Lots of progressive rock bands are coming forward these days with upgraded audio versions of their works from the 1970s. The granddaddy of all these bands is Pink Floyd, one of the main groups that sparked the habit of listening to music on headphones. And the folks who are into that type of listening have reason to rejoice as Pink Floyd's Animals was given the remix treatment in 2018 and is now available in 5.1 Surround Sound for the first time. This record is 45-years-old now and every note of the work is pretty well etched in fan's minds, so no matter what equipment is used in playback, upgrades will be noticeable. On the very brief opening track "Pigs on the Wing (Part One)" for example the acoustic guitar sounds crisper and the vocals seem to reach out and touch. Animals was inspired by the George Orwell novel "Animal Farm" and the Floyd's similar tale of woe kicks in with the paranoia-laced "Dogs" where the remix brings out the synthesizer nuances and the glory of the electric guitar, and yes, the barking sounds. At 17-minutes long "Dogs" is mellow, psychedelic prog rock at its best, sounding better than ever here. The album's radio staple was "Pigs (Three Different Ones)," a cut fans love to sing along to, and here their "back-up band" will really do them right (the grunting swine noises remain as gross as ever.) The remix also does a wonderful job on the intro to "Sheep" where the late Richard Wright plays sublime keyboards until the band joins in and kicks it up a couple notches and singer Roger Waters continues the album's narrative. The album ends as it began, with the brief vocal and acoustic guitar piece "Pigs on the Wing (Part Two)." Undoubtedly the thing to do here is just put the remix on and kick back and enjoy it but if you want to audit the upgrade the best thing to do would be to purchase the title as the Blu-ray or DVD audio mixes option which each contain the 5.1 Surround remix as well as the original stereo mix so you can make your comparison. Also available as a regular Blu-ray, on CD, on SACD and as a deluxe edition with LP, CD, DVD and Blu-ray. The cover of Animals 2018 Remix has been upgraded as well from the original but it follows the same theme. Order it here (ad)
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