Album Reviews

If you’ve been following us here regularly on AnalogPlanet, then you are likely well aware that Pink Floyd’s legendary and beloved — yet surprisingly oft-overlooked — January 1977 hard-rocking concept album Animals has finally received a much-needed facelift in the form of a completely new stereo remix officially dubbed the Animals 2018 Remix. Issued on 180g black vinyl with a brand new, reimagined update of the album’s iconic cover art, the new incarnation of this Top 5 hit (No. 2 UK; No. 3 U.S.) is in many ways an entirely new listening experience, revealing details only hinted at in the original editions. That said, this new vinyl edition is not quite 100-percent perfection, but it is pretty darn close.

[MM notes: For further Animals-istic Floydian background, you can read Mike Mettler’s exclusive interview with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason here, and also find all the relevant Animals 2018 Remix LP release info and specs here. –MM]

For those of you who may have bypassed the Animals tract, I thought it might be helpful to paint a word picture of the first few minutes of the album by offering a snapshot of the journey that awaits you. Pink Floyd’s Animals begins quietly with acoustic, folk-strummed guitars before exploding into an aggressive swinging rock groove. Those woody, double-tracked acoustics give way to David Gilmour’s rich layered Stratocaster and Nick Mason’s boiling drums in the opening, epic Side One pairing of “Pigs on the Wing (Part One)” and “Dogs.” Listening to Animals is kind of like taking a plane ride into the upper atmosphere, truth be told.

Listening to James Guthrie’s 2018 stereo remix of Pink Floyd’s Animals on vinyl is generally a lovely, detailed listening experience. This new mix — or, in the collective/official parlance, Remix — is an improvement on the original editions in almost every way. (Remember that key word almost, as we’ll come back to what that exactly means in a bit.)

The new 180g edition of Animals, which was pressed at Record Industry in the Netherlands, easily outshines my original Columbia Records U.S. promo vinyl. Most importantly, this new version sounds like Animals should sound. There is much more detail and presence apparent surrounding the instruments, with increased clarity and separation. The vocals are also much more upfront. An incredible sense of staging is more apparent here, something that previously wasn’t as immediate. Just listen to that haunting early middle section of “Dogs,” where the music is reduced to a sonic-boomlike thud — a.k.a. Mason’s heavily reverberated kick drum — in the distance, while Richard Wright’s synthesizer solo weaves a connective musical tale from the keyboard.

Those double-tracked acoustic guitars deliver an almost rural feel throughout Animals — much in the way Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page used them to enrich and balance that iconic band’s electric textures — so perhaps it is an implied country barnyard sensibility. [Or, I might add, somewhat of a “Grantchester Meadows” meets “A Pillow of Winds” vibe as well–MM]

David Gilmour’s guitar solos on “Dogs” are truly gorgeous, with loads of deep amplifier tone now apparent. The detailing on Roger Waters’ bass is super-resonant and — again — I love how realistic-sounding and massive Mason’s drums sound throughout. He is hitting hard, and that drive really comes through in the remix.

It was all there on the original, but due to compression and other mastering techniques used for creating the album for release in early 1977, the overall impression left was not quite as impactful. On the 2018 Remix, the guitars command your full attention. Just listen for that closing feedback moment and drum crash at the end of “Dogs” — that moment sends a shudder down my spine!

The new edition of Animals is outstanding in so many ways. It presents a new vision for the album not only sonically, but visually as well with newly revised art inspired by the original photo sessions of the now-iconic Battersea Power Station in London. Showcasing the architecture — complete with the floating pig! — from a different angle, as well as a different time and place, makes it somehow looks even more industrial and eerie than the original. Indeed, from the Sony Legacy site we learn the following, presented here in italics:

For this new release, the artwork has been re-designed for the modern era by Storm [Thorgersen]’s Hipgnosis partner Aubrey “Po” Powell. Taking new shots of the building as it appeared during the recent conversion work, Po experimented with new angles and produce some striking new takes on the classic original. Po elaborates: “With the original 1977 album cover being such an iconic piece of stand-alone art, I had the chance to update it, which was a rather daunting task, but Hipgnosis took the opportunity to re photograph the image to reflect a changing world, and by using modern digital colouring techniques I kept Pink Floyd’s rather bleak message of moral decay using the Orwellian themes of Animals, the pig “Algie,” faithful to the message of the album.

