ANIMALS

So, I am calling myself a 1.5 on this one. Surprisingly enough, this album is the one I know least of the "Big 4" 70s Pink Floyd albums. I have become more familiar with it over the past year or so, but I am far from an expert. I do know that it's based on "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. Dogs in particular has become more familiar to me.

Track 1 - Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 1

This is one of two short bookend pieces that begin and end the album. This is an acoustic tune with Waters singing lead. It seems to foreshadow the style of "Mother" on the Wall.

Track 2 - Dogs

This is the big epic, nearly side-long piece on the album. Dogs represent the predatory element of modern society, led by the Pigs, who prey on the Sheep. The song fades in with a rhythmic acoustic strumming pattern and keyboards. The rhythm section starts playing accents just before 1 minute, then fully kicks in at 1:15. Gilmour plays a solo beginning at 1:50. Another verse follows. This time there are some delays on parts of the vocals. At 3:40 or so, the tempo drops to a half-time feel and Gilmour plays harmonized guitar parts. (A second guitarist?Snowy White? was recruited to be a second live guitarist.) Dog sound effects are heard around the 5-minute mark. The band kicks back at around 5:30 and Gilmour plays another solo. Harmony vocals follow the solo. At about the 8- minute mark, the word "stone" echoes for quite some time.

Wright plays synth chords underneath. Nick Mason plays a subtle bass-drum/snare pattern during the keyboard feature. The strumming pattern returns at around 11:45, emerging from the keyboards. Vocals return at 12:15. Gilmour takes another solo at around 13:25. Mason accents with a China type cymbal. The half-time harmonized guitar section returns afterward. A closing section begins around 15:17. The song concludes with a sustained chord.

Track 3 - Pigs (Three Different Ones)

This begins with snorting pig sound effects, a keyboard pattern and a bass feature. Gilmour joins on guitar chords. Mason kicks in with a drumbeat then the vocals come in. The narrator refers to Pigs as a charade. The groove of this one is similar to "Have a Cigar" from the previous album, Wish You Were Here. We get a cowbell around 1:50. The feel changes around 4:15. The guitar rhythm here reminds me a bit of King Crimson's "Easy Money" Some of the instrumental bits on this album seem to be filling space and not very inspired. At around 7:30 there is a repeat of the intro. Gilmour kicks into a solo at around 9:40. This is the most energetic part of the song to me.

Track 4 - Sheep

Wright starts this off with a jazzy Fender-Rhodes electric piano solo. Waters lays a bass groove underneath. I like the triplet groove when the vocals come in. This one reminds me a bit of "One of These Days" if it were a bit faster and had vocals. Things drop out around 3:4 for a more mellow section. I like the crescendo that culminates at around 5 minutes. The bass at 5:40 is very much reminiscent of "One of These Days." The groove kicks back in around 7 minutes. A long fade out starts to happen at around the 9-minute mark, and we end with animal sound effects.

Track 5 - Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 2

This is the other half of the acoustic ditty that starts the album off.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

To me, this is the weakest of the "Big 4." I like it, but there seems to be a lot of unnecessarily long instrumental segments that don't go anywhere. I'd say Sheep was my favorite track. Gilmour's guitar was the highlight of the album for me. Waters begins his takeover of the band on this album, with only Gilmour getting a co-writing credit on "Dogs" I'll give this a 4 out of 5 stars, which is what I gave the Wall, but I am allowing for the fact that I am not as familiar with it, and it may grow on me.