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Animals is the tenth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released in January 1977, Animals is a concept album that provides a scathing critique of the social-political conditions of 1970s Britain, and presents a marked change in musical style from their earlier work. Animals was recorded at the band's studio, Britannia Row, in London. Production of the album was punctuated by the early signs of discord that several years later would culminate in keyboardist Richard Wright leaving the band. The album's cover image, a pig floating between two chimneys on Battersea Power Station, was designed by bassist and writer Roger Waters, and produced by long-time collaborator Hipgnosis.

The album was released to mixed reviews in the United Kingdom, where it reached number two. It was also a success in the US, reaching number three on the Billboard album charts. Although it scored on the American charts for only six months, steady sales have resulted in the album being certified four times platinum by the RIAA. The size of the venues on the band's In the Flesh tour and an incident in which he spat at a fan, prompted Roger Waters to conceive the band's subsequent album, The Wall.

Background

In 1975 Pink Floyd bought a three-storey block of church halls at 35 Britannia Row in Islington. Their deal with EMI for unlimited studio time in return for a reduced percentage of sales had expired, and they converted the building into a recording studio and storage facility. Its construction took up most of 1975, and in April 1976 the band started work on their tenth studio album, Animals, at the new facility.

During this period, punk rock—in part a nihilistic statement against the prevailing social and political conditions, and also a reaction to the general complacency and nostalgia that appeared to surround rock music—grew in popularity. Pink Floyd was an obvious target for punk musicians, notably Johnny Rotten, who wore a Pink Floyd t-shirt on which the words "I HATE" had been written in ink. Drummer Nick Mason later stated that he welcomed the "Punk Rock insurrection" and viewed it as a welcome return to the underground scene from which Pink Floyd had grown (in 1977 he produced The Damned's second album at Britannia Row).

Concept

Although for this new musical movement Waters' success might have counted against him, his concerns with inequality, prejudice, and the social-political attitudes of the day, were not far removed from those expressed by the new breed of rock bands. Animals is loosely based on George Orwell's political fable Animal Farm, where various castes in society are represented as animals; dogs as enforcers of the law, pigs as ruthless leaders, and sheep as the mindless pawns. Whereas the novella focuses on communism, the album is a critique of the worst aspects of capitalism, and although both advocate a democratic socialist ideal the album differs again in that the sheep eventually rise up to overpower their oppressors.

In Comfortably Numb (2008), author Mark Blake argues that "Dogs" contains some of David Gilmour's finest work—although the guitarist sings only one lead vocal, his performance is "explosive". The song also contains notable contributions from keyboardist Richard Wright, echoing the funereal synthesiser sounds used on the band's previous album, Wish You Were Here. "Pigs (Three Different Ones)"—audibly similar to "Have a Cigar", with bluesy guitar fills from Gilmour—refers to businessmen, politicians (with veiled references to Margaret Thatcher) and decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse. "Sheep" contains a modified version of Psalm 23, where a Lord who "maketh me to hang on hooks in high places and converteth me to lamb cutlets" (referring to the sheep of the title) is celebrated. Toward the end of the song, the eponymous sheep rise up and kill the dogs, but later retire back to their homes. The album is book-ended by each half of "Pigs on the Wing", a simple love song in which a glimmer of hope is offered despite the anger expressed in the album's three other songs. The song is heavily influenced by Waters' relationship with his then girlfriend.

Recording

The group had worked with engineer Brian Humphries on several occasions, and he was called upon to engineer the album. Recording took place at Britannia Row, from April to December 1976, and also into early 1977. Two tracks previously performed live and considered for Wish You Were Here—"Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy"—reappeared as "Sheep" and "Dogs" respectively. The two songs were reworked to fit the new concept, and were separated by a Waters-penned composition, "Pigs (Three Different Ones)". With the exception of "Dogs", which was co-written by Gilmour, all five tracks on the album were written by Waters. "Pigs On the Wing" was split into two, and since royalties were accorded on a per-song basis, Waters would receive more than Gilmour, despite "Dogs" occupying almost the entire first side of the album. The song contains references to Waters' private life—his new romantic interest was Carolyne Anne Christie (married to Rock Scully, manager of the Grateful Dead). Gilmour was also distracted by the birth of his first child, and contributed little else toward the album. Similarly, neither Mason nor Wright contributed as much toward Animals as they had on previous albums. Animals was the band's first album not to include a writing credit for Wright. Although he did not make as significant a contribution as he had on Wish You Were Here, his influence is clearly heard in the arrangements, which include notable solo playing on "Dogs" and "Sheep".

