Pink Floyd "Animals"

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Is that the 2009 James Guthrie mix at 96K/24 bit?

Some info here: http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/77001/Pink_Floyd-Wish_You_Were_Here-Hybrid_Multichannel_SACD

[Scott Dolan]

I guess what I'm really wondering here is whether there is an appreciable difference between the Blu-ray and the SACD release.

Have you heard both? What is your impression if so?

I'm certainly not above buying yet another version of this album since I still consider it my favorite Rock album of all time.

[Rooster_Ties]

As far as redbook CD issues go, the audiophiles on the Hoffman board think the newest remaster of Animals is the most significant sonic improvement of any of the latest reissues. (I don't have time to source it at this moment, but there was a poll there -- and Animals won, hands-down -- two to one over the next highest vote-getter, iirc.) Talking about the reissues around the same time as the huge Dark Side box, what, 2 going on 3 years ago? - gosh, that seems like yesterday. FWIW.

[Scott Dolan]

3, I believe. Wish You Were Here dropped in 2011.

[Scott Dolan]

BTW, I saw Pulse mentioned earlier. Never bought the CD, but I did have it on VHS, and now have it on DVD. Excellent show. My wife and I were at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami for the opening night of the tour.

[Jim Alfredson]

Eh. This album has its moments for sure, but I think the band was past its creative prime by this point. The experimental edge was almost entirely gone as was Rick Wright's creative input. I'd compare it to some other late 70s prog rock albums like Going for the One and Wind & Wuthering. Nice albums, but not on the level of their earlier work.

WHAT? Wind & Wuthering is a brilliant album. Beautiful writing and lyricism on that record. Ditto for And Then There Were Three... And Duke is probably the most underrated Genesis album of all time (and their last true prog record). Genesis was still making good prog into the early 80s.

But anyway... yeah, I wore out my cassette copy of Animals in middle school. I recently listened to it for the first time in probably 20 years this winter and I forgot how good it is. Dark, yes. Brooding, yes. But I liked the stripped down nature of it.

I saw the recent Roger Water's The Wall tour and it was incredible. That album is amazing just from a mere production standpoint. The themes are a bit overwrought and it is extremely self-indulgent but I still like it.

[porcy62]

I recover my original vinyl of Animals, I don't remember the last time I played it. Lyrics a part, never been a great fan of Water nor Barrett, the album has some brilliant music. IMHO what it lacked at times, as somebody pointed out above, was a suitable song for airplay, a hit like Money or Wish You Were Here or Another Brick In The Wall.

I was never been in the party 'The true PF died with Barrett'. Personally I find the 'True PF, Elvis, whatever' party a nihilistic attitude.

[Scott Dolan]

The Wall was my very first Pink Floyd album, and even though I probably haven't listened to it in a decade, I still appreciate every last second of it. Such a sprawling epic of an album.

I'm also a big fan of The Final Cut, which is usually lambasted by most fans. I just find it to be one of the darkest and most eerie albums ever put together. The sequence from Your Possible Pasts through Paranoid Eyes is one of the most cohesive and well-executed five songs I've ever heard.

[Rooster_Ties]

The Wall was my very first Pink Floyd album, and even though I probably haven't listened to it in a decade, I still appreciate every last second of it. Such a sprawling epic of an album.

I'm also a big fan of The Final Cut, which is usually lambasted by most fans. I just find it to be one of the darkest and most eerie albums ever put together. The sequence from Your Possible Pasts through Paranoid Eyes is one of the most cohesive and well-executed five songs I've ever heard.

Both are great Roger Waters projects, IMHO -- perhaps even his very best. But neither seem very much like Pink Floyd to me.

No small point -- I really feel as though there's a HUGE tide-shift with The Wall. Maybe that's not all Roger's fault -- artists change and evolve, as is their every right. I've read dozens of places that the rest of the band kinda checked-out, in terms of contributing to the creative process. So manybe there's plenty of "blame" to go around (if one wants to think of it that way -- though I don't).

All I know is that when Roger and the rest of Floyd had their big legal battles in the late 80's (over the name) -- one of the things to come out of the settlement, was that Roger fully owns and controls The Wall (with the exception of Gilmour's co-composer credits on Young Lust, Comfortably Numb, and Run Like Hell). And nothing could be more appropriate, in my mind -- because The Wall is FULLY a "Roger" project, with Pink Floyd (sure), but it was Roger's baby almost entirely. Same with The Final Cut (which Roger also owns and controls) -- a "Roger" project, with Pink Floyd.

