Pink Floyd: Animals Transcript

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In the Season 1 finale, Music Rewind welcomes regular host Stephen Epley in the hot-seat to discuss Animals by Pink Floyd.

Alan Ziegler of the Band on the Run episode returns to host this episode and find out why Animals could be the best album in all of Pink Floyd’s catalog.

Album: Animals Artist: Pink Floyd Year: 1977

Transcript as follows:

Participant #1:

Hello and welcome to Music Rewind, a podcast where we look to tell the stories behind our favorite albums. I'm your host, Steve Epley, and in each episode, I will invite a guest to tell us about their favorite favorite music album, how they discovered it and what makes it special to them. Actually, today, I am your host, Alan Ziegler. You may remember me from such episodes as Ban On The Run and the Classic Rock Roundtable. Today, we will be flipping the script and putting your regular host in the hot seat to bring his favorite album to the table. You know, Steve, as the host of Podcasts Music Rewind and Cinema Decon and also the creator of the Stereo Media Group, welcome, Steve. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you all. Good to be here, as I usually am. I will say it's definitely a lot more nerve wracking than I thought it would be, bringing my album to this really well. I hope we can get into some of that been racking my brain and especially once I narrowed it down to the one that I wanted to talk about because it's a deep album and it's going to be a good conversation. I will tell you that I have listened to this probably close to ten times since we discussed this thing and I love this album. I don't know how I live without it for this long, so I'm just going to say that. All right, so let's jump right into this. What is your favorite album and how did you discover it? No album for me, has had a bigger impact on my musical life than Ping Floyd's Animals.

Participant #1:

