Pink Floyd Animals

[griffinconst]

There are great albums overlooked for many bands, for example:

Genesis - Wind & Wuthering, and then there were three
Yes - Relayer, Talk
Bob James - Ivory Coast
Pat Metheny - Offramp, Witchita Falls
Led Zepplin - Physical Graffiti
Spyro Gyra - Breakout

I think I will go pop some of these on for a little recreational listening, something I don't often get to do.

Call me crazy but I really like Drama. I realize it's missing Jon but I think it was a good update to their sound while still being faithful to the progressive sound.
I always liked Physical Graffiti too. Great songs and not played to death, always a good combo.
Thanks for that list Gene.

 

[griffinconst]

Call me crazy, but I think Animals is Pink Floyd's best album. You can really get into it and escape if you know what I mean. I could kick myself for recently buying the CD and then shortly after they released it on SACD

Are you sure about the SACD? Someone else mentioned a quad recording, do you know anything about that?

 

[Hicks]

Are you sure about the SACD? Someone else mentioned a quad recording, do you know anything about that?

I've never seen Animals on an SACD, and I worked at record stores between 1997 and 2007.

 

[Christopher__BA]

Animals (sadly) is not available as a SACD. Believe me, if there was such a thing as Animals on SACD I'd have it. Hey Hicks, I worked at a record store from 87-95. What store did you work at? I worked at Peaches Records and Tapes (later called Peaches Music and Video) in Richmond, Virginia. I'd do anything to have that job back...just punch the clock and leave work at work instead of the daily grind of my job today.

 

[Hicks]

Animals (sadly) is not available as a SACD. Believe me, if there was such a thing as Animals on SACD I'd have it. Hey Hicks, I worked at a record store from 87-95. What store did you work at? I worked at Peaches Records and Tapes (later called Peaches Music and Video) in Richmond, Virginia. I'd do anything to have that job back...just punch the clock and leave work at work instead of the daily grind of my job today.

I worked at a couple actually.

The Record Garden in Eugene, OR in 97-98, a pretty cool shop that specialized in metal and punk. It closed and moved to Springfield while I worked there and I'd be surprised if it's still in business today.

Discount Records in Santa Cruz, CA from 98-02 A real hole in the wall store that specialized in budget CDs and cut outs. We'd put a table out on the sidewalk every weekends and sell tons of $6.98 public domain greatest hits CDs by artists like Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley. Pretty lame shop, but I could special order anything I wanted for cost. It has since gone out of business.

Everyday Music in Portland, OR from 02-07 By far the best record store I worked at, it's an offshoot of the Cheapo chain from the Midwest if you are familiar with it. Basically the concept of these stores is that they will buy any CD or LP that you bring in. Of course the crap we didn't really want we would pay 25 cents a CD and down to a penny a piece for garbage EZ listening LPs. But because people knew we would buy anything they brought in we would get an amazing amount of used stuff in each day. On a busy weekend day we could do $500-600 in buys and I even recall doing $1000 in pay outs occasionally. The hook ups were insane, free shows, 30 count boxes of promos that I would turn around and sell back to the store, and just about any used CD for $4 and LPs for $2 a pop. I spent about $50 a week on music for the entire 5 years I worked there.

As for missing it, I absolutely miss being around new music all the time and being able to pop open any CD I wanted to check out, I discovered so much music during that my time at record stores that it truly was a blessing.

But I don't miss making 10 bucks an hour to sort through moldy records all day, and working in an industry whose best days are clearly behind it doesn't bode well for a young person that has their whole career ahead of them.

 

[gene]

I've never seen Animals on an SACD, and I worked at record stores between 1997 and 2007.

