Pink Floyd Thread - New Old Releases

[Anthony Williams]

Well, we're about to see what I think of the studio noodlings, as I take the plunge and listen to...

Ummagumma (studio album)

Please note that I am using the CD version, which I believe has different track breaks to the LP.

1. Sysyphus (Parts 1-4)

I love how grandiose the opening to this is - Rick Wright and Nick Mason's majestic opening keys and drumming is superb. This is clearly Wright's piece, with some wonderful piano work at the beginning of the second part. Was Wright classically trained? But then the second part devolves into an avant-garde mess. Oh dear. Part three doesn't get off to a much better start - what's he playing this on? Kitchen instruments? This is just dreadful - it doesn't even have the suspense of other avant-garde compositions that Pink Floyd had done up to this point. Part four begins with a menacing organ sound, but its quite relaxing in places. Then, there's THAT organ chord - I knew it was coming, but it still made me jump. Nick Mason's drumming is excellent here, and his drum solo was the best bit since the beginning of the second part. The whole thing is, unfortunately a bit of an avant-garde mess. Started out quite well, soon degenerated, and then clawed its way back in the last minute. Too little, too late, I'm afraid.

2. Grantchester Meadows

What's this? A melody!?!? Well, that's a f**king relief! The accoustic guitar here is very nice, and the repeated loop of the birds is very relaxing. This is back to the pastoral sound of some of the tracks on A Saucerful of Secrets, and it works well. This is nice and chilled!

3. Several Species of Small Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict

Um.... ok. Hilarious, yet strangely enjoyable. Well, that was very avant-garde, wasn't it?

4. The Narrow Way (Parts 1-3)

Well, this is quite nice! I like Gilmour's guitar parts in the first part of the song, which have a very nice melody to them. It's interesting to know that Waters refused to write lyrics for the track - perhaps a sign of his later domination of the band? Some of the special effects used are quite interesting, continuing with the avant-garde theme of the album thus far. On to the second (electric) part! This sounds quite menacing, but has a nice groove to it, and it's well backed-up by Mason's yet-again-awesome-drumming. Certainly, the riff wouldn't have sounded out of place on Black Sabbath's debut effort, which premiered the same year. The keyboard samples are a bit Season-8-Doctor-Who in sound, mind! The final part is great - some vocals at last, which Gilmour provides beautifully! This sounds like some actual effort has gone in to make this track actually listenable. In my mind, whilst Waters was undoubtedly the better composer, Gilmour was undoubtedly the better musician, and this track goes to prove that. I do like this one

5. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Entrance, Entertainment & Exit)

I really do like the opening flute in Entrance, very ably provided by Lindy Mason. However, with Entertainment, this goes very, very odd - with lots of different drumming provided by Nick Mason. It's nice how he's showing what a versatile drummer he is, but long bits of solo percussion have never really done it for me. Like several of the tracks on this album, it's very avant-garde, and not really for me. Shame! The flute at the beginning and the end really is the highlight of this track. Disappointing.

Round-up

This isn't anywhere near being the greatest Pink Floyd album ever. In fact, it's probably my least favourite so far (even ranking below Soundtrack from the Film More). However, it's not exactly dire, and has its moments. Ummagumma was an experiment, albeit one that I feel didn't really work. It's a shame - this could have been really great, if only Wright and Mason hadn't decided to try and be so avant-garde, and had actually decided to produce some soundscapes, or some coherent music. Unfortunately, at least half of this album isn't what I was describe as "music".

Stand-out tracks: Several Species of Small Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict, The Narrow Way

2/5

Ant x

[Rob McCow]

2/5? You're very kind and patient, Ant!

[Anthony Williams]

2/5? You're very kind and patient, Ant!

Well, 1 point for the hilarity of Several Species..., and 1 point for the brilliance of The Narrow Way.

Yah, that's probably a bit generous, but it's not nearly the worst album I've ever had the misfortune of listening to. That accolade goes to Miley Cyrus...

Ant x

[Dave Tudor]

I won't ask exactly why you've been listening to Miley Cyrus, Ant...

Anyway, sorry I've not been around for a bit, and have not caught up yet, but before going on the next album, I'd just like to take one my occasional sidesteps and take a look at a couple interesting post-TDSOTM reissues...

A NICE PAIR

Harvest SHDW 403
Released 15 December 1973 (UK) 8 December 1973 (US, Harvest SABB-11257)
Highest UK Chart Position: 21 (20 weeks on chart)
Highest US Chart Position: 36 (4 weeks on chart)

THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN
Produced by Norman Smith, 1967
A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS
Produced by Norman Smith, 1968
SYD BARRETT Lead Guitar & Vocals
ROGER WATERS Bass Guitar & vocals
RICHARD WRIGHT Keyboards
NICK MASON Drums
DAVID GILMOUR Lead Guitar & vocals

Cover design and photographs for A NICE PAIR by HIPGNOSIS
Illustrations by Colin Elgie 100% studios and Bob Lawrie NTA
Graphics by George Hardie NTA and Richard Evans
Band photographs by Hipgnosis, R. Failla, Dave Larcher, Vic Singh, David Gilbert and others

In the 1970s, it was common practice for record labels to issue budget-priced, repackaged reissues of early albums from a band’s catalogue, especially if that band had suddenly achieved huge success: T. Rex, for instance, notably notched up a surprise 1972 No. 1 with a double re-release of their first two (forgotten) albums, on the back of their new found fame. EMI were no strangers to the budget reissue, and the mid-seventies would see a plethora of reissued albums and low-price compilations on the Harvest label in particular, all in rather garish new sleeves, hitting the shelves. First to receive the repackaging treatment, though, were Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett.

