards the end. Credit must also be given to the drum mixing on this track. Not quite a "classic" PF track, but not too far removed either.
"Sheep", the last of the main tracks, falls somewhere between the other two in terms of quality. Although beginning on a strong note with a vaguely jazzy keyboard section, the music seems somewhat unfocused in the later parts of the song -- this is a minor problem, but a problem nonetheless. Waters's vocal effects are appropriate for the track -- on the other hand, the lyrics are somewhat underdeveloped (one might argue that Waters was attempting to write from a somewhat naive position as regards the characters in question, but this would be more than slightly disingenious). The instrumental section towards the end is overly dependent on the rhythm parts, but is still good. In general, it's a triumph -- just not an overwhelming one.
The final "Pigs On The Wing" ends the album on a slightly unsatisfying note. It works as a resolution of the original theme, and of the concept of the album in general... but, ultimately, Waters's disappointed contentment in his own private space is somewhat of a "false climax" to the work in general.
This album cannot thus be strongly recommended to casual PF fans, or to prog fans in general. Those who do purchase the album may find much of interest, but the album cannot be considered to be "essential".
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 17 June 1997)