ANIMALS

Though musically about as great an album as has ever been recorded, Animals is a scary piece of work. Edgy, abrasive, angry (personal relationships in the band were swiftly deteriorating and conditions in the studio were miserable; you can hear the band taking their frustration out on the songs, though to productive effect), misanthropic, insidious, cynical, vicious: all the terms apply. Unfortunately, Rick Wright was no longer involved in the compositional process; whether he was simply experiencing a personal block or felt stifled by Waters' domineering is unclear, but it's likely that both factors contributed. Gilmour provided the music for another great multi-part Pink Floyd epic, Dogs (thereby writing about 40% of the album) but aside from his guitar work was creatively uninvolved with the rest, leaving the other songs and all the lyrics to Roger. Nevertheless, the entire band contributed immensely to the quality and character of the album, making it the last truly collaborative effort by the classic line- up. Roger's dark, twisted spin on Orwell's already dark and twisted Animal Farm allows only a little bit of light or optimism to peek through, in the two touching Pigs on the Wing numbers that bookend the album, and at the violent end of Sheep ("bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream") ? which though a victory for the downtrodden is an ethically questionable one: aren't the sheep now geared to become the new dogs? Not a bright vision, by any means, but a musically brilliant one.