Released in 1977, at the height of punk, this Pink Floyd album could not be further from the short, sharp, raw punk ethic if it tried. It is a further outing down the lengthy, instrumental/occasional vocals road and, although immaculately played, is seemingly culturally out of time. Now, I may think that, but, casting my mind back to 1977, Pink Floyd fans outnumbered punks by ten to one - probably more. To lots of people punk meant nothing - this was what they wanted, and they lapped it up. It was a very successful release.
The album, in true prog rock style, is based around a vague concept of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' linked to the political landscape of Britain in 1977. Its bloatedness was possibly inspired as an answer to punk's anarchic nihilism, but, in many ways, this is as anti-establishment an album as anything punk came up with. Indeed, the punk/established rock antipathy was all a bit of a pose - Johnny Rotten secretly liked some prog rock and Floyd's Nick Mason produced The Damned's second album. Personally, in 1977, I hated this and those who liked it, but my views have mellowed over the many subsequent years. Ironically, many Floyd aficionados at the time disliked the album due to its iconoclasm, cynicism and dark edginess.
The work is basically three extended workouts bookended by two short pieces. It begins with the short acoustic and vocals of Pigs On The Wing (Part One) before we get the album's first big track - the impressive Dogs, featuring some semi-funky guitar work from David Gilmour amongst many other changes of pace and sound. In places there is almost a soulful bass sound to the groove. Look, what the hell, I like this. The band revisit the use of canine vocals too, following on from 1971's Seamus.
Pigs (Three Different Ones) has a great rock drum sound and, together with a deep, resonant bass line, recreates the sound of the previous album's Have A Cigar. In places it sounds not unlike US proto-punk band Television, for me. Check out those guitar chops and harsh drums - very post punk too - almost Joy Division in its harsh sonic bleakness. Many post punk groups will have been (possibly secretly) influenced by this, no question.
Sheep begins with some melodic electric piano, a nice bass and steady drum sound for nearly two minutes before it breaks out into some upbeat rock rhythms, full of excellent guitar and swirling organ. Play this loud and, to me, it sounds almost punky in a 1978-79 bleak style, Roger Waters' vocal even sounds Rotten-esque in its sneering tone at times. If you had played this over the speakers before a post punk gig, people would have been enthused, I'm sure. Maybe people will disagree with me but I find a lot of Joy Division/early New Order/early Simple Minds in much of this. The problem for many with Floyd was that the tracks lasted so long so it came across as indulgent, but various passages in the tracks are not much different to the noir sound of post punk. The final track, the short Pigs On The Wing (Part Two) is exactly the same length as the opener - 1:24. Odd that, isn't it? It was an album caught between two cultures but that didn't stop it being very successful. indeed, and probably rightly so.
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