Roger's thing is to dominate, but I am happy to stand up for myself and argue vociferously as to the merits of different pieces of music, which is what I did on Animals. I didn't feel remotely squeezed out of that album. Ninety per cent of the song "Dogs" was mine. That song was almost the whole of one side, so that's half of Animals.

The band had discussed employing another guitarist for future tours, and Snowy White was invited to the studio. After Waters and Mason had inadvertently erased a guitar solo that Gilmour had completed, White was asked to record a guitar solo on "Pigs on the Wing", which although cut from the vinyl release, was included on the eight-track cartridge version of the album. He later performed on the Animals tour. Mason recalled that he enjoyed working on this album more than he had working on Wish You Were Here.

Packaging

Once the album was complete, work began on its cover. Hipgnosis, designer of the band's previous album covers, offered three ideas, one of which was a small child entering his parents' bedroom to find them having sex—"copulating, like animals!"—but unusually the final concept was designed by Waters. At the time he lived near Clapham Common, and regularly drove past Battersea Power Station, which was by then approaching the end of its useful life. The building was chosen as the subject of the cover image, and the band commissioned German company Ballon Fabrik (who had previously constructed Zeppelin airships) and Australian artist Jeffrey Shaw to build a 30 feet (9.1 m) pig-shaped balloon (known as Algie). The balloon was inflated with helium and manoeuvred into position on 2 December, with a trained marksman ready to fire if it escaped. Unfortunately inclement weather delayed shooting, and the band's manager Steve O'Rourke had neglected to book the marksman for a second day. The balloon broke free of its moorings and ascended into the sky. It eventually landed in Kent, and was recovered by a local farmer, reportedly furious that it had "apparently scared his cows". The balloon was recovered and shooting continued for a third day, but the image of the pig was later superimposed onto the cover photograph as the early photographs of the power station were considered to be better.

The album's theme continues onto the record's picture labels. Side one's label shows a fish-eye lens view of a dog and the English countryside, and side two features a pig and sheep, in the same setting. Drummer Nick Mason's handwriting is used as a typeface throughout the packaging. The gatefold features monochrome photographs of the dereliction around the power station.

Release

Animals was a slog. It wasn't a fun record to make, but this was when Roger really started to believe that he was the sole writer for the band. He believed that it was only because of him that the band was still going, and obviously, when he started to develop his ego trips, the person he would have his conflicts with would be me.

Animals was released on 23 January 1977, and on 12 February in the US. It reached number two in the British charts, and number three in the US charts. The release of the album followed Capital Radio's broadcast of The Pink Floyd Story two days earlier, and an evening press conference held at the power station two days before that. The broadcast was originally to have been an exclusive for the London-based station—who since mid-December had been broadcasting The Pink Floyd Story—but a copy was given to John Peel, who played side one of the album in its entirety a day earlier. NME called the album "… one of the most extreme, relentless, harrowing and downright iconoclastic hunks of music to have been made available this side of the sun …", and Melody Maker's Karl Dallas wrote "…  uncomfortable taste of reality in a medium that has become in recent years, increasingly soporific …" Rolling Stone's Frank Rose was despondent, writing "The 1977 Floyd has turned bitter and morose. They complain about the duplicity of human behavior (and then title their songs after animals—get it?). They sound like they've just discovered this—their message has become pointless and tedious."

Animals was certified by the RIAA as 4X Platinum on 31 January 1995.

Reissues

Originally released on Harvest Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US, Animals was re-released on CD in 1985,, and in the US in 1987. It was reissued as a digitally remastered CD with new artwork in 1994, and as a digitally remastered limited edition vinyl album in 1997. An anniversary edition was released in the US in the same year, followed in 2000 by a reissue from Capitol Records. The album was also included in the Shine On box set.

Tour

The album became the subject material for the band's In the Flesh tour, which began on the day of the album's release, in Dortmund. The tour continued to Europe in February, the UK in March, the US for three weeks in April and May, and another three weeks in the US in June and July. Algie became the inspiration for a number of pig themes used throughout. An inflatable pig was floated over the audiences, and replaced with a cheaper, but explosive version. On one occasion the mild propane gas was replaced with an oxygen-acetylene mixture, producing a massive (and dangerous) explosion. German promoter Marcel Avram presented the band with a piglet in Munich, only for it to leave a trail of broken mirrors and excrement across its mirrored hotel room, leaving manager O'Rourke to deal with the resulting fallout. The band were joined by familiar figures, such as Dick Parry, and Snowy White.