If I owned copies of The Wall and The Final Cut, I would file them under "Waters, Roger" in my collection. In essence, the proto-start of his solo career, as far as I'm concerned.

[Scott Dolan]

Nah, I don't agree with that at all, especially concerning The Wall. Now, I'll grant that things got rather iffy with the band as a whole after Animals, but The Wall is still solidly a shared effort between Waters and Gilmour. It could be argued that Comfortably Numb is the most famous PF tune of all time. With two of Gilmour's most beautiful solos. IIRC, either Mason or Wright had essentially left the band at the time, so that helps your argument. But, as with the "there was no real Pink Floyd after Barrett left" crowd, the arguments of a fragmented timeline just don't work for me. Pink Floyd started with Pipers and ended with Cut.

Period.

Now, I'll grant you Cut essentially was a solo Waters album, but it was still Pink Floyd, for better or worse. No Wright, hardly any Mason (IIRC), many of the guitar parts played by musicians other than Gilmour (who only sang on Not Now John), etc...

At the end of the day, I fully understand what you're saying, I just disagree.

Or as Dave belted out at the end, "Fuck all that, we've got to get on with these!!!"

[Guy Berger]

Eh. This album has its moments for sure, but I think the band was past its creative prime by this point. The experimental edge was almost entirely gone as was Rick Wright's creative input. I'd compare it to some other late 70s prog rock albums like Going for the One and Wind & Wuthering. Nice albums, but not on the level of their earlier work.

WHAT? Wind & Wuthering is a brilliant album. Beautiful writing and lyricism on that record. Ditto for And Then There Were Three... And Duke is probably the most underrated Genesis album of all time (and their last true prog record). Genesis was still making good prog into the early 80s.

W&W has some great stuff on it and also some less than great stuff (middle of the album). I think the album is overpowered with keyboards, and that And Then There Were Three suffers from that problem even more (as well as the problem of fairly average writing). I agree that Abacab and Duke are very good albums (prog or not; also, lots of fantastic non-album tracks from this period - "You Might Recall", "Paperlate"), particularly as Phil's growing participation gave what was fairly zombified songwriting a shot in the arm. But I think almost all of these fine British prog bands were on a general downslope after 1975, if not sooner.

[sidewinder]

No pigs flying outside Battersea Power Station when I went past it on the train this morning..

[7/4]

Genesis lost me with Abacab and Duke. Animals was the last good PF album!

[Blue Train]

Just listened to Wish You Were Here on Blu-ray the other night with my son. First time he'd heard it, and really liked it.

Something that somewhat fits. Pops took us to London in 2005. We were walking with Pops and someone walks up to him and starts talking to him. Most of the time he wants to get away as soon as possible.

We ended up having lunch with him and drove him back home. Even hung out at his house. No pictures, or anything that would let you know. All the while they were talking none of us had any idea who it was, or why Pops was even doing what he was doing. Both of them having a great time. Not a single thing discussed about music even and the only name used was Roger. He didn't look anything like what he used to even.

Later we were told it was "Syd Barrett". He hated to be called "Syd" because it just reminded him of things he didn't want to be reminded of.

He used to walk to London from Cambridge. From his house that was about 103 miles both ways.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Blue Train

[A Lark Ascending]

But I think almost all of these fine British prog bands were on a general downslope after 1975, if not sooner.

That's how it felt at the time. The buzz had gone. I always rationalised it as having been killed off by Punk but thinking back I was already looking elsewhere for musical interest by early '75. For me the last creative blast came from the 'second division' [in terms of popularity] with National Health who produced two completely fresh albums c. 78/9. But they couldn't have picked a worse moment to debut albums of long, twiddly instrumentals!

I'd put in a thumbs up for a much later Genesis album - 'We Can't Dance'. I'd long given up on them when that came out but I was taking a school trip and one of the kids kept putting the album in the minibus stereo all weekend. I came to really like it.

[Scott Dolan]

We Can't Dance is an outstanding album. The two extended pieces, Driving The Last Spike and Fading Lights, may be two of their very best.

[A Lark Ascending]

Old troopers never die, they don't even fade away. Happening 2 miles up the road from me in August:

http://www.ukeventsandproduction.com/rockin-the-park.html

Edited June 22, 2013 by A Lark Ascending