From the very first time I heard it to each time I listened to it, which is a few times a week, really. It's just my goto. I'm putting it on. It's just 40 minutes of awesome. It's almost like one gigantic 40 minutes track, almost. And then it has so many layers of the music conception, the lyrical conception, the album conception. There's so much that went into this album and it's almost a hidden gem amongst the Pink Floyd albums when it was right there in the midst of their golden period. I agree. I think that might have been part of the reason why I missed it, because it was kind of between Dark Side and The Wall. It's in between Wish You Were Here in The Wall, literally. Yeah. But I guess for me yeah, from The Dark Side, that's just iconic. And then The Wall, which to me was more accessible to probably most people because it's not quite as sprawling in the tracks. They're a little bit more concise, I think, and I think that helped a lot of people out to bring them and I think that's kind of where I stepped in. Yeah, it gets overlooked by a lot of people because of the length of the tracks. I mean, you've got five tracks and three of them are over ten minutes long. Right? And to me, I love that, but there's no radio hits on there. When I say five songs, it's really four songs because things on the wing ends and it's really just one long track that they split up. We're not know it's one short track that they split up. I was going to say yes. Compared to other ones, it's really short. So did someone specific turn you on to this album or Pink Floyd in general? So the way I discovered this album, I have to go back to my high school days. We had a garage in Spring Valley at my cousin's house, the Hanks, and it was at this place that we hung out there for several years. This was our place during my high school years. Great times. Fond memories of all of us just hanging out in the garage listening to so many types of music. This is where things that were brought to the table are brought to the garage, for that matter. It's where we learned about Ozzy and Pantera Sound Garden, lots of Smashing Pumpkins, lots of just every single type of rock genre. We didn't go outside of rock, but it was there were several people and they had different tastes, or were you kind of all in the same general area? We were all in that same general area of discovering rock music. I mean, during the 90s, it was a great time to discover rock music. You had all of grunge at your fingertips. You had so much new stuff coming out. And then my cousin Chris, who was several years older than us, he was a guitar player himself, is a guitar player. He would bring in these albums that we had never heard before, such as OK Computer and other things, things that were just kind of out of our realm. And that's where we got into Pink Floyd. And as with everyone else almost across the planet, darkside was the gateway drug of Pink Floyd. And it was mind blowing, especially when you sit and listen to it several times over the course of the night and several beverages, et cetera. And then, okay, well, there's also this one, Wish You Were Here. What's that? Well, it's got that one song you always hear on the radio. Okay, what else does it have? And then you start to discover, when I say Dark Side was the gateway, because Darkside is a fantastic album, but it's just a small piece of when they really clicked because then Wish You Were Here also. And then you go backwards and you've got Metal, which is a 75% fantastic album. I say 75% because it's got Echoes, which is amazing. And then you've got your List and One Of These Days. But then you've also got A Dog Howling on Chamos and then a Pillow of Winds, and the rest of that album is kind of unlistionable. But Echoes makes up for it. Thank goodness for CDs on that. It's not one I can listen to all the way through. I will generally skip straight to Echoes, and I listen to Echoes a lot. But then often people will say, and then there's the Wall. Like, yes, the wall is fantastic. If we didn't have the benefit of Wikipedia and everything at that time, we really weren't googling stuff. We weren't getting it. So we actually, just by reading Guitar Magazine and reading other things of that nature, we found out, well, what's this? Animals. We missed one. And then we finally found a copy on CD, put it in. Some of the guys liked it. I was mesmerized. It was just, where has this been all my life? How does it speak to you? Like the lyrics, instrumentation, production? What speaks to you about this album so much? That is definitely a loaded question. We've got time. Yes. Pink Floyd in general is a major part of my life, and Animals is kind of the peak of that. I even wrote my high school senior year research paper on Pink Floyd. Oh, wow. My teacher wrote literally a cross. It output C. Don't like the subject material. Oh, man, you still have it. It could be in a box in my parents house somewhere. You sat out and read it to us someday. Yeah. Now I host a podcast. Take that, Mrs. Bittner. I'll show you. Yeah. Oh, wait, I'm not getting paid for this. With Animals, one of the things that really drew me to it was the lyrical content in that this was different than all the other Animals. This was Pink Floyd at its most angry. So with all the other albums, you got this sense of with songs like Shine On You, Crazy Diamond, it's very atmospheric, very almost heavenly, same way that goes. Whereas this one, it lulls you at the beginning and then bam. Those lyrics are curt and specific. They're very vicious, definitely. And I love that. And it made me want to find out more. Like, why were these lyrics so angry? It really made me research it actually developed my research skills that I use today for my regular job and other things. So I was reading books on Ping Floyd, the book Saucer full of Secrets sitting on the shelf over there. It was a fantastic amount of information on all of the Pink Foy albums. And then that got me into their deep history. Getting into Piper at the Gates of dawn. Sid Barrett. Who's Sid Barrett? Okay, now I got to learn about him and his influence on the band. Then you start learning about the odyssey that is Pink Floyd and you're talking from the Sid Barrett days to his fading out, david Gilmore coming in. And then there's the albums of the kind of they're trying to find their own sound and then it all clicks on Dark Side. So Dark Side and Wish you were here. You've got everything pumping on all cylinders, and then Stardom hits them. They're no longer really in control of their tours and things that are happening. And then there's also this political landscape of England that is starting to influence them. The changing musical landscape of England. You've got punk, Sex Pistols and other things. Different things are being thrown around once you get into The Animals was their reaction to that. They were just very angry. When I say they, I mean Roger Waters. Right. Lyrically, this is kind of the start of him taking over, wouldn't you say? Absolutely. And that caused some major strife in the whole band. If you look at Darkside Wish You Were Here, you've got all four names all over. As far as writing credits. Rick Wright, as the keyboardist, was almost completely shut out of this album. Nick Mason on percussion, was really just happy to be there. He was doing whatever he was told, but he was always the laidback guy throughout the whole thing. He's actually the only member of King Floyd to be a founding member from start to finish. He's the Ringo of the group, is what you're saying. Pretty much. And then Rick Wright gets fired during The Wall. Yeah, he got fired during The Wall, and then they hired him for the tour as a session keyboard. To be on stage, that's just cruel, because he's a genius in his own right. And I have all kinds of notes here about Rick Wright on this album as far as his keyboard and organ work. It's a main point in this album as far as that caused the strife that made him write The Wall and then the final cut, which led to Rick leaving the band. Rick had no concept songs to bring to the album, but he wrote a decent amount of music on these songs. David Gilmore has said that he wrote 70% of the music on this album. Yeah, but if you look at the writing credits, all you see is Waters on each subtract, and then David Gilmore and Roger Waters on Dongs. Yeah. And even though the Gilmore not writing as much, you can't underestimate that musical contribution, though, that he brought to this album. I mean, the sounds of guitar, just amazing guitar sounds. Yeah. And bringing in the talk box and doing things with making animal sounds with the guitar and different accessories, I mean, that was innovative stuff for that time, and it was completely just kind of glossed over. And when I say this album brings me in lyrically, it fascinates me to the hypocrisy of it all. And as far as Roger Waters, he wrote this against these. So the original Animal Farm was a take against the bulshafit communism. Right. Socialism. Yeah. For those out there that haven't read it, you should. Yeah, definitely. He reworked this to be it instead of the communism take. It's a take on the capitalist nature and corrupt politicians. Overall, that's definitely paraphrasing it's a lot deeper. But that's the gist of it, the power hungry up top. And without realizing it, he himself was becoming that power hungry within the group and driving everybody out. Exactly. And that facets. And I think you listen to it and you hear these lyrics, but by reading all that research, you find out what's going on behind the scenes. It's like, Wow, there's just so much. Yeah. So how does the album flow to you? Like, straight through. Listen, track jumping. I mean, there's only five songs, so there's probably not a whole lot of track jumping on this one. So walk me through it. Let's go through it track by track. So I do listen to it all the way through quite often, but there are times when I do want to hear Dogs, Pigs or Sheep. Those three songs, the very center of the album. I rarely go to just Pigs on the Wing for the hell of it. It's really just a short love song. Track one that opens the album and then bookends the album.

