Animals - Pink Floyd > Reviews > FLYING PIGS OVER BATTERSEA POWER STATION!!!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Contains those great 60's/psychadelia keyboard mixes and melodies
Disadvantages:	Seems too short in my opinion the closing and opening tracks bearly reach over a minute,and 'dogs' just drags on unfortunately

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is the 3rd concept album by Roger Waters based on George Orwell's outstanding novel 'animal farm' where he classes humans into groups of animals of course only pigs,sheep and dogs are used in the album which can at times be frustrating because this album had the potential to include loads more tracks based on most of the other animals such as cats.The ANIMALS album was made after 'wish you were here' which was a Gilmour/Waters partnership although on ANIMALS gilmour only contributes to one song 'dogs' which can be considered a blessing to some because it does'nt include those rechid ear aching gilmour guitar solos that take up 10 minutes to complete.

The sleeve design for the album is phenomenal,it features a flying pig over battersea power station in London.The idea was devised by Roger Waters,bless him for being responsible for some of the greatest album covers in music history.It was by no means cheap.The giant inflatable pig was blown up which took several hours then raised above the fasinating architecture of the power station's huge chimneys.There is a funny story behing this idea,apparently the man who had a rifle to shoot down the pig in case it escaped was fired and sent home mainly to save some money but the pig did actually free itself from the mooring ropes and started to run amoc in downtown london.The pig flew into Heathrown where it disrupted a couple of flights and flew down to the coast where it landed in a farmers field ironically enough in the middle of the night.But the pig was later retrieved and put back into the air over battersea power station and the cover is one of the greatest i have ever seen.

ANIMALS is a typical 5 track, Roger Waters album,and allthought the music is groundbreaking some may not be as satisfied with a £10 purchase on a 5 track album where 2 tracks bearly reach over a minute each.The cd can be bought cheaply on amazon brand new for a total of £7 usually,i would avoid ebay due to the amount of copy's and international versions of the album it will be rare to actually obtain the original album.

The content of the booklet is actually a big let down.Allthough all lyrics are included the background pictures are very poor quality and very gloomy,there are some horrid black and white photos in there.The only picture in there worth looking at is of course the lovely photo of battersea power station shot across the river thames as the sun sets behind it.If you are considering buying the album to put on in the background and peruse through the booklet i would'nt recommend buying it solely on that principle.

The music itself may appear a slight let down with almost idneticle measily under 2 minute tracks but the real treasure is buried deeper inside,the middle 3 tracks are some of Floyd's best and definitely make this an album a must for any Floyd fan or begginner.

PIGS ON THE WING(PART1):

Just Roger Waters with an acoustic guitar strumming some simple guitar chord while singing.A very short song but very unique as most Pink Floyd opening tracks last an age.The blend of acoustic guitar and waters's soft soothing voice make this a great track for it's lengh.All in all a great opening track but could have been longer.

DOGS:

This song is the only track on the album Gilmour contributes to and some like me count it as a blessing on many Floyd albums many great songs are ruined by some 10 minute loud ear hurting guitar solos.An amazing track is the result of the Gilmour/Waters collaberation,with some typical Rick Wright sound effects of dogs which are appropriate.I consider this song a treat because of it's lengh.The constant smooth strumming by Gilmour's guitar blended in with waters's lyrics sung to perfection is groundbreaking.The main weakness to this track is it just drags on too long the lyrics dissapear after 5 minutes then some anoying sound effects and anoying high pitched keyboarding lasts for 8 minutes almost before those wonderful lyrics return.An amazing track but after 5 minutes you may as well skip the rest.

PIGS(THREE DIFFERENT ONES):

This and sheep are the amazing tracks on the album,each start with an amazing 60's/psychadelia intro by Rick's keyboards.Pigs starts off with an outstanding psychadelic melody as the song progresses the psychadelia intensifies and bulids to a nail biting sharp climax.'Big man,pig man haha charade you are' are the lyrics screamed out of Waters to excellent intensity the raw hate and despise of the pigs as leaders is felt by waters's raw power.The blend with the vocals and psychadelia melody/psychadlic sound effects make this one of Floyd's greatest every band member trying their talents to perfection the hard work and emotion is felt to extreme you almost feel like screaming those mind blowing lyrics out and sing along.No weak points,outstanding!!!

SHEEP:

Again like Pigs groundbreaking a hidden gem in a sea of dull bits of lead.Starts off with gasp a flawless melody of keyboard psychadelia again from Rick driving his talent to perfection.Some very clever mixing and machinery has taken this track to the a new level and reached far abover the heathens of utter music brilliance,just as the climax intensifies waters again scream his raw emotion out as if a cry for help and this is the best bit his lyrics are prolonged and held blended in with psychadelia melodies and sound effects,utterly outstanding the raw power the emotion the talent pushed to new extremes is held into the structure of the song when every line finishes of the lyrics.The atmosphere is mind blowing it's unearthly never have i heard a track worthy of a no.1 in every country in the world it is flawless oustanding,please buy this album if just for this track it is not just worth it it is essential!!!!

PIGS ON THE WING(PART 2):

Nothing really special hear exactly the same as the first part with a slight clever revers of certain lyrics to make it feel as if it's the closing track to the album,again a good blend of acoustic guitar/Waters soft soothing voice make this an ideal perfect closing track to an amzing album

In conclusion allthough the long winded dogs track is a let down and the opening and closing tracks can bearly be considered tracks at all the hidden gems of PIGS(THREE DIFFERENT ONES) and SHEEP make this an essential purchase for anyone and everyone into groundbreaking psychadelic mucic!!!!!