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rev 6/1/20
This CD is apparently based on a modern DSD or high-res digital copy of the same analog master which has been used for various CD-releases, including the 1986 and 1994 releases. The 1986 release was apparently made with a 1st-generation digital deck with Apogee aftermarket input filters. Apogee filters were popular among recording engineers for their superior detail, spaciousness and imaging compared to the stock filters. The 1994 release was apparently made with an early commercial oversampling A-to-D converter, which didn't need complex input filters and probably had 20-bit linearity. I prefer the earlier releases, but only the 2016 release is available as reasonably-priced new CD's. Used CD's are always a gamble since you might get one that looks like it was used as a coaster. But if you buy a used version, you could buy the 2016 release to pay the record company its due.
In case you wonder what I'm using as a player, it's a $100 2017 Nobsound Bluetooth 4.2 Lossless Player, which I gave five stars on Amazon in 2018 and which can handle anything a CD can throw at it. I assume that it's even more amazing with high-res source material, but it's not worth it to me to improve audio beyond what the Nobsound can extract from CD's. Recording engineers need extreme resolution to keep their mixes clean, but it's not necessary just for listening.
Not many people seem to care about audio polarity, but they should because they would probably discover that some of the CD's which they consider to be mediocre just have the wrong polarity and are actually phenomenal with the right polarity. Identifying the correct audio polarity is just a matter of using a good player and listening to the CD when you're in the mood to hear it, so that you're more intent on hearing it and more likely to hear subtle details, and less likely to hear nonexistent problems. You would alternate between the two polarities (such as by listening to one of your favorite tracks for a while with one polarity, and then with the other polarity) until the differences become apparent, or until you get tired of it, in which case you would stop and continue the next time you're in the mood to hear it. (Sometimes it can take a while for the truth about a CD to break through mental blocks caused by your beliefs about how it sounds.) A polarity control would help to speed up this process by allowing you to flip the polarity a bunch of times while playing a passage which is particularly sensitive to polarity, and by eliminating all variables except polarity.
Quite a few CD's, including some very popular ones, have the wrong polarity, and some of these, such as Steely Dan's Alive In America, some (or perhaps all) versions of Pat Metheny Group, and the single-CD version of Steven Wilson's Aqualung remix, don't just sound better, but become much more transparent and alive when the polarity is corrected. (The Pat Metheny Group SHM-CD has the wrong polarity, which could be corrected, but it's also slightly sped up, which ruined the CD for me. I suspect that it was sped up in a misguided attempt to compensate for the lifelessness caused by the polarity error.) I've tried both polarities of the 2016 Animals CD (which has the right polarity), and it definitely sounds better with the right polarity, but I wouldn't call it a stunning improvement.
How to change audio polarity
As far as I've been able to determine, the only new consumer gear with polarity controls consists of a few high-end preamps, such as those by Audio Research (each of which has an Invert button on its front panel, and I assume on its remote control). However, there are a couple of alternative approaches. One is to invert .wav's or FLAC's with an audio editor. Another is to flip the polarity of each speaker connection, which you could do with switches as explained below:
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WARNING
If you add a polarity switch in line with each speaker cable, as described below, do not flip the polarity at high volume levels, or you might damage your amplifier or speakers.
========
An example of a simple polarity control is a DPDT light/wall switch with cross-connected throws (throw A+ to throw B-, throw A- to throw B+) in line with each speaker connection - apply the input across the poles and take the output from across the throws, or vice versa. Wall switches and suitable enclosures (plastic outlet/switch boxes) are readily available, and the switches have screw terminals and hefty switch contacts.
For solid connections, solder wire terminals on the speaker cables, and on the cross-connecting wires. Actually, one end of the cross-connect should share a terminal with the speaker cable, to ensure the best connection between the speaker cable and the cross-connect. I would avoid using the push-in terminals on the back of the switch because a good connection requires a combination of large surface area and oxygen-free metal-to-metal contact (almost a like a spot-weld), the latter of which requires wiping under high pressure. (This is why I recommend daisy-chaining the cross-connects onto the speaker cable - otherwise, there would be two wire terminals on each screw terminal where a speaker cable and a cross-connect meet, and the bottom terminal wouldn't be subjected to wiping as the screw is tightened, which would compromise its connections to the switch and to the other terminal.) Gold is ideal for audio connections, but a sufficient connection can also be obtained with a screw terminal screwed down on a wire terminal as tightly as possible without stripping the screw.
Polarity control for balanced connections
If you're lucky enough to have components with balanced (differential) connections, you could create an interconnect with a line-level version of the polarity switch described above. However, the same warning applies - before flipping the polarity, mute the audio signal before it gets to the polarity switch, or immediately after the switch, or you might damage your system.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2016
I first got this album on cassette in February of 1985 (when I was 9 and had Pigs (Three Different Ones) cut in half but on CD the track is uncut) and I have had the remastered CDs, LP and cassette and 8-track.
The Animals album was coming hot off of the heels of two chart-topping studio classics, 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1975's Wish You Were Here.
The sessions for Animals took place between April and December of 1976 at the band's own studio Britannia Row Studios in London and like the last few albums was produced by the band members themselves.
If tensions were bad during Wish You Were Here, they got worse during Animals.
This was the first album where bass player/singer Roger Waters wrote practically every tune on the album and vetoed anything keyboard player Rick Wright came up with and restricted guitarist/singer/songwriter David Gilmour's contributions to one track, the classic "Dogs".