Participant #1:

It fits as far as the concept, a shelter from Pigs on the wing. It works, but it's not really relevant to the overall concept. But then you get into track two, you get this lyrical interpretation of the dogs. And the dog in Roger Water's mind is someone that we've all met. It's the corporate type of person who is outwardly charming, firm handshakes, easy smiles, but it's all a facade. In reality, the dog is empty inside, alone and unloved.

Participant #1:

And it's overall a cautionary tale of getting too deep into that world. And what it'll get you? Because in this one, the dog ends up all alone, dying of cancer. I thought on my notes here, I thought it was about band managers. When I first listened to the very first, I could totally see that because they had their issues with band managers as well. Yeah. And it seemed to me like it was kind of the super nice guy facade in the front and then the evil I'll take all your money and take all your fame on the back side. So I can see how it maybe could have been banned managers. But in the bigger picture, I think I see what he's going for here. Yeah. As far as the lyrical concept of what he's trying to do, he's really just taking that stab at everybody that's been fake, but just wants that power with that line. You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to. Yeah. So that when they turn their back on you, you have the chance to put the knife in. I mean, that's

Participant #1:

is the exact way to say it. And it's amazing how he puts all that in. This song actually was a contender for me in our round table for the best long track, and he comes in at 17 minutes. It's a great long track. Yeah. Musically, it has everything. It is the epitome of the Pink Floyd sound from the sound effects, the guitar effects. You've got electric guitar acoustic, you got that organ playing, dual lead vocals, and then the lyrical interpretation, lots of tempo shifts. Yeah, they got the ebbs and flows, the tempo shifts. I mean, it's your classic Pink Floyd stuff. Yeah. It starts out very kind of slow, but builds up. And then at about three and a half minutes, you've got a triple track of Gilmore's guitars in harmony, and the song just kind of takes off from there. That part is amazing to me.

