In 1975, the band purchased a three story church hall at 35 Britannia Row in Islington to turn into a recording studio of their own. They wanted their own studio so they could write and record music at their leisure instead of on the time of separately owned recording studios. Once construction finished up at the beginning of 1976, Pink Floyd settled into the studio and began writing a new album. Roger Waters already had the concept in mind, which utilized two tracks from their sessions for Wish You Were Here, "Raving and Drooling" which was now "Sheep" and "You Gotta Be Crazy" which was now "Dogs". The idea, based somewhat off of George Orwell's classic Animal Farm, was portraying humans as animals, specifically three categories of animals: the Dogs, which are the egomaniacal businessmen who care only about their reputation, the Pigs, which are the wealthy and vicious top of the social ladder who manipulate others into evil ways of business, and Sheep, which are the common lower class who eventually rise up against the dogs. The album's concept is very dark, which reflects Roger's mind at the time.
After reworking "You Gotta Be Crazy" ("Dogs") and "Raving and Drooling" ("Sheep"), the band composed two new pieces. The first, "Pigs On the Wing", is a love song from Roger that is really the only glimmer of hope on the album. The song is a short acoustic piece that was split in half to make bookends for the album, with one at the beginning and one at the end. The other new piece was "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" which is the third track on the album. These all work together to create one concept and theme for the album.
Upon release, the album made it pretty high up the charts in the UK and US and other places, but critics did not review it well, thinking it was too dry and dark to be a pleasurable listen. I completely disagree with that viewpoint as I love the album very much, and I know how to play them all. The album has some great music and lyrics on it which, although much different than their previous two albums, is a very cool change of pace.
The album opens up with "Pigs On the Wings (Part 1)", a soft acoustic ballad sung and written by Roger. As with the previous two albums, Roger writes all the lyrics on the album. He portrays himself as a dog in this song, which is interesting as a point of self criticism as he does not portray the dogs very nicely. On the original recording and the 8-track version of the album, the song is left put together with a guitar solo by future touring guitarist Snowy White. His solo doesn't make the final album, but can be heard on YouTube and other sites where the old recording of the song is available. The song ends with an acoustic strum, ending the song on a major note, which is rare on the album.
The next song, the epic 17 minute "Dogs", begins with a fade in of an acoustic guitar riff. The riff plays for a little with Dave Gilmour singing the first line on top before any other instruments come in. This track is notable for being the only song to feature any Dave Gilmour vocals, as Roger takes up the rest of the songs, and even the second half of this song. After the first verse is finished, Gilmour launches into an excellent solo that is short and sweet. The drums play a good rhythm section and after the second verse, the band slows into half time, with the synth taking the lead for a short while. The lyrics of the song are very dark, talking about how the dogs, who are representative of the big headed businessmen, conduct their business. "You've got to be trusted, by the people you lie to so that when they turn their back on you, you'll get the chance to put the knife in" Gilmour sings. Very dark indeed. In the slow half time section, Gilmour plays a slow and melodic solo, double tracking his guitar to create a call and response effect. This all eventually comes to a halt as Gilmour plays just a minor D chord a few times until the drums lead in the rest of the band. Gilmour plays another guitar solo, which is quite excellent. This whole song is flooded with excellent guitar work which is wonderful because the other tracks don't let Gilmour showcase his talent as much. At the end of the solo, Gilmour sings a verse with the Rick Wright and Roger Waters playing a funky groove on keyboards and bass respectively. After the next verse ends with the line "Dragged down by the stone", we are launched into a four minute synth solo. The word "Stone" is repeated around 50 times over and over again until it fades off completely. Nick Mason keeps the beat quietly on a cymbal and echoey bass drum, similar to the heart beat sound iconic of "Speak to Me" from Dark Side. The keyboard solo gradually builds up with the sound of dogs barking in the background and the reoccurrence of the repeated "stone" line several times throughout. Mason does eventually come to a somewhat steady beat towards the end of the solo, but this cuts off when the solo ends and Dave Gilmour comes back in with the same guitar phrase from the beginning of the song. From this point on in the song, Roger takes over vocals, and he continues to do so for the rest of the album. The line, "I've gotta admit, that I'm a little bit confused. Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used" reflects how the dogs are often taken advantage of by the pigs. Roger sure knows how to keep a listener intrigued with lyrics and story line, and the whole band keeps you interested with the music as well. The rest of the song is like a mirror of the first half of the song, with two distinct sections: the fast verses and then the half time slow verses. Eventually, though, this does come to a stop with a repeated chord sequence and a whole verse of lines starting with "Who was..." that eventually end again with "Who was dragged down by the stone", which ends the song. I can think of no better way to end this song. The ending is so dramatic and definitely brings closure to the side of the album. This song took a while to grow on me, but now it remains as one of my favorite Floyd tracks, as I notice the amazing guitar work on this track. There's nothing like this song on Wish You Were Here or Dark Side at all, which adds the distinct identity of the song. I often feel that this song itself would have made a great album in and of itself, if it was longer, and didn't have to conform to the storyline of the album within this version.