That's bizzare b/c I remember reading announcements about it. I guess it was scrapped

 

[Christopher__BA]

Hicks - Being an east coaster, those music establishments don't ring any bells. I agree the pay was bad ($10 an hour is great compared to what I got), but it was MUSIC. I talked about, listened to, and bought MUSIC. Really, really miss it. The worst part about it was losing half your paycheck to "employee discount day" otherwise known as payday. I guess another bad point was being subjected to horrible music. I had to listen to New Age albums almost everyday (at least only one side of an album) and 80's R & B at least once a day. And then, when we actually got to play a rock album, someone would .... it up with George Michaels or New Order or some other band I didn't like. A good ac/dc album always made my day (unless I was stuck doing something in the back of the store).

 

[Christopher__BA]

Gene - I do remember talk of WYWH on SACD, but not Animals. Even remember an article with one of the Floyders saying it was going to happen. Oh well. I'm still hoping Blue Oyster Cult will remaster Fire of Unknown Origin...that's my number one remaster wish. Hey, that sounds like a good thread. I think I'll start one.

 

[Hicks]

Hicks - Being an east coaster, those music establishments don't ring any bells. I agree the pay was bad ($10 an hour is great compared to what I got), but it was MUSIC. I talked about, listened to, and bought MUSIC. Really, really miss it. The worst part about it was losing half your paycheck to "employee discount day" otherwise known as payday. I guess another bad point was being subjected to horrible music. I had to listen to New Age albums almost everyday (at least only one side of an album) and 80's R & B at least once a day. And then, when we actually got to play a rock album, someone would .... it up with George Michaels or New Order or some other band I didn't like. A good ac/dc album always made my day (unless I was stuck doing something in the back of the store).

Heh, the worst part about in store play is that after hearing the same albums over and over again certain artists would get ruined for me.

I happen to like Joy Division, but after hearing them at least once a week for years I can honestly say I don't ever have to listen to them again.

 

[Christopher__BA]

Heh, the worst part about in store play is that after hearing the same albums over and over again certain artists would get ruined for me.

I happen to like Joy Division, but after hearing them at least once a week for years I can honestly say I don't ever have to listen to them again.

Joy Division...hmmmmmmm, not my favorite either. One dude at the store loved them. We had a ton of different music lovers as employees. There would be months at a time when I was the ONLY metalhead DURING STRETCHES OF THE LATE EIGHTIES (the hieght of metal). Crazy.
Well, at least our play stack was changed up often. Records couldn't be in the stack unless they were pretty new. However, reissues were usually the most played. If it was recorded in the late sixties or early seventies it made the stack easily!

 

[salad 419]

"Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving with a Pict"

That sure sounds a lot like the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. We went over that in Philosophy class.

I just picked up Animals as a result of this thread. Excellent record, but I think the production wasn't as great as the others mentioned.

 

[griffinconst]

That sure sounds a lot like the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. We went over that in Philosophy class.

I just picked up Animals as a result of this thread. Excellent record, but I think the production wasn't as great as the others mentioned.

How do you like your quad's? I couldn't believe the punch for such a small tower.

 

[salad 419]

How do you like your quad's? I couldn't believe the punch for such a small tower.

Well, it took me awhile to get used to them, but I really like them.

I'm not getting the punch that everyone describes, however. The mids are fantastic and clear. The highs finally have some decent airy-ness(???)/excellent range, but rolled off and not fatiguing in any way. There is no boxiness and the whole "sound stage" perception is incredible (mind you the last speakers I had in my system were Cerwin Vegas and those were upgrades) The bottom end just hasn't been punchy like I'd like. I mean they go deep and are very musical, but seem a few dB shy or something. I'm not sure how to explain it.

Here's one of my threads asking for advice on how to fix it:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58677

I do have some Morrow Interconnects on the way. Hopefully that will help.

 

[griffinconst]

Well, it took me awhile to get used to them, but I really like them.

I'm not getting the punch that everyone describes, however. The mids are fantastic and clear. The highs finally have some decent airy-ness(???)/excellent range, but rolled off and not fatiguing in any way. There is no boxiness and the whole "sound stage" perception is incredible (mind you the last speakers I had in my system were Cerwin Vegas and those were upgrades) The bottom end just hasn't been punchy like I'd like. I mean they go deep and are very musical, but seem a few dB shy or something. I'm not sure how to explain it.