With The Dark Side Of The Moon conquering the world during 1973, especially in the US, Capitol (the band’s American label) decided to cash in on the album’s success, with a re-release of the group’s first two albums. The Floyd’s early releases had enjoyed often less-than-modest showings in the American charts, but following Dark Side’s one-week stint at number one, and the start of its lengthy residence in the Billboard chart, Pink Floyd were suddenly a big name Stateside, and there was particularly new interest in the Syd Barrett-era. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (which had never been released in its original form in the US) and A Saucerful Of Secrets were coupled together as a double album, under the rather cheeky title A Nice Pair, released just in time for Christmas, in December 1973, with the American version actually appearing a week before its UK Harvest counterpart. Although essentially a straight reissue of the two albums, A Nice Pair was notable for several reasons: firstly, the US release erroneously substituted the live recording of Astronomy Domine from Ummagumma for Piper’s original studio take (the audio cassette version even changed the order so that tracks from Piper sat alongside songs from Saucerful, which might have made for an even more interesting compilation). More noteworthy, though, was the striking gatefold sleeve, a typically imaginative collage of images and archive band photos put together by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell of Hipgnosis (who themselves appear on the back cover, surrounded by some of their work). Most of the eighteen images were occasionally not-very-PC interpretations of well-known sayings (check out the pictures for ‘a nip in the air’ or ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’, or even the rather obvious one depicting the album’s title), although the greatest controversy concerned the photo of the wonderfully-named dental surgeon W.R. Phang’s practice – this version of the cover had to be withdrawn in Britain, as dentists are not allowed to advertise in this country. However, none of his overshadowed A Nice Pair’s comparative success on both sides of the Atlantic, another sign of the record-buying public’s growing approval for all things Floyd.

Pink Floyd First XI football team, as seen on the cover of A Nice Pair.

[Dave Tudor]

Syd Barrett

SYD BARRETT

Harvest SHDW 404
Released 20 September 1974 (UK) 20 July 1974 (US, Harvest SABB-11314)
Highest UK Chart Position: n/a
Highest US Chart Position: 163

THE MADCAP LAUGHS
Produced by DAVID GILMOUR and ROGER WATERS (and MALCOLM JONES)
BARRETT
Produced by DAVID GILMOUR and RICHARD WRIGHT

Cover for this double album package by Hipgnosis
Artwork by Richard Evans
Photographs courtesy of Blackhill Ents., Lupus Music, SKR and Hipgnosis
Thanks to Bernard and Nigel of Terrapin for their help

In 1973/74, there was also a surge in interest in Pink Floyd’s founder himself, Syd Barrett. Following a disastrous series of gigs in the short-lived band Stars in 1972, Syd had withdrawn from music altogether. However, with his former band suddenly riding the crest of a wave, music fans were keen to know what had happened to Barrett, and an acclaimed article written by renowned rock journalist Nick Kent for NME in the spring of 1974 raised his profile again. Kent’s piece was sympathetic, but did little to dispel the myths and rumours of the reclusive Barrett’s increasingly strange, erratic behaviour. EMI Harvest responded to this renewed awareness, though, by re-releasing Syd’s two 1970 solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, together as a double album simply entitled Syd Barrett. The sleeve was once again designed by Hipgnosis, with the inner gatefold containing several rare photographs of Barrett. The significance of the orange, the plum and the matchbox on the front cover was that these were objects which Storm Thorgerson remembered fascinating Syd during an acid trip in 1966. Although the album failed to chart in the UK, there was enough interest in the US to ensure a brief showing in the lower reaches of the Billboard chart. As for Barrett himself, he was persuaded to return to the recording studio by former Floyd manager Peter Jenner, one last time in August 1974, but the sessions came to nothing, and Syd Barrett returned to Cambridge, and obscurity. That, it seemed, was that – but Pink Floyd were to be haunted by their former leader’s presence during the recording of their next album, both in spirit and in person…

Syd Barrett, 1971

[Rob McCow]

I actually owned the Syd Barratt compilation long, long before I ever bought a Pink Floyd album. I found it quite hard listening with a few cracking tunes, such as Terrapin (I think). It's a very worrying album. It really does sound as though they undid his straightjacket, gave him an acoustic guitar and pointed a microphone at him.

