Animals seems to be pretty divisive to anyone who's made it this far. It doesn't do a lot for me personally. Sure there are some cool sounds and playing but the songs are drab, and the concept is literally Wake Up Sheeple high school level writing. I think the darker tracks on Wish You Were Here already covered that territory better.

Where does A Momentary Lapse of Reason rank?

I'd put A Saucerful of Secrets ahead of Atom Heart Mother, and Wish ahead of Dark Side.

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 12:10 pm Where does A Momentary Lapse of Reason rank?

oof. I regret ever listening to that and The Division Bell.

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 12:10 pm Where does A Momentary Lapse of Reason rank?

I didn't include it since it's post-Waters, but if I would have included it, probably would have put it just above The Final Cut. "On the Turning Away" is a highlight. Somewhat tough to place it due to it more or less being a Gilmour solo album. Have similar trouble placing The Piper at the Gates of Dawn because it's quite a different band with Syd.

Animals is their best record as a band, so for me it makes it their best record.

fixated on this as a teen. had the book, learned to play all of it. (except for the lap steel bits, although i tried.) i did the same with 'wywh' and 'the wall' shout out to my family for letting me live: i'm sorry, folks.

have always been fond of the line from a comic book [of a dessert]: "it's like the first time i heard dark side of the moon, but in my mouth."

hard not to feel it's an honest account of its creators: haunted, deeply alienated, and often inspired, if not as comprehensively profound as it aims to be

'us & them' is my favourite song on this record. so much empty space. they didn't find a way back from that devastated chorus, hence the incidental music & the last two ditties. there's another world where the record ends on a long fade-out of the sax break. .

ranked:
1. animals
2. wish you were here
3. dark side
4. the final cut
5. meddle
6. a saucerful of secrets
7. piper at the gates of dawn
8. atom heart mother
9. the wall
10. ummagumma

the wall escapes bottom ranking exclusively because it contains 'comfortably numb', a great song about dissociation that spawned a great queer disco cover and the blissful fake italian post on the old forum concerning the relative merits of the two guitar breaks.

i'm not keen on the post-waters records. it's unmistakably a different band and most of the differences feel like losses to me. there are a few highlights ('learning to fly'; on 'division bell', i like the opening instrumental and rick wright's song a lot), but for me the lyrics don't really cut it and musically much of it feels kind of 'one idea for longer than necessary'.

but if you like 'great gig in the sky' at all it's worth hearing the versions from the two live albums.

Rick Beato's ranking:

1. The Wall
2. Dark Side of the Moon
3. A Momentary Lapse of Reason
4. Wish You were Here
5. The Division Bell
6. The Final Cut
7. Rumors
8. Animals
9. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
10. Meddle
11. Atom Heart Mother (hasn't heard)
12. A Saucerful of Secrets (also hasn't heard)

Krev wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 1:10 pm Rick Beato's ranking:

1. The Wall
2. Dark Side of the Moon
3. A Momentary Lapse of Reason
4. Wish You were Here
5. The Division Bell
6. The Final Cut
7. Rumors
8. Animals
9. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
10. Meddle
11. Atom Heart Mother (hasn't heard)
12. A Saucerful of Secrets (also hasn't heard)

Uhh, where did he rank Tusk?

dontfeartheringo wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 8:35 am

Curry Pervert wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 6:53 pm

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:42 pm Also, I feel like the caterwauling on "The Great Gig in the Sky" really goes on a bit, innit?

Probably the greatest, most emotive vocal performance ever made and without a single word spoken.

There's a lot of it, though. A lot.

LOL. Yeah, I can't really argue with that.

Vibracobra wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:43 am And Dogs is the Jam, the best thing they did.

I wanna talk more about this song, even though out of context of this thread.

This song is mostly in a minor (or at least neutral) key. The best parts of this song are the handful of occasions (there are at least three) that crescendo briefly into a major chord with no variations, and then right back into the minor key.

The lyrical concept of the song, while not completely free of cheese, is VERY relevant to me as someone who works in a multinational corporation.

I fucking love this song.