Mr. Fielder had a bit of trouble getting his hands on this album for a proper review, but when he finally got it he gave it top marks. One of the great Floyd albums this one, making a top 3 placing in most charts around the world except for Finland (9) and Canada (12).
You might be surprised to learn that it is only certified for sales of 100.000 albums in the UK, which is only half the certied sales figures of Canada and only a quarter of the same figures in France. Something must surely be wrong with that number in the UK?
Read on!
Pig deal!
Floyd bring home the bacon
The Pink Floyd: “Animals” (Harvest SHUL 815) *****
Album review by Hugh Fielder
I WANNA tell you a story.
The release of a new Pink Floyd album is a major event in the rock calendar and the music press together with radio and television have been busy jostling for prime positions in anticipation of ‘Animals’ which was scheduled to hit the record shops in the latter part of January.
We should all have known better. Floyd albums seldom run to timetable and this time artwork problems on the sleeve (which will unite a pig with Battersea Power Station) have delayed the emergence of this vital piece of vinyl by a fortnight or more.
Which shouldn’t matter too much except that sundry radio DJ`s had already been given or acquired copies of the album and had arranged to preview it. And a special playback for the press had been arranged (at Battersea Power Station!) which caused eager editors to allocate space for a review this week. However, there were no advance copies of the album for distribution at the playback which caused great consternation. Did they seriously expect us to review the album on one listen? No. Actually they didn’t expect us to review it at all for the time being. But eager editors were not put off lightly, particularly on hearing that the album was to be previewed on the radio. Harvest compromised to the extent of offering reviewers one more listen to the album, as if two listens will be adequate to assess the product which has taken the Pink Floyd several months to perfect. Drastic situations call for drastic solutions and subterfuge in the form of bootlegging has been necessary to obtain a longer, if still woefully inadequate, perusal of the goods. Obviously the album`s delay caused problems for Harvest and the Floyd but they can`t really have expected the press to sit back quietly while the radio stations went ahead with their plans regardless. Even if copies of the record were not available it would have been just a few hours work to make cassettes available so that the music could have been heard with something approaching the care and attention that went into making it.
I can but quote the words of Roger Waters on the first side of ‘Animals’ (acquired courtesy of Industrial Espionage Ltd again): I gotta admit that I’m a little bit confused/ Sometimes it seems to me as if I’m just being used’.
All of which is a lengthy preamble to saying that I haven’t been able to give ‘Animals’ the attention it deserves or to hear a pristine version of it at leisure so the following observations are initial reactions and the author reserves the right to stand on his head in a week or two if he wishes.
BUT SOMEHOW I don’t think I will. The first impressions are encouraging enough. ‘Animals’ reveals a familiar Floyd that a significant proportion of the world’s record-buying public will identify without difficulty but at the same time there’s a sense of purpose and commitment through much of the album that was lacking on ‘Wish You Were Here’.
Spearheading this revival are Dave Gilmour whose guitar has recovered its bite and aggression, and Roger Waters whose lyrics have been jerked back to reality and often have an unexpectedly sharp cutting edge.
Essentially, ‘Animals’ contains three tracks with a short theme to open and close the album. At first sight that might seem to give the group plenty of space through which to roam but it’s a trap they steer clear of most of the time and the tracks are carefully structured to maintain impetus using the proven style that has become the Floyd’s special hallmark.
A short acoustic introduction sets the album in motion with ‘Pigs On The Run (Part One)’. Two guitars provide a steady rhythm for a simple melody line which wonders ‘which of the buggers to blame’? Already the lyrics are showing their teeth.
The same guitars then switch to a faster tempo and we are into `Dogs’ which occupies the remainder of side one. The keyboards scarcely have time to make their presence felt before the vocals take over. The song may be a long one but the Floyd waste no time in getting stuck in. The song settles down to medium pace with prominent echo on the vocals to emphasise key words and Gilmour’s guitar slicing between the verses. Finally Gilmour gets his own break and dives into one of those classic sweeping guitar phrases that have characterised the last three Floyd albums. The song rolls forward resolutely until the final word of the next verse is echoed away to infinity and the keyboards and drums bend your ear with a constantly shifting pattern of sounds and rhythms. The two acoustic guitars return to pick up the song and guide it back to the main guitar theme and the group are now on course for the final verse with its laboured chords and repetitive phrases, pushing relentlessly on to the climax. Our guided tour round the farmyard continues with ‘Pigs (Three Different Ones)’ and after a short orgy of grunting a gentle circular keyboard phrase sets forth only to be broken by some raucous guitar chords. ‘Pigs’ is about aggression, musical and lyrical, in rather the same style as ‘Welcome To The Machine’ from `Wish You Were Here’ but now there is a greater sense of realism involved.
The three different pigs in question are a bloated wheeler dealer, a viscous sounding elderly lady and that protector of the nation’s moral welfare, Mary Whitehouse who gets the third verse all to herself:
‘Hey you, Whitehouse
Ha ha charade you are.
You house-proud town mouse,
Ha ha charade you are.
You’re trying to keep our
feelings off the street
You’re nearly a real treat,
All tight lips and cold feet.
And do you feel abused?
(Deep breathing)
You gotta stem the evil tide
And keep it all on the inside
Mary you’re nearly a treat
Mary you’re nearly a treat
But you’re really a cry’.
My sentiments entirely! And it’s good to see the Floyd putting themselves out on a limb once more.
The harsh vocals and instrumental work cools down between the second and third verses with a keyboard passage that develops a rather aimless drift at times but you know it will come back in the end and it does with the aforementioned Whitehouse verse. The song powers out on Glimour’s guitar while the grunts change to bleats to indicate that we are now ready for ‘Sheep’.
Again a soft, lilting keyboard passage leads us into the track, bubbling away with neat phasing while underneath Waters’ bass builds up one of those classic Floyd bass lines which explodes into the first verse.
Suddenly the Floyd are firing on all cylinders and the effect is almost goose-pimply. The lyrics are more disembodied and less direct than what’s gone before but they are delivered with some force.
When the break comes we delve back into the Floyd’s early repertoire for a heavy dose of ‘Careful With That Axe Eugene’ but the icing on the cake shows the degree of sophistication the group have attained over the intervening nine years.
The rocking bass line returns, as does the noisy flock of sheep and an atmospheric voice that intones ‘The lord is my shepherd…’ with some interesting changes that I’ll leave you to find out for yourself. Then the band put their collective foot hard down on the accelerator for the final verse and lengthy fade-out before ‘Pigs On The Wing (Part Two)’ re-appears to round the album off and set our musical and lyrical minds at resting with some words of comfort.
Those on the search for new musical trends will probably criticise ‘Animals’ for failing to provide a great leap forward. They’ve slammed the previous two albums for exactly the same reason but the argument is pointless. The Floyd have hit a formula that appeals to millions of people around the world and I can’t see any of them being disappointed with this album.
The crunch of finding a phenomenally successful formula such as the Floyd have done comes when your musical policy starts being dictated by commercial considerations. They show no such tendency at present. Freed from the paranoia of having to produce a follow-up to ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, the group have been able to relax in the studio once more and it shows. In doing so they’ve rediscovered the more abrasive side of their nature which puts `Animals’ ahead of its predecessor.
From where I’m standing, that’s going forward and I’ll give it five.
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