Anyway... Come on you lot! Wish you were here

Don't make me go all 'Roger Waters' on you!

[Si Hunt]

It was better when Judith Chalmers did it.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

We'll have less of your cheek.

[SiHart]

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) ******
It's all about the chord isn't it? The long droning synthy chord... the sound of the future- or the sound of the future as depicted in the 1970s anyway. Then mellow guitar...Lovely!
It's a wonderful start to an epic track, but it gets even better when Dave's magnificent and iconic guitar chord chimes in. Bom-burm-bom-burmmmmm! What's not to like? Ooh! More synth- that's good!
Good grief we're already 7 minutes and there's no singing. Will they sing? No- more guitar!
Oh but here they are! It sounds like they're all there too and it's gorgeous stuff- lovely lyrics and takes the song up to full flight mode. They're just great lyrics.
In fact this is one of the best things they ever did. Obviously.

Welcome to the Machine ***1/2
And the sax dissolves into sci-fi industrial sounds- something impersonal and horrible after the heartfelt stuff in the last song. The sytle of singing really emphasises that- it's not nearly as warm as the Diamond...
I like the juxtaposition of the sweeping synth and the acoustic guitar line a great deal- makes for something unsettling- natural vs man made- the fight against the machine perhaps?
It's not an awfully likeable song, but it has a striking atmosphere and belongs exactly here.
It used to scare me when i was a kid. It was too weird.

Have a Cigar ***1/2
This starts with a really dirty guitar riff, which thoroughly sums up the mood of the song- the dirty business of the music business. I really like Roy Harper's vocal on this, but it doesn't really sound too different to Roger does it?
More stinging guitar towards the end- nicely done but it's the end that is the best bit- the slow change as the song gets sucked back into the radio with a whoosh... Magnificently done. Their sound engineering is second to none. You can imagine them fiddling round for hours getting the effects right. It pays off as we're into something truly different for this album...

Wish You Were Here *****
A blast of a symphony orchestra and that riff starts, fuzzy and distorted but there... and it's a magic moment when the top line comes in and it's suddenl all clear. Beautifully done.
This is another song that vies for the top spot of their best track. It's gorgeous, warm and personal and seems so heartfelt. It's sung beautifully- in fact the production all round is splendid.
What's it about? That loss... people, ideals, friends... until you just find your life is treading water going nowhere. It's expressed so evocatively.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)*****
WYWH dissolves into the wind and for a while you wouldn't realise we're reprising Shine On... There's very cohesive band work here. It feels like a jam, but a controlled jam where the whole band knows what's going to happen, where they all know how each other will react and it works wonderfully.
My favourite bit (after the smile in the line "And I'll be joining you there) is the final part- the really synthy bit. Just cos I love the snyth sounds they use. That reassuring EMS sound.


Wish You Were Here is my favourite Pink Floyd album. Possibly not as strong as DSOTM, but when it hits the highs, there's nothing to beat it. Shine On and the title track are there with Time as my favourite Pink Floyd songs and well after this, things would never quite be this good for the band again. A masterpiece.

Si xx

[SiHart]

Any Pink Floyd fans fancy going along to this: http://www.readingarts.com/thehexago...X9CCB-A78189E7 with us?

Si xx

[Dave Tudor]

I actually went to see The Australian Pink Floyd Show at Birmingham NIA a few weeks ago, admittedly with some trepidation, but I was VERY impressed! I'm not a big fan of tribute bands, but ehy are more than that - they capture the spirit of Pink Floyd without simply trying to run through their classics or lazily imitating them (although they do sound eerily like the real thing). They actually do the whole of 'The Wall' show, as it was presented in 1980-81, and it's a real treat, featuring animations, light shows and inflatables, and, in fact, a great deal of humour. We're never going to see the real Floyd ever again, so this is about the next best thing - I'd certainly recommend them!

[Dave Tudor]

WISH YOU WERE HERE

Harvest SHVL 814
Released 5 September 1975 (UK),

12 September 1975 (US, Columbia, PC 33453)
Highest UK Chart Position: 1 (89 weeks on chart)
Highest US Chart Position: 1 (54 weeks on chart)

Dick Parry saxophone on Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Roy Harper vocal on Have a Cigar
Backing vocals by Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams

Sleeve Design and Photography by Hipgnosis assisted by Peter Christopherson, Jeff Smith, Howard Bartrop and Richard Manning
Graphics by George Hardie NTA

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios January to July 1975
Engineered by Brian Humphries assisted by Peter James
Thanks to Bernie Caulder and Phil Taylor
All lyrics by Roger Waters

Produced by Pink Floyd P 1975

SIDE ONE

1. SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (Part One) (Waters-Gilmour-Wright)

- Part 1 (Wright-Waters-Gilmour)

Opening with that beautifully familiar solitary synthesiser chord, Richard Wright sets the tone for the album straight away. Wright’s playing on Wish You Were Here is some of his best work for Pink Floyd, and this melancholy piece is a fine example, despite its simplicity.