Internal conflicts threatened the future of the band. Waters had taken to arriving at each venue alone, and departing immediately. On one occasion, Wright flew back to England threatening to leave the band. The size of the venues was also an issue; in Chicago, the promoters claimed to have sold out the 67,000 capacity of the Soldier Field stadium, but Waters and O'Rourke were suspicious. They hired a helicopter, photographer, and attorney, and discovered that the actual attendance was 95,000, leaving a shortfall of $640,000. The end of the tour was a low point for Gilmour, who felt that the band had by now achieved the success it originally sought, and that there was nothing else they could look forward to. In July 1977—on the final date at the Montreal Olympic Stadium—a small group of noisy and excited fans in the front row of the audience irritated Waters to such an extent that he spat at one of them. Waters was not the only person who felt depressed about playing to such large audiences, as Gilmour refused to perform the band's usual twelve-bar blues encore. Waters later spoke with producer Bob Ezrin and told him of his sense of alienation on the tour, and how he sometimes felt like building a wall to separate himself from the audience. The spitting incident became the basis for a new concept, based around the audience's separation from the performers on stage, which would eventually become one of the band's most successful album releases, The Wall.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Roger Waters

Personnel

Sales chart performance

See also

• Live Frogs Set 2
• Pink Floyd In The Flesh Tour 1977 – a promo tour of the album.

References

Notes

1. Povey (2007) suggests the album was released on 21 January, Mason (2005) suggests 28 January
2. EMI CDP 7461282
3. Columbia CK 34474
4. EMI CD EMD 1060
5. EMI EMD 1116
6. Columbia CK 68521
7. Capitol CDP 724382974826
8. EMI Harvest SHVL 815 (vinyl album)
9. Columbia JC 34474 (vinyl album)

Footnotes

1. Erlewine, Steven Thomas, Animals, allmusic.com, retrieved 2009-10-13
2. Twist, Carlo, Pink Floyd Animals, blender.com, retrieved 2009-10-14
3. Christgau, Robert (1977), Pink Floyd – Animals, robertchristgau.com, retrieved 2009-08-14
4. Wisdom, James P. (2000-04-25), Pink Floyd Animals, pitchforkmedia.com, retrieved 2009-10-13
5. ^ Rose, Frank (1977-03-24), Pink Floyd Animals, rollingstone.com, hosted at web.archive.org, retrieved 2009-10-13
6. ^ Mason 2005, pp. 218–220
7. Blake 2008, p. 239 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
8. Schaffner 1991, p. 195
9. Schaffner 1991, pp. 194–196
10. Blake 2008, p. 241 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
11. Blake 2008, pp. 241–242 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
12. ^ Blake 2008, p. 243 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
13. ^ Blake 2008, pp. 243–244 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
14. Mabbett 1995, pp. 70–71
15. ^ Povey 2007, p. 208
16. Blake 2008, pp. 244–245 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
17. Blake 2008, pp. 242–243 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
18. Blake, Mark (2008), Read David Gilmour Summer 2008 Interview for Mojo. Great Read!, neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk, retrieved 2009-10-14
19. Mason 2005, p. 220
20. Blake 2008, p. 245 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
21. Povey 2007, p. 201
22. Jeffrey Shaw, Pig for Pink Floyd, medienkunstnetz.de, retrieved 2009-05-21
23. ^ Blake 2008, p. 246 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
24. Mason 2005, pp. 223–225
25. ^ Povey 2007, p. 347
26. ^ Blake 2008, p. 247 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
27. Searchable database, riaa.com, retrieved 2009-10-13
28. Mason 2005, pp. 225–226
29. Blake 2008, pp. 248–249 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
30. Blake 2008, pp. 252–253 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBlake2008 (help)
31. Mason 2005, p. 230
32. ^ Mason 2005, pp. 235–236
33. ^ Pink Floyd —Animals (album), ultratop.be, retrieved 2009-10-14

Bibliography

• Blake, Mark (2008), Comfortably Numb — The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0306817527
• Mason, Nick (2005), Philip Dodd (ed.), Inside Out – A Personal History of Pink Floyd (Paperback ed.), Phoenix, ISBN 0753819066
• Mabbett, Andy (1995), The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd, Omnibus Pr, ISBN 071194301X
• Povey, Glenn (2007), Echoes, Mind Head Publishing, ISBN 0955462401
• Schaffner, Nicholas (1991), Saucerful of Secrets (1 ed.), London : Sidgwick & Jackson, ISBN 0283061278

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