*ALBUM SPOTLIGHT*
XLCOR'S RATING: 10/10
FAVORITE TRACK: "DOGS"
Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals is at once so classically Pink Floyd-esque and so different from the sounds of their more famous works, such as 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1979's The Wall. Animals is perhaps one of their lesser-known works, but it well deserves its own recognition as a piece of art. It was released in January, and its tense, sometimes weary, drawn out synth bars over cynical lyrics capture the feel of a bleak, cold, and seemingly-unending English winter. Yet, there remains a promise of spring.
It felt only right that I should start with this album for my very first spotlight. Pink Floyd is a band that I grew up with and always loved; I naively felt that I was already well-versed in their sound and felt no need to explore beyond the albums of my childhood. Animals came to me at a time in my life when I wasn't sure what I wanted to listen to, what I wanted to do in a grand sense, or who I really was. I selected the album one day on a whim, wanting something familiar but new at the same time, and it reignited my love not only for the band, but music as a whole. The tracks "Dogs" and "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" resonated (and continue to resonate) with me deeply. "Dogs"'s painful, near insulting lyrics describe a "dog" in, fittingly, a dog-eat-dog world, a product of and perpetuator of the suffering and violence around him.
"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" mocks the target of the narration as a "charade", a spineless member of society, and mocks society itself as a laughable tragedy. It's not surprising to learn that the band took inspiration from George Orwell's Animal Farm. The sociopolitical criticisms of this album, while inspired by the conditions of contemporary Britain, ring true to this day. However -- Pink Floyd gives us a bit of hope with the album's other tracks. In "Sheep", the dogs die and change rises up through society, and the opening and ending tracks of the album ("Pigs on the Wing" pts 1 & 2) are soft, emotionally sensitive, and tentatively optimistic for a peaceful future.
But I digress. What really drew me to this album and keeps me coming back are the emotions it invokes. I want to cry, I want to smile, I want to rage and dance and be swept away by the music. The balance of tension and comfort, the layered synths, the bluesy riffs and steady drumbeats keep each song moving, making the tracks not just social-critiques, but jams that force you to groove along with them in an act of catharsis. When I listen to them, I become both narrator and target, at once both helpless and capable to control the path of my life. The opening and ending tracks feel like the hand of an old friend patting your back. In their own ways, both are comforting.
Listen to this album when your boss is beating you down, when you're broke as a joke, when it feels like God has not just closed a door, but slammed all the windows shut, too. When you want someone to blame, when you feel like you deserve some of the blame, when you feel like a bystander to your own life. This album will beat you up and patch you up and you'll feel better at the end, I promise.
It felt only right that I should start with this album for my very first spotlight. Pink Floyd is a band that I grew up with and always loved; I naively felt that I was already well-versed in their sound and felt no need to explore beyond the albums of my childhood. Animals came to me at a time in my life when I wasn't sure what I wanted to listen to, what I wanted to do in a grand sense, or who I really was. I selected the album one day on a whim, wanting something familiar but new at the same time, and it reignited my love not only for the band, but music as a whole. The tracks "Dogs" and "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" resonated (and continue to resonate) with me deeply. "Dogs"'s painful, near insulting lyrics describe a "dog" in, fittingly, a dog-eat-dog world, a product of and perpetuator of the suffering and violence around him.
"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" mocks the target of the narration as a "charade", a spineless member of society, and mocks society itself as a laughable tragedy. It's not surprising to learn that the band took inspiration from George Orwell's Animal Farm. The sociopolitical criticisms of this album, while inspired by the conditions of contemporary Britain, ring true to this day. However -- Pink Floyd gives us a bit of hope with the album's other tracks. In "Sheep", the dogs die and change rises up through society, and the opening and ending tracks of the album ("Pigs on the Wing" pts 1 & 2) are soft, emotionally sensitive, and tentatively optimistic for a peaceful future.
But I digress. What really drew me to this album and keeps me coming back are the emotions it invokes. I want to cry, I want to smile, I want to rage and dance and be swept away by the music. The balance of tension and comfort, the layered synths, the bluesy riffs and steady drumbeats keep each song moving, making the tracks not just social-critiques, but jams that force you to groove along with them in an act of catharsis. When I listen to them, I become both narrator and target, at once both helpless and capable to control the path of my life. The opening and ending tracks feel like the hand of an old friend patting your back. In their own ways, both are comforting.
Listen to this album when your boss is beating you down, when you're broke as a joke, when it feels like God has not just closed a door, but slammed all the windows shut, too. When you want someone to blame, when you feel like you deserve some of the blame, when you feel like a bystander to your own life. This album will beat you up and patch you up and you'll feel better at the end, I promise.