- Part 2 (Gilmour-Waters-Wright)

Just as haunting is David Gilmour’s wonderful guitar during the second section. Pristine and perfect, the simple bluesy lick, tinged with sorrowful feeling, represents some of Gilmour’s best guitar yet, and set against the sudden, startling chord change, after more than two minutes, this is a striking piece of instrumental music.

- Part 3 (Waters-Gilmour-Wright)

Part 3 opens with four of the most famous notes in progressive rock: an arresting motif, composed by accident during rehearsals, the arpeggio again grabs one’s attention with its simplicity. Gilmour is soon joined by the rest of the band, the drums pounding in, the solemnity unsettled by a heart-stopping crescendo, as the piece settles into its laid-back, jazzy 6/8 rhythm. Gilmour provides some achingly soulful guitar here, wringing every last drop of emotion from the instrument, leaving the listener in doubt as to the raw feeling invested into the track. Fantastic stuff.

- Part 4 (Gilmour-Wright-Waters)

The fourth section sees a slight change in tone: a more funereal piece, led by Richard Wright’s subtle keyboard work. The sound settled on by Wright defines this album, and, for many people, Pink Floyd - it certainly conveys the heartfelt regret of Shine On You Crazy Diamond perfectly. Halfway through, David Gilmour takes the reins again with more blues-style guitar, paving the way for…

- Part 5 (Waters-Wright-Gilmour)

…which sees Roger Waters take centre-stage, the bassist singing some of his most pining, regretful lyrics yet. It is all-too-clear to all those who know the story, that Shine On… is a veiled ode to Syd Barrett, and the lyrics provide some intriguing insights into the group’s (and, in particular, Waters’) feelings on their lost talisman and his tragic plight (I have always found the line “Well you wore out your welcome with random precision” particularly curious). Waters imbues the words with masterfully poetic imagery, and he pushes his voice almost to breaking point, adding further pain and poignancy. It was rare for the group’s then-current leader to open his heart like this, especially at this stage, but such railing and soul-bearing would become commonplace from hereon in, albeit with much less humility. Dick Parry returns from The Dark Side Of The Moon in the latter half of this section, to add some raw-edged saxophone to the proceedings, before the piece fades into the ether, thoughts of Pink Floyd’s one-time boy-child genius ganging on the steel breeze… A staggeringly moving epic, Shine On You Crazy Diamond is yet another masterpiece.

Poster for Pink Floyd's headlining appearance at Knewbworth, July 1975

2. WELCOME TO THE MACHINE (Waters)

Pink Floyd’s most synthesiser-driven song yet is another dark, doomy affair: the simple, pulsating VCS3 track and acoustic guitar flourishes present a bleak atmosphere, as Gilmour sings of the perils of the rock music ‘machine’, and the loss of control to which we are all susceptible. The harsh, bitter lyrics, courtesy of Waters, could again be seen as a lament for Syd’s downfall. Shifting seamlessly into 3/4 time, the incessant instrumental section, with its whirling keyboards, and timpani rolls, is really quite spine-tingling, and the oppressive play-out, embellished by impenetrable chatter lends a foreboding counterpoint to the comparative hopefulness of Dark Side… Welcome To The Machine is a masterful climax to a stunning first half.

Pink Floyd, Abbey Road Studios, 1975

[Dave Tudor]

SIDE TWO

1. HAVE A CIGAR (Waters)

Side Two’s opener sees the band in reflective mood again, as they recount their experiences of joining the music business ‘gravy train’. Cult musician and Harvest label mate Roy Harper takes lead vocals, in the role of an insincere record company executive, famously asking “Which one’s Pink?” Ostensibly another laid-back jazz groove, the track is given a harder edge, thanks to Harper’s snarling vocals, underpinned by threatening synths, and some searing, funky axe-work from Gilmour. Not the album’s strongest song, but Have A Cigar does add some bite to the much more wistful, sorrowful second half.

2. WISH YOU WERE HERE (Waters-Gilmour)

An anonymous listener flicks through the radio stations. Snatches of pompous voices and classical symphonies pass by, before settling on a now-familiar acoustic riff. A brilliantly imaginative intro, which sees the unknown listener (yes, I know it’s Gilmour) coughing and spluttering before picking up his guitar and playing along to the chord sequence wonderfully. The track then – rather unexpectedly – opens up into perhaps Pink Floyd’s greatest singalong: David Gilmour once again takes the lead, lending an achingly wistful voice to some of Roger Waters’ most memorable, most moving lyrics. Its words sum up perfectly the themes of the album: loss, absence, regret, and mourning for people and times long gone. The band was now ten years old, and it is therefore fitting that they should be looking back over the last decade, with more than just a hint of sadness, despite their huge successes. But this is not just about a rock band reminiscing – Wish You Were Here touches something in all of us, and it is with good reason that it is such a favourite with buskers and would-be singer-songsmiths. For Pink Floyd, it is also effortlessly listenable and accessible, yet still retaining a typically mournful air. Capturing a band at its peak, this is a true classic.

3. SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (Part Two) (Waters-Gilmour-Wright)

- Part 6 (Wright-Waters-Gilmour)

Finally we return to the epic which bookends the album. Part 6 opens with howling, desolate winds, immediately summoning up images of wide, lonely vistas. The emptiness is pierced by an ominous bassline, and a simple, 6/8 guitar rhythm. Richard Wright adds some hypnotic synthesiser, redolent of Any Colour You Like, before David Gilmour takes over some brilliantly frantic lead guitar. It’s an enthralling group jam, which builds to a superb climax, reintroducing a familiar lick, leading us into…

- Part 7 (Waters-Gilmour-Wright)

…one last tribute to the fallen Barrett. However, this final verse is more hopeful, more optimistic, Roger Waters singing of how he’ll be “joining [him] there”, and basking “in the shadow of yesterday’s triumph”. Curiously, despite Waters claiming that “Nobody knows where you are”, Barrett chose the recording sessions for this song to turn up at the studios, for one final, unexpected, and highly emotional reunion. Perhaps it’s the metaphorical olive branch offered in the lines of this song which somehow mysteriously enticed Barrett to the studio, but the meeting was short-lived before Syd was whisked away on the steel breeze once more. None of the band would ever see him again.

- Part 8 (Gilmour-Wright-Waters)

The penultimate section is a curiously upbeat number, featuring funky electric piano, bass and guitar. This part of the track has never been a favourite of mine, and is perhaps the only ‘filler’ on the album: a comparatively brief bridging section, which soon gives way to…

- Part 9 (Wright)

…a magnificent album closer. Richard Wright showed how moving his music could be in The Great Gig In The Sky and this sad-eyed synth coda is equally so. It’s deceptively simple (despite cheekily smuggling in a few snatches of such Barrett classics as See Emily Play at the end), but therein lies its genius: that it should encourage such feeling with so little effort. Naturally, Wish You Were Here ends on a downer, but one does not mind with music as beautiful as this.

Syd Barrett, Abbey Road, 1975

[SiHart]

What a great review Dave!

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

Fantastic stuff Dave, and it's given me some idea at last of where the various 'parts' of SoYcD start and end

(despite cheekily smuggling in a few snatches of such Barrett classics as See Emily Play at the end)

That's very interesting - I'll have to listen out for that.

Anyway, we're all going to have to listen to 'Animals' now. Hmmm!

[Dave Tudor]

Thanks for the comments, guys - I've really enjoyed rediscovering WYWH all over again.

That's very interesting - I'll have to listen out for that.

Yes, apparently when they used to play it live, Rick Wright would play bits of melodies from some of Syd's songs at the end, such as 'Arnold Layne' and 'Bike' - I can't make out any others on the studio version, but listen right at the very end, and you can certainly hear the melody from the verses of 'See Emily Play' ("Emily tries but misunderstands" etc.), just before it fades out completely.

Speaking of looking out for things, I'd never realised this before:

It wasn’t until quite recently that I found Syd’s name in the song title. Shine on You crazy Diamond indeed.

D'oh!

Anyway, we're all going to have to listen to 'Animals' now. Hmmm

Hmmm, indeed... it can't be that bad, can it...?

[Rob McCow]

animals

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
Recorded at - Britannia Row Studios, London, between April and November 1976.
Released January 23, 1977.
Highest UK Chart Position – No.2
Highest US Chart Position – No.3
The cover shows a pig flying over Battersea Park Power Station in London. The power station is still there, but the pig has long since been deflated.

TRACK LIST
SIDE A
Pigs on the Wing 1 (Waters) – 1:24
Dogs (Gilmour, Waters) – 17:06

SIDE B
Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Waters) – 11:28
Sheep (Waters) – 10:21
Pigs on the Wing 2 (Waters) – 1:27

HOT LINKS
Lyrics - http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/htm...ls-lyrics.html
Wiki – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_(album)
The far better Pink Floyd & Co Link - http://pinkfloyd-co.com/disco/animal...als_album.html
Some bits and pices live, featuring songs from Animals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rtEEiWXbME
Watch the Pig going up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYh1OW0BjFA
Pigs (A Different One) – It’s Spider Pig! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lk1J...eature=related
9 minute Animals documentary. Lowest possible quality recording! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXpgSPHdqlo
Utterly, utterly bizarre conspiracy theory – Try playing Animals and Dark Side of The Moon at the same time! http://www.enduringvision.com/news/arts_052809.php "It's really just an amusing notion that we would do any such thing," said former Pink Floyd bassist and lead songwriter Roger Waters in an interview with the BBC. "But even if we had, that bloody Gilmour and Mason would doubtlessly take full credit, which is pure bollocks."