This new packaging comes complete with a beautiful full LP-size booklet that is almost worth the price of admission alone! (Said price of admission, by the way, is $29.99, though you can certainly find it for less.) It makes the teensier booklet in the otherwise fine BD and SACD editions pale in comparison. There are also some fantastic images the band has shared with us, including pictures of the inflatable characters that were floated over the audience during the 1977 Animals tour, as well as terrific new graphic depictions of the Dog, Pig, and Sheep characters.

[MM adds: Mark Blake also wrote some quite fine liner notes for this Animals 2018 Remix edition that were unfortunately not included in the packaging for various reasons, but you can read them for yourself here.]

Generally, the 180g pressing of Animals 2018 Remix is pretty fine-sounding. It is dark, well-centered, and, sonically, virtually transparent. Well, there I go again with another qualifier — virtually. And therein lies the one glitch we need to discuss. You might remember from earlier in this review where I called attention to the word “almost” in the phrase, “improvement on the original editions in almost every way” in my description of the album. And it really is almost perfect, because my vinyl pressings have been, in fact, alas, not perfect. So, I feel you need to be aware of this possible issue if you are considering purchasing the first pressing of this vital Pink Floyd LP.

To wit: On the first copy of the new 2018 stereo remix of Pink Floyd’s Animals I bought at Amoeba Music, there were a couple of ticks and pops on Side One, which would not go away with normal dust-cleaning procedures. I could have almost lived with those, but when I flipped the record over to play Side Two, the deal-breaker there was simply too annoying — namely, a scratch-like sound at the very start of the side opener, “Pigs (Three Different Ones).” It was actually super-annoying, because it occurs in a relatively quiet portion of the music just before the band kicks in at full volume.

You can see the glitchy line across the top of the disc above in this iPhone photo I took — unretouched save for a little adjustment of contrast and shadows to make it clearer. You may also notice what looks like “non-fill” sections below that area, but I haven’t heard any noise from them as of yet, after many listens. They may be masked by very loud rocking musical passages, or perhaps my more forgiving stylus setup at present — a Goldring 2100 stylus fitted on my Goldring 2400 cartridge body, a setup recommended to me by turntable expert and AnalogPlanet contributor/reviewer Michael Trei — might be overlooking them.

I’m not sure (yet) if this is a pressing glitch or a remnant impression caused somehow by the packaging. I did get a replacement copy, and it sadly had the same anomaly. A subsequent discussion with a friend from Vancouver I was with at Amoeba while exchanging the album — someone who is even more particular and less forgiving about this sort of thing than I — told me of stories he’d read about this problem on social media, as well as relating his own experiences with his copy up in Canada. I have since read some comments on other notable audiophile forums reporting noisy pressings and such. So, take note — there may indeed be some issues globally with the first run of this release. With all this in mind, I’m planning on picking up a later pressing of Animals 2018 Remix, once this initial run has made its way through the retail foodchain.

Should any of this stop you from buying your own copy of it? Not really — though, that said, the answer will depend on your own particular POV here. If you love listening to music on vinyl and are a diehard Pink Floyd fan and collector, you’ll want to hear this LP regardless. Hopefully, you will be able to get one of the good copies that are out there, because there are indeed some available. Happy Animals 2018 Remix listening!

[MM adds: Personally, I’m batting .500 with the two 180g LP copies of Animals 2018 Remix I happen to have in hand myself — one displays some of the issues Mark mentions in his review above, and the other one does not. Hence, we will keep a close eye on this and future pressings of Animals, and report back accordingly. Either way, feel free to share your own Animals 2018 Remix LP listening thoughts — as in, if you have this first pressing of the LP yourself, please tell us what you’re experiencing with it and/or what you’re hearing — in the Comments section below.]

(Mark Smotroff is an avid vinyl collector who has also worked in marketing communications for decades. He has reviewed music for AudiophileReview.com, among others, and you can see more of his impressive C.V. at LinkedIn.)

PINK FLOYD
ANIMALS 2018 REMIX
180g LP (Pink Floyd Records/Sony Music)

Side A
1. Pigs on the Wing (Part One)
2. Dogs

Side B
1. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
2. Sheep
3. Pigs on the Wing (Part Two)