The album kicks off with "Pigs on the Wing (pt. 1)" which was a love song to Roger's then-wife Carolyne. Part two of Pigs on the Wing ends the album. Next, was the aforementioned 17 minute epic "Dogs". This song was originally called "You Gotta Be Crazy" but the lyrics were changed to tell the tale of the Donald Trump tycoon types whom are power-hungry people whom kick, bite and claw their way to the top and then eventually grow old and die of cancer caused by the weight of their self-importance.
The album's second half kicks off with the 11 and a half minute epic "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" which talks about bigoted political leaders. The last verse, "hey you Whitehouse" was misconstrued as an attack on President Ford but is about the late moral majority leader Mary Whitehouse. That track had great guitar work from David (whose guitar dominates throughout the album as a contrast to synthesizers, saxophones and choral sounding backing vocals that dominated DSotM and WYWH). The track "Sheep", originally called "Raving and Drooling", is the final epic on the album and is about the weak-minded people who follow what the dogs and pigs say before finally rebelling at song's end parodying one of the psalms in the bible. We end with "Pigs On the Wing (pt. 2)" which is a reprise of part 1 with different lyrics.
When Animals was initially released, the album was seen as a critical and commercial disappointment compared to its two predecessors due to the three awkwardly long songs on this album. Animals quickly went Platinum (eventually 4 million in US sales, should be 5 million by now) and shot to #3 but quickly fell from view because the songs were too long, big deal!
With this 2011 remaster painstakingly done by James Guthrie and Joel Plante (it rivals the 1992 mastering that Doug Sax did for the Shine On box set), Animals today sounds fresh and competent unlike most albums that came out in 1977. The album was just re-released on Pink Floyd's own label called Pink Floyd Records and now has some changes to the artwork (now it has the gatefold pictures in the CD for the first time in years) and also the disc has the Side 1 photo of the dog in field and is superior to the shoddy Discovery CD art and pictures on the Discovery edition.
The tour to support this album was not a memorable tour for the band. Whilst the rest of the band got used to larger crowds and stadiums, Waters' persona changed from a happy person into a mean, embittered sourpuss (which he is slowly dwindling away from today). On the final night of the Animals tour, Waters admitted to spitting on a fan which would give birth to The Wall (review soon).
Animals is highly recommended!
Pink Floyd's underrated gem from 1977 is more vibrant and relevant nearly 40 years on
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2016
Pink Floyd's Animals album was released in February of 1977 here in the US and the previous month in Europe (as they were on EMI Europe and Columbia/CBS for the rest of the world).Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2016
I first got this album on cassette in February of 1985 (when I was 9 and had Pigs (Three Different Ones) cut in half but on CD the track is uncut) and I have had the remastered CDs, LP and cassette and 8-track.
The Animals album was coming hot off of the heels of two chart-topping studio classics, 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1975's Wish You Were Here.
The sessions for Animals took place between April and December of 1976 at the band's own studio Britannia Row Studios in London and like the last few albums was produced by the band members themselves.
If tensions were bad during Wish You Were Here, they got worse during Animals.
This was the first album where bass player/singer Roger Waters wrote practically every tune on the album and vetoed anything keyboard player Rick Wright came up with and restricted guitarist/singer/songwriter David Gilmour's contributions to one track, the classic "Dogs".
The album kicks off with "Pigs on the Wing (pt. 1)" which was a love song to Roger's then-wife Carolyne. Part two of Pigs on the Wing ends the album. Next, was the aforementioned 17 minute epic "Dogs". This song was originally called "You Gotta Be Crazy" but the lyrics were changed to tell the tale of the Donald Trump tycoon types whom are power-hungry people whom kick, bite and claw their way to the top and then eventually grow old and die of cancer caused by the weight of their self-importance.
The album's second half kicks off with the 11 and a half minute epic "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" which talks about bigoted political leaders. The last verse, "hey you Whitehouse" was misconstrued as an attack on President Ford but is about the late moral majority leader Mary Whitehouse. That track had great guitar work from David (whose guitar dominates throughout the album as a contrast to synthesizers, saxophones and choral sounding backing vocals that dominated DSotM and WYWH). The track "Sheep", originally called "Raving and Drooling", is the final epic on the album and is about the weak-minded people who follow what the dogs and pigs say before finally rebelling at song's end parodying one of the psalms in the bible. We end with "Pigs On the Wing (pt. 2)" which is a reprise of part 1 with different lyrics.
When Animals was initially released, the album was seen as a critical and commercial disappointment compared to its two predecessors due to the three awkwardly long songs on this album. Animals quickly went Platinum (eventually 4 million in US sales, should be 5 million by now) and shot to #3 but quickly fell from view because the songs were too long, big deal!
With this 2011 remaster painstakingly done by James Guthrie and Joel Plante (it rivals the 1992 mastering that Doug Sax did for the Shine On box set), Animals today sounds fresh and competent unlike most albums that came out in 1977. The album was just re-released on Pink Floyd's own label called Pink Floyd Records and now has some changes to the artwork (now it has the gatefold pictures in the CD for the first time in years) and also the disc has the Side 1 photo of the dog in field and is superior to the shoddy Discovery CD art and pictures on the Discovery edition.
The tour to support this album was not a memorable tour for the band. Whilst the rest of the band got used to larger crowds and stadiums, Waters' persona changed from a happy person into a mean, embittered sourpuss (which he is slowly dwindling away from today). On the final night of the Animals tour, Waters admitted to spitting on a fan which would give birth to The Wall (review soon).
Animals is highly recommended!
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Dogs is the stand out track if you like floyd have a listen
Reviewed in Australia on January 31, 2021Russell
An excellent reissue. Great sound quality.
Reviewed in Australia on October 1, 2020
