ANIMALS

This was the last, and in my opinion, best of the truly great Pink Floyd albums (sorry, but The Wall has too many flaws, and despite amazing production, it doesn't sound like a band effort). This was the last time you would hear all four members working together to create the complete Pink Floyd sound.

The concept, as you know quite well by now, is loosely based on George Orwell's "Animal Farm", but delves deeply into political issues of oppression, complacency and uprising. It was refreshing to hear Roger Waters finally get away from writing about Syd Barrett's madness.

As I stated previously, despite Waters' lead role as composer, and his fantastic production work, the rest of tha band shines on this album as well. Gilmour plays flawless solos and haunting rhythms, Wright's keyboards flow eerily around throughout the album, and Nick Mason gets to actually play the drums (unlike the mostly simple timekeeping on the next album).

Each of the three major tracks is a masterpiece. But you should know this, too.