Here's one of my threads asking for advice on how to fix it:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58677

I do have some Morrow Interconnects on the way. Hopefully that will help.

Have you had those long and did you buy them new? Seems like I remember hearing they need a huge amount of break-in time. When I demo'd them, I couldn't believe how strong the kick drum thumped. I also thought the bass was good at low volume. Don't mean to be rubbing it in, just sayin.
Is your receiver set to full or large on the fronts?

 

[salad 419]

I bought them used. I've had them for almost 2 years. I'm running NAD pre-pro, so they are run at full range. What music were you listening to when you demo'd them? I'll have to try that to see if it's just crappy recordings that I listen to ?? Rub it in if need be, but at least you can understand my complaints. They're supposed to be fantastic for bottom end, but I've apparrently got an issue.

 

[Guitar_Frost]

From a Recovering Floydaholic...

The first Floyd I ever heard from front to start was a local FM station that used to play brand new albums from cover to cover. It was WYWH and I was probably 14. Goodness, this recording blew my mind, as I played it over and over, having recorded it to cassette off the air that night.

Later, when I learned DSOM front to start, I could barely control my ears. Years later, DSOM was the first CD I owned. Years later it was the first 5.1 musical SACD I ever owned.

But Animals... that's a whole 'nother animal. My first part-time job was in a record store in 1976 called 'The Usual Outlet'. We had a real beefy sound system in the store, and I played a lot of Animals (no, not Eric Burdon). The tape delayed part of "He was dragged down by the stone.... stone.... stone.... stone.... st0ne... stohn.... stohh.... stohhh.... sohhh.... sohhh.... rohhh.... ohhhh.... ohhh....

My God, man.

And then minutes later when they fade it back in on a completely different song and it now sounds kind of like cricket chirps... You've got to be crazy.

Oh, I love the Barrett stuff... but it's not what hooked me in. I recently watched the Barrett documentary film. Brilliant.

Yeah... apparently I've not yet fully recovered from my disease. (sigh)

 

[Guitar_Frost]

A theory.

BTW, over the decades, I noticed something with audiophile recordings and Pink Floyd. For me, it was profound.

I plyed the crap out of this record. And then then one day listened to the Gold Master version of the LP, and was very intrigued.

A couple of decades later, the day I first heard the CD of DSOM I noticed tow things: 1.) it sounded great! and 2.) I was disappointed. Why? Because all of those dark, distorted corners that vinyl and tape had provided were suddenly gone. Those little eddies of distortion that my imagination used to flow into and 'make believe' the rest of Floyd recordings. It felt naked, leaving nothing up to my imagination.

Then, many years later, stepping up to the SACD took that to the next level. Every single compressor, reverb, delay setting, double-track was exposed for what it was. The better I could hear it, the less enchanted I was with it.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's one of the greatest pop-rock recording ever made (Thank you Floyd-boys, Mr. Parsons, Abbey Road, etc.). I'm just saying that there's comething beautiful about having lower fidelity media. More of a Rorschach test, p'raps?

Thus perhaps the re-surge in vinyl?

-=sf=-

 

[audiohonic65]

Animals is my favorite Pink Floyd album. They are one of the best we have around now.

 

[NakaMitch]

DSM:

As close to a perfect album as you can get, IMO. I listen to it so often it's ridiculous but I never get sick of it. And I have to listen to it from start to finish - it's a whole progression leading to a beautiful climax. Like a symphony.

Floyd at their best were a seamless combination of rich music and thoughtful lyrics - I think the lyrics throughout Dark Side are some of the best.

Also Meddle and Ummagumma. The studio half of Ummagumma is so-so but I love the live part.

 

[FeisalK]

love Animals, one of my favourite albums. It;s great to hear it being given a tip of the hat on Time Flies.