OTHER ALBUMS OF 1977
Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols
Marquee Moon – Television
Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True
David Bowie – Low AND Heroes
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
The Clash – The Clash
Iggy Pop – Lust For Life AND The Idiot
Bat Out Of Hell – Meatloaf
Electric Light Orchestra – Out of The Blue
Bob Marley – Exodus
Blondie – Plastic Letters

[Rob McCow]

Pigs On The Wing 1
In theory, this is a sweet and tender love song, a counterpoint to the bleakness of the other songs on the album. In practice, it’s a dreary, lazy composition. It’s possibly Pink Floyd’s most boring song of all time. Roger can do quality laid-back acoustic style tracks like ‘If’ or even ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’. But this one is drab and the guitar playing is rubbish. They had a bloody good guitarist in the band, Dave Gilmour. Remember him? He could have written something worth hearing to accompany the lyrics.

Dogs
OK – here’s my pet theory for Animals. (Haha) Roger wrote this album about the rest of the band. Gilmour is ‘Dogs’ the vicious snarling and hungry rotweiller snapping at his heels. Rick Wright is the Sheep, dull and uninterested. Mason is the Pigs, sitting at the back and sticking his nose into the trough of all the money they made.
We start with Dogs (Gilmour!) It starts off promisingly, with clear singing and some exciting electronic effects. Then the bass and organ cut in and it seems to slow down. It’s a very languid song in places, interspersed with more exciting high-speed stuff.
This should be as good as Shine On… in it’s own way. A snarling riposte to that songs’ glacial grace. Unfortunately, Dogs is pretty boring. The slow bits plod and plod and plod and plod, with endless guitar solos that are fine in their own right, but they go on and on and on and on. Then the faster bits don’t have enough bite, they aren’t loud or distorted enough. An early example of hard rock being ruined by over-production, something that is commonplace nowadays.
There’s a damn fine song in here, but it would have been better at ten minutes. Or seven. Or even three!

Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Another fantastic intro for another overblown song. Haha! Charade YOU are. Although if I hadn’t read the lyrics I’d still be convinced it was “Haha! She’ll ride you out.” I like the “Haha!” bits, they were the first part of the album to really stand out for me. In fact, before this year they were the only bits of the album I could remember and we’ve had Animals on CD for ages.
Roger has decided to take over vocal duties and his voice is never as warm or as good as Gilmour’s. Roger has such a reedy, snarling voice. He is the dark side of Pink Floyd, the psychotic pervert whose rank and festering unpleasantness is repugnant and cold. It’s probably not what he’s like in real life, but it’s part of the ‘character’ he creates through his singing voice and which manifests itself fully on The Wall.
Again, this is fabulous in places but it never seems to end or go anywhere. The pig-honking guitar noises are clever and the whole song has been carefully crafted.
For me, the highlight comes in the last minute when the bass-line erupts into a creeping arpeggio and Gilmour lets rip with the dirtiest solo on the album. Rock out!

Sheep
All the best sections of the album appear on this track. It starts off with some animal sound effects and loose organ playing, exactly the same as Pigs, but this time there’s a hypnotic bass line giving it a sense of urgency.
The vocal trick that defines this song is simple, but absolutely stunning. Roger holds the note on the line ‘awaaaaaaaay….’ for an impossibly long time, then it becomes a synth note, boiling away into the thrashing guitar sounds in the background. The singer becomes the technology, absorbed into the machine. It’s spectacular. I’m not sure quite what relevance it has to sheep, but it’s amazing all the same.
Annoyingly, we also get an echo of the Dogs song in this one. Or at least I think we do, it sounds like the echoing ‘Stone’ from ‘Dragged down by the stone’ appears at about 4:15. This is annoying because it wrecks any chance of making out Dogs, Pigs and Sheep as separate tracks, without dividing them up and listening to them separately. Given that all three have a very similar tone, they all feature long, long guitar, organ and effects solos and that they’re all over ten minutes, this makes telling where you are on the album even more difficult. I enjoy albums that reveal more of themselves when you’ve listened to them many times, but Animals requires repeated listening to establish a mental road-map of the album.
Sheep really kicks into gear with the creepy psalm singing, the arrival of the Doctor Who theme and the baying chorus of sheep getting louder and louder. I love the concept of the sheep rising up and taking over. There’re even some great lyrics to go with it – ‘Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dreaaaaam…’ Awesome! Then the outro features a fantastic exciting riff from Gilmour. It’s only a shame that…

Pigs On The Wing 2
…after the great ending to Sheep we get this tripe again. If I didn’t care what happened to you…

