Recorded at Britannia Row Studios, London, England.

Digitally remastered by Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California).

Personnel: David Gilmour, Roger Waters (vocals, guitar); Richard Wright (vocals, keyboards); Nick Mason (drums).

Recording information: Britannia Row Studios, London, England; Brittania Row, Studios London.

Photographers: Hipgnosis [Design Group]; Aubrey Powell; Rob Brimson; Nick Tucker; Bob Ellis; Howard Bartrop; Peter Christopherson; Pink Floyd; Colin Jones.

Of all of the classic-era Pink Floyd albums, Animals is the strangest and darkest, a record that's hard to initially embrace yet winds up yielding as many rewards as its equally nihilistic successor, The Wall. It isn't that Roger Waters dismisses the human race as either pigs, dogs, or sheep, it's that he's constructed an album whose music is as bleak and bitter as that world view. Arriving after the warm-spirited (albeit melancholy) Wish You Were Here, the shift in tone comes as a bit of a surprise, and there are even less proper songs here than on either Wish or Dark Side. Animals is all extended pieces, yet it never drifts -- it slowly, ominously works its way toward its destination. For an album that so clearly is Waters', David Gilmour's guitar dominates thoroughly, with Richard Wright's keyboards rarely rising above a mood-setting background (such as on the intro to "Sheep"). This gives the music, on occasion, immediacy and actually heightens the dark mood by giving it muscle. It also makes Animals as accessible as it possibly could be, since it surges with bold blues-rock guitar lines and hypnotic space rock textures. Through it all, though, the utter blackness of Waters' spirit holds true, and since there are no vocal hooks or melodies, everything rests on the mood, the near-nihilistic lyrics, and Gilmour's guitar. These are the kinds of things that satisfy cultists, and it will reward their attention -- there's just no way in for casual listeners. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

By 1977 England was in the throes of punk, a musical revolution that held hugely successful "dinosaur" rock groups in contempt. So ANIMALS, the album Pink Floyd released that year, found the band as musically stripped down as they'd ever been. The overabundance of soundscapes, ethereal synths and lush textures of the past gave way to a leaner, more guitar-driven Floyd.

Yet thematically, Waters and co. still reached for the sky. Inspired in part by George Orwell's classic novel, "Animal Farm," ANIMALS divides humans into three categories--dogs, pigs and sheep--and features each classification in song. The dogs are merciless opportunists, grasping for success at any price; the pigs are pathetic, self-righteous tyrants; and the sheep are the mindless followers, being used by the dogs and pigs. This anthropomorphizing was Waters' view of the dehumanizing side of capitalism. And befitting such a lofty theme was the length of the album's three main pieces--none shorter than ten minutes.

"Dogs" was co-written by David Gilmour, and it features some of his most inspired playing. The greed driving these dogs towards grander heights of materialism eventually leads to a solitary death from cancer, cloaked in an air of self-importance. "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" overflows with biting lyrics that scorn high-minded censors in general, and Mary Whitehouse (a self-appointed guardian of British morality) specifically. The grunting of pigs precedes Waters' venomous delivery of each word, as Gilmour's scratchy playing and unsettling use of a Vocoder box become effective conduits for the song's malevolence.

"Sheep" starts out with the herd grazing peacefully, blissfully unaware of the dogs lurking nearby. The sheep are led to the slaughter, before staging a revolt and killing off the dogs. The soundtrack of this defiance opens with Richard Wright's effect-free electric piano leading a galloping rhythm, before Waters' bass eases the group into a momentary lull. The pace picks up again, and Gilmour's slashing leads drive the song into a rousing climax, fading out with the peaceful sound of chirping birds.