Participant #1:

And then I guess around the eight minute mark, it kind of slows back down a little bit. Lots of Cynthia type sounds, which kind of loses me a little bit. But it doesn't last long because in about the twelve minute mark, it picks back up. This is what we talked about with The Endless River, how they have several songs that do that and you continue to be lost because it lulls you into slumber. It doesn't kick back in with those lyrics, and this one does, because halfway through, then Roger Waters takes over the lyrics and he starts singing about the regret of that life. And this is kind of a weird thing, but when I was in the army, we would have very long marches to do ten minute marches, 15, 2030, just whatever. And if you had like a four mile rock march to do and you had to do that in about 20 minutes, I would actually, in my mind, be singing Dogs. Because the pace of it, everything just kept me on that pace and I would finish right at the right time. It actually worked out well for me. And I listened to the song way too much in high school. Obviously, I was able to remember every chord, every word. But then that last verse always kind of kept me grounded because it wasn't what I wanted to be in the army, because that last one was about the guy who's completely broken by everyone that's above him and by that life dragged down by the stone. I did not want to be that person in the military, no doubt, or in life in general. Right? Yeah. It still ran street today. I mean, in corporate world where I'm at now, there's always the dogs there. It's like, okay, yeah, you're all happy and smiles on the zoom, but I've seen the slack messages. So speaking of the higher ups, what about track three, Pigs? The people at the top of the ladder with all the wealth and power this song always reminds me of my friend Gary NASS because he was a regular at our little garage in high school. He's in a band today. I should have looked up the band name. I'm sorry, Gary, but Gary need to get you on the show. And he always loved this song, too, because he would make us rewind. Because he's like, oh, yeah. Angry guitars.

Participant #1:

He loved the angry guitars. They're surprising. Really funky, though. It starts off funky, and that's likely due to David Gilmore taking the bass in this all oh, okay. I did not know that. Yeah, because it starts off funky in it. And he plays the bass guitar as he's a lead guitarist. So that's his style. Right. Nice. Okay. That's cool. I didn't know that. And then I have him in my notes. It also ends funky. So it kind of bookends, that whole song. I like around the five minute mark when that Talk Box stuff happens. Yeah. Big fan of that. Anybody that does it

Participant #1:

do you ever see those kind of reaction videos on YouTube where someone who's not normally listening to this type of music, like they're a hip hop engineer or something, and they'll actually listen to an old classic rock tune that they've never heard before, and just it's a live reaction. Oh, no, I haven't seen that. There's a really good one by a guy named Jamel A-K-A. Jamal his YouTube name. And at that point, when the Talk Bucks you, he actually stopped the video, and he looks at the camera, and he goes, what the hell was that? In a good way. He was floored by that sound, and he had no idea what was making. It was great. That's cool. This song is actually a side note. Roger Waters claims that the Arpeggios, as far as the he says Andrew Lloyd Webber stole that from him for Phantom of the App. Oh, jeez. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. He doesn't want to go through the legal stuff because he says he enjoys Fan of the Opera. But it's there. If you listen to him, it's there. There's a side note. So Kenny Wayne Shepherd stole Billy Preston's organ riff from Don't Bring Me Down.

Participant #1:

What's? Kenny Wayne's. Blue on Black. Yeah. That's blue on so if you go to the very end of Don't Let Me Down wait, don't bring Don't Let Me Down. Let Me Down for the Beatles. Yeah. Don't Let Me Down, the very end when Billy Preston's doing his thing, where he goes, okay, that's blue on black.

Participant #1:

I can picture Don't Let Me Down, but I'm trying to. Blue on black. I can think of the beginning, but I can't think of it at the end. Anyway, you listen to it? Everybody out there told me I'm wrong. I don't know. It sounds the same to me.

Participant #1:

Back to pigs. So in this one, Roger Water is taking a name at the British politicians. Just straight shot at them. Name drops. Yeah, he only name drops one person. Mary White House. Mary White House. Which, up until I read the book, I always thought he was taking name at the US. White House. Right. I didn't know who Mary White House was. I had no reason to know who she was. But I guess she was like a crazy far, right? Like puritan level conservative where she wanted she even hated Doctor Who. Kind of like a Tipper Gore for the US. That's exactly right. Real big on censorship. I'm sure she loved the Sex Pistols. The second verse, though, which is predominantly thought of to be against Margaret Thatcher, where he goes, you fucked up old hag

Participant #1:

in our roundtable, you mentioned this is the first thing I thought of. That when bands in the dropped Fbombs in their songs. It was deliberate. There was a specific purpose to it. So this was to elicit that very specific. Damn. It wasn't just every other line. Right. Like crap. So that always stands out to me. I'm pretty sure it's the only F bomb on the album. And then you look at the Wall, he drops some towards the end with Run Like Hell and stuff where he's being a dictator, his persona at the time. So it's all very specific and very lyrically intentional. Yeah. And again, the guitar is just so spectacular for me being a former guitar player and just loving the tone, the sound and just what he's doing there. Just amazing. I love it. This is one where I think that The Oregon gets overlooked and then getting into Sheep, definitely. But especially in the middle, the base. Plus that Oregon, really? That rhythm. And then you get some cowbell in there. Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah. Get funky.