ANIMALS.
This is no rival to Dark Side of The Moon, Wish You Were Here or even (in my book) Atom Heart Mother! There are a number of problems with Animals that make it a rather boring album, when it shouldn’t be.
First off, it seems apparent that the band were utterly bereft of ideas by this point. It wouldn’t surprise me if the songs were dragged out only to fill the album up. The ‘Animals’ theme is disappointing given that we get Dogs, Sheep, Pigs, Pigs and Pigs again. Wouldn’t you love to hear a Pink Floyd song entitled ‘Cows’, ‘Monkey’ or even ‘Whale’?
Then there’s the singing. There’s no warmth and very little in the way of harmony on this album. Rogers’ clinical tones carry through and even on Dogs, it sounds like Gilmour is doing an impression of Roger Waters. I’ve mentioned about how I find Roger’s singing, but I’ll add here that it shuts the listener out of the album. Gilmour has a very warm and inviting voice, whereas Roger is exactly opposite. It works really well when he has to screech or scream out his spite, but sustained over forty minutes it becomes quite grating.
The three main songs on this album are all cut from the same bleak rock, hymns to pain and the damnation of capitalism. The trouble is that they’re all the same. It’s taken years of careful listening, but I think I’d be able to tell you which song was which by listening to a snippet from them. I think I’d be able to do that.
Animals has been considered as the Floyd’s answer to punk, but rage is best delivered in short, sharp bursts. That’s why the Sex Pistols stuck to three-minute songs. The manic fury invoked by Dogs, Pigs and Sheep can’t be maintained, so we get dull filler sections to spread it out. All of those songs would be vastly improved if they were condensed into (I’ll be generous) six minutes. In fact, if Animals were 25 minutes long in total I’d probably like it a heck of a lot more!

Good, but not great.

[Dino]

ANIMALS

SIDE ONE

PIGS ON THE WING (PART 1)
Any other band opening with a short acoustic number on their album before 1977 would normally be welcomed, if regarded as out of touch, but given the opening tracks of their past six albums, it does throw you.

This song was expanded on live with Rick Wright's backing organ at shows on the fateful brief tour of the same name... And in all honesty I'd have preferred that version. A scrappy demo not even sung by their best singer that gives back to basics a bad name.

Credit for at least for one of Roger's top lyrics? A pity they chose such a dull way to record it? More's "Cirrus Minor" was a better opener...

That said, it was the soundtrack to one of the funniest incidents on the tour...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozg3l6Y8mRo


DOGS

This was originally (unless already pointed out) a song from around the time of Shine You Crazy Diamond (1974 it was written) and it was originally called "You Gotta Be Crazy." It had a lyric that was Dark Side Of The Moon summed up only far less successfully.

I was amazed how Supergrass got off so lightly for having a hit with "Moving" when listening to this?

I am impressed with the lyrics on this album, and IMO I think Roger lost his ability to write consistently from here. As The Wall and The Final Cut limited Roger to storyline and pseudo-politics? You'd think the lyrics wouldn't have meant much to the sweeping punk crowd, but listening today, they have never sound not just more true but a warning that all we build up as success are as false as the foundations of society that they are built on?

Still doesn't excuse for material over two years old to be as unadventurous, under produced and "phoned in" as the band are on this?

Dave Gilmour plays some amazing screaming guitar leads and it does appear to move through sections (even if the drowning dogs sequence is the most unconvincing of Pink Floyd's soundscapes) there isn't much change of pace and lets down what would have been a Pink Floyd bona fide classic?

The band have more or less split into two. Nick Mason plays uninspiring drumming and given Rick Wright provided the jaw dropping coda to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" on the last album, his demotion to background mood keyboards is a kick in the face to the listener. Even some "Great Gig In The Sky" piano chords would have lifted this song into a three way composition?

That says commendable marks for having a coda inspired by Allen Ginsberg's Howl which provides the tracks best section of the song. A pity it was late in coming though...

What? That's the end of side one? ...for f-


SIDE TWO

PIGS (THREE DIFFERENT ONES)

This starts off like a Pink Floyd classic. Rick's organ is back! Playing a repetitive phrase as a fretless bass (played by David Gilmour) improvises around it. Always thought the guitar chords were nicked by New Order for their "Regret" 90's comeback?

And then the song begins... another attempt at "Have a Cigar" funk although that joke seriously isn't funny anymore... Roger hogs the mic with a lyric with spite, hate, contempt and seriously unfunny grasps at humour.

It's the second verse about "Bus stop rat bag" that bothers me most. I think it's a really condescending and bullying attack on people who don't happen to have been signed to EMI Harvest or made one of the best selling albums of all time? Her crime? Having to use public transport and being slightly miserable... Got into a youtube argument over this song. Someone said this verse was a dig at Thatcher. Really? Can anyone confirm around 76-77 there was a picture of Mrs. Thatcher with a handgun at all?

David Gilmour nicks Peter Frampton's guitar effect but adds some bile and howls that would make Peter Frampton's hair fall out! (Actually, it's the effect of using that pedal anyway) and then were back to the beginning again with a third and final go at this time Mary Whitehouse. That's the best part of the song, but again it doesn't make up for the long, long lead up to it. It's hard to believe this is the same band who made "Time" less than four years earlier?