The next side opens with the 11 minute "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" which opens with a brilliant synthesizer line. The line repeats as bass plays lead up in the high range of the frets. The guitar comes in with a clean effect on and the drums play a fill that leads into the first verse. The whole song seems to showcase Roger's bass work prominently, which is odd for Floyd songs. The lyrics follow the stories and points of view of three different pigs, who represent the big wealthy people on the top of the social ladder. The song follows a basic chord sequence, but the choruses present one of the best parts of the song as the piano takes a prominent roll playing half steps after each line which makes a neat effect to the way the chorus sounds. After the first two verses, Gilmour plays a repeated line of Em to D which he solos over for a while, using a talk box to imitate the sound of a pig. The result is unique and different to say the least. This is one of the oddest parts on the track, creating its own atmosphere with the keyboards playing quietly in the background and gradually making their way back to the front for a reprise of the opening riff of the song. This leads into the final verse and chorus, pretty simple song. The song ends with a brilliant solo from Gilmour that goes full force with distortion replacing the talk box until the song fades out leaving us in suspense. The reason I like this song is not because of the complexity or anything like that, as it is a relatively simple song, but it is because of the emotion expressed not only in the lyrics, but the playing of each member. You can tell they all felt the same way because of how they play with aggression and fervor.
This transfers into the sound of sheep "baa-ing". Rick Wright finally gets a place here to do some jammy work on keyboards for the intro, reminding me of jazz, as Roger's single note bass line fades in, changing keys once in a while until, after a minute and a half, the come in. I have always loved the way the drums come in because it reminds me of them being sucked into a vortex or a vacuum or something like that. This all eventually goes into a fast pace verse sung maniacally by Roger. The chorus's vocals remind me of King Crimson's Adrian Belew. The guitar line after the chorus is short but brilliant, adding to the aggression. The song altogether seems very jammy, with the drums and bass keeping the rhythm section up diligently as the organ and guitar both take turns out front. The second chorus is followed by a section of slowed down, drum-less, bass and keyboard notes. The atmosphere here is very cool and odd, but is cut off short by drums and guitar coming in. The keyboards play a wonderful building up lead line, switching from major to minor several times and just as you think everyone is about to speed up again, the key and speed completely changes unexpectedly. THIS IS THE BEST PART OF THE ALBUM. It completely catches you by surprise and is awesomely executed. This whole section reprises the bass line that fades in at the beginning, but the keyboards are not as soft and jammy sounding, but rather dark and sinister. In the background, a recording of a parody of Psalm 23 can be heard, until the whole band comes back in for the final verse. The final verse resumes Roger's maniacal vocals and the fast pace. "Have you heard the news, the dogs are dead," he sings, talking about how in the end, the Sheep overtake the big headed dogs. After the chorus, the song goes out in a blaze of glory as the guitar plays a lead line of triads going down the neck, which is a great end to such a brilliant song, going on for about two minutes and gradually fading out. From the first time I heard this album, this song stuck out at me most because of the energy and the musicianship, and it still lasts as a favorite of mine. The band fades back out into the sound of sheep, which goes into the following track.
The last track is the second half of "Pigs On The Wing". It follows the same format of the first half, even the same exact length, but with a few differences in chords and different words. I personally think sheep would have ended the album better, but this ending is okay, just different because it is small and acoustic and lovey-dovey sounding, much different than the anger and aggression of the rest of the album.
This album is a great album, and I don't see too many problems with it. Roger singing most of the vocals fits well on this record, as his voice better suits the angry songs, and Gilmour's vocals are better suited for the softer and nicer tunes. I give the album 10 out of 10.
A live version of "Sheep":
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