Participant #1:

I even wrote that in my notes. Around the two minute mark, I wrote more cowbell. Yes. And yeah, it's that funky. I don't know, it's not like funk funk. It's not like any other pink voice. It's got like a funky rhythm underscoring to it. I love it. Yeah. I can really can't think of another Pink Floyd song that has that type of almost like a funk under toe to it. So what about Sheep? The next track? So Sheep, it grows on you over time. And I'm not saying that you have to I don't want to enforce that on anyone. I'm speaking of me. As I got older, I like the song more and more and I have it really on the same level as the other two songs. But I didn't always it's again, that organ. That organ at the beginning and then all throughout the song. But it helped me grow a fondness of those types of solos that get into like Government Mule and Dr. John Galactic, those bands that do that. And it complements everything else in the song quite well.

Participant #1:

And then the bass at the beginning is reminiscent of One of These Days from Metal. And then towards the end of the song it sounds like Run Like Hell at pieces. And I think the first half of the song or so kind of sets the template for the Wall to me. Maybe they pulled some of this and somehow started doing stuff for the wall a few years later, I don't know, but it just has a feel, that same feel for me, the beginning of the song and then the Wall, I don't know what it is specifically, but it just gives me that feeling. I absolutely agree. And I think a lot of that also might be the lyrics in the way they're more theatrical with the fading of his voice at times and the long vocal numbers. And then you get to lyrically. The sheep, all right. They are the masses, the sheeple, the people that are following blindly. And this is a major difference from the book Animal Farm because in this particular song, the sheep actually revolt and take over and kill everyone. Right? Yeah. Just fantastic. And if you're not paying attention to the lyrics, you can miss it. I wrote that down at 755. The dogs are dead yeah. He comes right back bleeding and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream. It's shit.

Participant #1:

It just got real, the lyrics. Have you heard the news? The dogs are dead better stay off the road get back in your bed the sheep take over and now we're in charge and then a little bit before that, though, if you back up a little. I wrote around 626 in the song, like a synth type voice says, The Lord is my shepherd, and then it does that help? He goes into a prayer. Yeah, the store. It's hard to make out. Yeah. And then that leads into The Dogs are dead. So that's kind of interesting in itself. You have that biblical version. My favorite moment of the song, though, is that about a minute and a half in because you got that long organ solo to started off with the sheep babbling in the background, but then right at a minute 20, it drops lower and it goes sinister on you.

Participant #1:

You can feel that sinister change. It starts out uplifting. Yeah, it starts at the very beginning. If you're listening to it on the headphones, you can hear the sheep bleeding and you can hear actual birds singing. And it ends that way, too, and that's over a minute of that. So it's kind of like, okay, the album's ending. The sheep are just going to keep following. But then that drops. That sinister is the word I keep coming to the way that organ sound at that drop. I love it. Yeah. So what else do I have on that? Again? It's just another great song with a bunch of sonic waves. What my buddy Luke say? It's like being in jello. That's a good way to describe it. Sonic jello, with all the peaks in the valleys and the waves and the way the music just flows. Layers. Sound in layers. So many layers. Yeah. This track is a hidden gem on a hidden gem. And if people don't listen to it all the way through because a lot of people will turn off sheep after a minute or two. It's just not their thing. But this song actually rocks because once you get a couple of minutes in, I mean, it's moving, it rocks.

