Pink Floyd – Animals – Yesteryear Vinyl

Animals is the tenth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It was released in January 1977 through Harvest and Columbia Records and recorded at the band’s Britannia Row Studios in London throughout 1976. The album continues the longform compositions that made up their previous works, including Wish You Were Here (1975). The album went 4x platinum in the United States, reaching number 3 on the US Billboard 200 and number 2 in the UK Albums Chart, going Gold.

This was their first album to be recorded at their new Britannia Row Studios, Islington, North London, and was pressed by EMI Records.

Rolling Stone has rated the album 13/50 on their 50 Greatest Progressive Rock Albums of All Time.

This first issue 120gram progressive rock album is the original 1977 release by EMI Records SHVL-815 (I).

Tracks:

Side A:

1. Pigs On The Wing 1
2. Dogs

Side B:

1. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
2. Sheep
3. Pigs On The Wings 2

With the pending re-release of this album on 6-12-2020, on the Legacy label, I thought that a quick review of the original first pressing would be in order.

Weighing in at a measly 120grams,  this album would almost blow away in a light breeze. However, is was perfectly flat and concentric. While the vinyl surface noise generally rated a respectable 4+ there were patches of excessive clicks on both sides, even after a thorough cleaning with my Nitty Gritty vinyl vacuum cleaner and using my fixed antistatic brush. (This maybe from earlier misuse)

Overall the mix was quite open but does not possess stellar dynamics or stereo imaging. The kit is set dead center and rather recessed, particularly on side A, with the lead vocal set back towards the kit. While the lead and supporting vocals were open and showed no signs of mid-range hardness the lead did display sibilance on a number of occasions (again possibly due to earlier misuse). The kit wasn’t particularly well imaged. The snare was generally set well back on side A, but pulled towards the front on side B. It was cleanly imaged but generally had little dynamic impact or real body. Cymbals were not well imaged or detailed even though they were bright and clean, while the hi-hat rarely raised its head. The toms, which were very apparent in several mixes, were tight and dynamic with a short well damped ring, providing a reasonable image. The only additional percussive instrument that I detected was a cow bell on a couple of tracks that was clean and natural. The kick drum was deep, and solid, with no obvious beater noise and was kept towards the back of the mix on most of side A together with the electric bass. Side B was a different story with both the kick and bass being brought to the front of the mix on several occasions. The electric bass was clean and tight but didn’t dig very deep.

Reverb was generally short and showed an open and clean tail out on a number of occasions.

Synthesizers were well, synthesizers, the electric piano sounded just like a Fender Rhodes and the acoustic piano and guitars were refreshingly open and natural in contrast to the often fuzz laden electric guitars that were reasonably well detailed. Even a vocoder entered the mix towards the end of side B.

Musically this album is not really ‘in my wheelhouse’, even though the musicianship and musical style is probably well executed.  The mix was generally well balanced but despite several loud and soft passages it lacked detail and dynamics (except for the toms). I felt that the kick and electric bass needed more punch and presence and that the vocals were generally just lacking. Despite the music being well received by many at the time of release, and since, the overall feeling was that of a ‘flat’ recording. Hopefully the new (audiophile) pressing, see below, will rectify some of these shortcomings and breath some dynamics, life and detail back into the vinyl.

James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Bernie Grundman have remastered this 1977 album from the original analog tapes and the disc is to be pressed on 180g vinyl with an expected re-release date of 6-12-2020.

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