HiRez Poll Pink Floyd - ANIMALS [Blu-Ray Audio/SACD]

[jefe1]

Great review @Clement. Hope you recharged yourself while in Japan.

I dont have the history with this but I will likewise give it a ten helped by the affordability and the great sound and music of the bluray.

 

[cornwall198]

Stunner of a review, Clement - yes, a 10 regardless, but when we have such a long and intimate history with a recording, it just amplifies the joy. And joy is what leaps out of your review. Oh and I agree with everything you write!! Nice one.

 

[Bill B]

My story mirrors your's with regards to Animals and PF in general. Animals was the first PF album I bought (without ever hearing a song, just by virtue of it being at the top of the charts). I loved it from the start without the aid of any mind altering substances. And about a year or so later.... WOW!!!!!

Great review and I too admitted my total bias when I voted my 10. I still have been listening to the album about once every other week all this time after it's initial release (meaning the BR or sacd).

 

[Sal1950]

i had graduated from AM radio to Chicago’s WXRT. When Animals was released, the DJs gladly played the long cuts.

Good post, I spent my first 60 in Chicago and WXRT was THE station for those of into progressive rock. Those were the days my friend.

 

[weekendtoy]

Fast forward 41 years, and i find QQ after struggling through four-and-a-half years of putative sobriety...

Nice review!

I had to look up 'putative'...

 

[soesbeout]

I gave it a 10 not only because it sounds so good but it brought back memories of being at the in the flesh tour when they came to Portland in 1977.

 

[baward]

Nice review. I remember back in 1975 as a geeky 13 year old, listening to Wish You Were Here with my friend Alan on his parents expensive stereo and definitely having an out of body experience. My first experience of how music can move one.

 

[stoopid]

Nice review. I remember back in 1975 as a geeky 13 year old, listening to Wish You Were Here with my friend Alan on his parents expensive stereo and definitely having an out of body experience. My first experience of how music can move one.

I've had multiple out of body experiences to Floyd's music, almost all of them under the influence of some type of strong psychedelic. I can almost get there fine without the drugs now, and fully appreciate what they accomplish just closing my eyes and letting myself get wrapped up in the music. But I have to admit -- the drugs definitely helped, more as a short cut to arriving there I guess. lol

 

[LTW]

It took this surround release for me to really get into Animals. DSOTM has always been my fav and tbh Pink Floyd aren’t one of my favourite prog bands of this era. But Animals is really growing on me.

 

[quicksrt]

It's a VERY different mix.

And a horrible mix at that!

 

[rusinurbe]

While this maybe be best surround mix Guthrie has done to date, the bar was pretty low.
As one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums after Atom Heart Mother, I was hoping for good things! Once again James ups the sound quality and fidelity but somehow has managed to suck out all of the menace from the album.
Just as an aside on how surround mixes can work I am listening to The Hurting having finished with Animals. There are bench marks and then there are benchmarks

 

[anibal]

I guess I am late to the party and everyone here has already moved on to the DsotM Atmos mix but I am still obsessed with this 2.018 version of Animals. It really resonates with me on many levels.

I was already blown away by the stereo version available on streaming services before I got my Blu-Ray. It is a very different mix as everyone already knows. "Disrespectful", I dare to say. I get why some fellas hate the new version, it is more like a "revisionist" mix, far from canon, but I love it!

I always thought that the grungy/ cloudy/ dark sound of the original mix was a big part of the atmosphere of the album and without reading the notes of the recording sessions, I thought it was on purpose. But man, the new version with extended range, cleaner sound, and added animal sounds, really grabs me. I do not feel it less menacing, maybe a bit less mysterious but still angry and "about to blow up".

Now for the surround mix: I find it awesome, very tastefully done and following the album concept. For me, that is the key: the changes like the vocoder sound in the psalm section, the different delay and reverb effects, the added detail and so on, all fit nicely with the updated concept. It is like the new artwork, a photograph of the same place, "same pig", at a different time, with clearer lighting. I also love how the mix expands and shrinks, gets dryer or "more wet", depending on the music. Immersive with discrete moments, never distracting.

Finally, I also love the bluray authoring and the content: the original mix along with the new version(s) should be a standard by now. I am not sure about the packaging, but for the pricepoint, I won't complain.

What I would like if they make an Atmos mix:
- In the original mix, Pigs on the wing 1 is basically mono, with a 12 string guitar and voice. It would be interesting to have this only on the center channel instead of stereo. Pigs on the wing 2 on the other hand, has 2 guitars, one with standard tuning and the other one with Nashville tuning, which are panned left and right. I think It would be nice to spread these guitars in the 3d space.

 

[ssully]

For me, 'Pigs (Three Different Ones" is the killer track in surround that all by itself makes this worth a purchase.. Whereas 'Sheep' is further revealed to be kind of thin, musically (as in: not much substance there). I don't like 'new' vocoder' psalm either.

 

[RustyM]

View attachment 83967
AT LONG LAST, please post your thoughts and comments on the long-awaited 2018 remix of the classic Pink Floyd album "ANIMALS".
This brand new remix in 5.1 surround and stereo from the band's long-time producer & engineer James Guthrie is available as both a Blu-Ray Audio disc and a Hybrid Multichannel SACD, which is exclusive to Acoustic Sounds: Pink Floyd-Animals-Hybrid Multichannel SACD|Acoustic Sounds
(A deluxe edition featuring CD, vinyl, Blu-Ray and DVD will also be available starting October 7th, 2022.)

Pre-release discussion thread: Pink Floyd - "Animals" 5.1 Surround Sound Mix (Blu-Ray & SACD editions out in September 2022!)

Hybrid Multichannel SACD Edition:

Blu-Ray Audio Edition:

https://www.amazon.com/Animals-2018...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1689256916&sr=1-1
The price is right ($19.00) for the BluRay Audio! I will admit that I'm a little butt hurt about the 50th anniversary of Dark Side Of The Moon's BluRay Disc 1 Audio is currently only available in the expensive box set. =(

https://www.pinkfloyd.com/tdsotm50/recordings/

 

[Sal1950]

I wonder how long it will take us to get an Atmos mix of Animals?

 

[Bill B]

I wonder how long it will take us to get an Atmos mix of Animals?

The Atmos mix will be done next year. It will sit on the shelf until 2030 when all members finally move on and no one is left to hold a grudge.

 

[Malhomme]

Very enjoyable. AS with all multichannel PF albums I listened, the mix is clear, detailed and offers in multichannel an interesting musical perpepective. I cast a 9.

 

[artwwweb]

Another shout out for the menu music. The album distilled into a 9 minute 'ambient' mix. By which I mean the kind of lengthy, quiet remixes popular in the 90s. If you've got this disc but have not given it a full listen, you are missing out, especially if you are a fan of The Orb. It would not surprise me if Youth or Alex Patterson did this remix.

 

[Jim.olga]

Good post, I spent my first 60 in Chicago and WXRT was THE station for those of into progressive rock. Those were the days my friend.

The Animals BR is awesome. Bought the album as soon as it hit the shelves. I started listening to XRT when I was 12. I moved out of the Chicago area 43 years ago and was so glad that WXRT started streaming! It still is by far the best radio station in the country!

 

[mandrix]

Good post, I spent my first 60 in Chicago and WXRT was THE station for those of into progressive rock. Those were the days my friend.

Digging digging. Old posts. Digging.....
No love for KLS? I had some biker friends from chi town, was sitting in "Chief's" living room one night in Central Florida and I'll be darned if he didn't have KLS playing on the FM. Sometimes you get that skip....