SHEEP

Finally, Rick Wright plugs in his electric piano/Rhodes keyboard for a sweet intro that shows off his jazz "chops" (geddit?) with the One Of These Days bass simmering in the background, without the echo effect but more angry. The song kicks in with some much needed pace and fury but the Rog Hog is still on the mic! My favourite song of the album it's easy to see why it was included on Echoes and I'd probably do the same. The Psalm/Dr Who middle section is a bit heavy handed but effective and the guitar play out is my favourite musical moment of this album. It fades out to a peaceful meadow scene of bleating sheep and finally

PIGS ON THE WING (PART TWO)

The album ends as it begins with another cut price ballad that finally is the tenderest part of the album. Far too little, too late though. And it's a shame after the tiny baby steps of progression they made on this album in the final finish they race back to the start again.

Apparently this was only included because "Roger felt the record was too cold" (Wow! Nothing gets past him eh?)

THE VERDICT

Listening to their albums again, although I went along (like a Sheep) with the school of "Animals is their best album!" but listening back to it... this is the weakest link of 70's Floyd. It needed a little less Waters and a lot more Wright for a start. And even listening to bootlegs and stuff from 1977, the band seem trapped and sometimes out of time. The addition of Snowy White as a second live guitarist didn't work as his fast fret style was at odds with...well the Pink Floyd sound really! If this was to be the last Pink Floyd album ever, it would be a huge injustice that they went out this way. Even the NME ran a headline on them called "Pigs On The Whinge".

Something had to change, and when the story about how the pig on the cover broke free from it's mooring and flew into commerical airspace is the only thing people talk about with this album in future years then you've got a problem.

At the end of the tour, Roger Waters spat at a fan and during a conversation with Bob Ezrin, Waters spoke of his desire to build a wall across the stage to alienate the audience. Ezrin told him "Why don't you then?" in a flippant manner.. and the seeds for what was to come were watered. By Waters... Well that was still funnier than Pigs (Three Different Ones)?

2 out of 5. Never mind ten years earlier, 1975 seems so far way....

[Philipnet]

Didn't someone mention a gig somewhere ???

[SiHart]

Looks lijke Animals is rather unloved overall doesn't it? The fact that it's taken me weeks to get round to reviewing it possibly says all you need to say about....

Pigs on the Wing 1 **
It comes and goes before you really notice it. Compared to the epic openers of the last few albums this little acoustic number is low key. It doesn't do very much and then it goes away. Nothing special.

Dogs **
In some ways the music reminds of me of the stuff Genesis were doing on Wind and Wuthering or Tony Bank's solo stuff- it has that kind of feel... not very Pink Floyd at all. That kind of sums up the feel of the whole album- that they're not doing what they do best and that they sound like just another band. After the highs of the last few albums that's a disappointment. Roger's vocal is OK, but nothing very special- even the echo doesn't lift it.
The change of pace mid-track should keep the interest, but I just found my interest sagging. It's long but not that's not necessarily good.

Pigs (Three Different Ones) **1/2
The pig snorts and the organ are a nice opening. It has a little more life to it than the last track and the lyric is rather good- the haha charade you are bits are at least memorable after you finish the album,which is more than can be said for much of the album.
But that said, the whole track just comes across as snide and nasty without good reason as far as I can see. Roger venting against the world is never ideal listening for me, and here it's really coming to the fore. At least with Have a Cigar or Money it was funny. Here he's just plain nasty for the sake of it.
10+ minutes of this really outstays its welcome.

Sheep ***1/2
Easily the best thing on the album because it at least feels like a Pink Floyd track. They're at their best when they're rewqriting the Doctor Who theme! How much better would it have been if Dave had sung it though- despite the vocal into the synth trickery that lifts the vocal into something special? Overlooking Dave as the vocalist is a HUGE oversight and does the album no favours at all.
The middle bit is great! Really menacing and scary music! Love the vocoder vocals too. The sheep sound effecst are quite meanacing here- though Roger's laugh is less so!
This is the only track on the album that feels about the right length.

Pigs on the Wing 2 **1/2
Sigh. Didn't we hear enough of this at the start? It's too slight to redeem the album which should have ended with Dave's guitars at the end of Sheep.

Oh dear. This is dreary and dull stuff and after the highs of the previous two albums is nothing but a disppointment. There's just nothing here to set it out of the ordinary. This feels like the product of any 70s prog band... not bad necessarily, just not a lot of what we know Pink Floyd are capable of.

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

It appears that this dull, average album has just about killed the thread!

Anyone fancy having a go at The Wall?

[Dino]

It appears that this dull, average album has just about killed the thread!

Anyone fancy having a go at The Wall?

Dave Tudor hasn't posted yet! Give it another week please?

[Rob McCow]

I read back a few of the reviews again -

Listening to their albums again, although I went along (like a Sheep) with the school of "Animals is their best album!"

Who the hell said that it was their best?!

[Dino]

Who the hell said that it was their best?!

A huge Pink Floyd fanatic who more or less put me off the band in the 90's.
What would you say was their worst album? "THEY HAVEN'T MADE ONE!"
Which is Dave Gilmour's best solo? "THEY ARE ALL GOOD!"
Etc...etc...


Mind you, I've recently come across a woman from Israel who thinks Animals is their best album although she hasn't heard any of their others... so swings and roundabouts really?