Pink Floyd - Animals (1977) [2011, Remastered]

Pink Floyd's Animals album was released in February of 1977 here in the US and the previous month in Europe (as they were on EMI Europe and Columbia/CBS for the rest of the world).
I first got this album on cassette in February of 1985 (when I was 9 and had Pigs (Three Different Ones) cut in half but on CD the track is uncut) and I have had the remastered CDs, LP and cassette and 8-track.
The Animals album was coming hot off of the heels of two chart-topping studio classics, 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1975's Wish You Were Here.
The sessions for Animals took place between April and December of 1976 at the band's own studio Britannia Row Studios in London and like the last few albums was produced by the band members themselves.
If tensions were bad during Wish You Were Here, they got worse during Animals.
This was the first album where bass player/singer Roger Waters wrote practically every tune on the album and vetoed anything keyboard player Rick Wright came up with and restricted guitarist/singer/songwriter David Gilmour's contributions to one track, the classic "Dogs".
The album kicks off with "Pigs on the Wing (pt. 1)" which was a love song to Roger's then-wife Carolyne. Part two of Pigs on the Wing ends the album. Next, was the aforementioned 17 minute epic "Dogs". This song was originally called "You Gotta Be Crazy" but the lyrics were changed to tell the tale of the Donald Trump tycoon types whom are power-hungry people whom kick, bite and claw their way to the top and then eventually grow old and die of cancer caused by the weight of their self-importance.
The album's second half kicks off with the 11 and a half minute epic "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" which talks about bigoted political leaders. The last verse, "hey you Whitehouse" was misconstrued as an attack on President Ford but is about the late moral majority leader Mary Whitehouse. That track had great guitar work from David (whose guitar dominates throughout the album as a contrast to synthesizers, saxophones and choral sounding backing vocals that dominated DSotM and WYWH). The track "Sheep", originally called "Raving and Drooling", is the final epic on the album and is about the weak-minded people who follow what the dogs and pigs say before finally rebelling at song's end parodying one of the psalms in the bible. We end with "Pigs On the Wing (pt. 2)" which is a reprise of part 1 with different lyrics.
When Animals was initially released, the album was seen as a critical and commercial disappointment compared to its two predecessors due to the three awkwardly long songs on this album. Animals quickly went Platinum (eventually 4 million in US sales) and shot to #3 but quickly fell from view because the songs were too long, big deal!
With this new 2011 remaster that Capitol has released painstakingly done by James Guthrie and Joel Plante (it rivals the 1992 mastering that Doug Sax did for the Shine On box set), Animals today sounds fresh and competent unlike most albums that came out in 1977. The booklet in this Discovery issue is amazing with lyrics, photos and credits.
The tour to support this album was not a memorable tour for the band. Whilst the rest of the band got used to larger crowds and stadiums, Waters' persona changed from a happy person into a mean, embittered sourpuss (which he is slowly dwindling away from today). On the final night of the Animals tour, Waters admitted to spitting on a fan which would give birth to The Wall.
Animals is highly recommended!

By Terrence J. Reardon, Amazon