Participant #1:

It definitely rocks in its own way. It's not like a well, it's not pantera or anything, but in the Pink Floyd, it rocks. In the middle of that song. I put it up there with, like, have a cigar sort of thing. Especially with the angry lyrics, the vicious lyrics. I mean, there's definitely some serious hatred that Roger Waters is trying to purge there. I think, and this is a good moment for me to mention it, say Roger Waters, and this is my opinion, he lived the lifecycle of the animal on this album. And I don't know if he acknowledged it or even without noticing. He was the sheep and then he became the dog, and then in the end, he was the pig. Whether he admits it or not, from an outside point of view now, great, amazing art and music came out of it. From lyrics to music to visuals. You got amazing cover, you've got amazing liner notes to stage shows to the wall of the movie. I mean, there's so much that came out of it that's fantastic. But in the end, all the actions of him and others drove that collective apart. Yeah. It's life imitating art, right? It completely is. And I wonder if he's ever had some self reflection on that. Maybe only with his therapist. Well, he's attacking capitalism, but yet he's still the one charging two grand for floor seats. Exactly. I saw The Wall live by Roger Waters. Still the most amazing concert I've ever seen in my life. And the visuals throughout it, there's things like during Goodbye Blue Sky, I don't know if you remember from the movie, they dropped crosses on England animation, but in the stage show from Roger Waters, they're dropping corporate logos like Shell BPC. It's like, okay, are you using none of that? I was going to say, which one of those sponsored the concert? Did all of this arrive on electric trucks? There's a certain level of hypocrisy. Own yourself a little bit. Yeah. He does a lot of good for the world. He does. I just think that he is a little bit of a hypocrite. Yes, definitely. But in a way, most of the people that we've talked about those guys are, though, right? It's like the old thing, how can you play the blues? How can you be a blues man when you're living in the gigantic mansion, driving the brand new cars? We're in the finest of clothes. Right? I mean, there's a certain point where you can't really speak to what you'd call the common person, the worker bees, the same way you did when you were first starting out. I mean, it's just you can't do it. Yeah, but and this may be biased because, again, it's three size every story. Right. I mean, you never know the inside, but it always seems that David Gilmore and Nick Mason, they had roll off the shoulder kind of attitude with it. They stayed grounded, whereas he kind of took over as the well, the character and the wall. Yeah. That was self reflective, I think. So he put himself on trial.

Participant #1:

Okay. As I talk it out, maybe the wall definitely was because it was on the tour for the Animals tour. It was called in the Flesh. That's where he spit on a concert goer in Montreal. And then when they left that concert, he said, I'm not going to perform again unless it's on the other side of a wall. And he went and wrote it. Yeah, that's an amazing story itself. They were very unhappy with that whole tour because it was now stadiums and the spectacle was over the music and it wasn't what they started out doing. Right. So the last that would lead us to track five, the ending track, which is kind of part two of the first track, I would recommend anyone to go out to YouTube. It's out there. You can hear the full version of this song with a long guitar. I keep saying long with an extended guitar solo, bridging the two together. And it's by Snowy White, touring guitarist for Pink Floyd, excellent guitarist, and that was mainly on the eight track. Nice to bridge that time gap there, but it's an excellent guitar solo. If you want to seek that out on YouTube, I recommend that I think we kind of cover this. So what tracks, track or tracks are your favorites on this album? It all depends on how I feel on a given day, really. I will often just put this song on. If I can't think of something specific to listen to, I'll just hit play on the whole album. But there are times when I want to hear pigs, I want to hear sheep. I've got a 20 minutes drive. Let me just put on Dogs. That happens often to me, what you just said, that is the beauty of a great album, because your favorite tracks change. Yeah, that's true. You don't just listen to, I don't know, bad examples. You don't just listen to Stairway every single time you put on four or whatever. So if you have an album where there's multiple favorites depending on the day, depending on the year, I think that kind of sums up what a great album is. Completely agree. And maybe it's a cheap kind of picking an album with only four songs on it as far as there's no skippable tracks. Well, and we talked a little bit about the lyrics, but I mean, you want to touch on any of that, that really just stand out lyric wise. I mean, we mentioned on your throat lyrics, really, the lyrics of Dogs always stand out to me, the first half, because that's what most of us see in our day to day, either in our personal life or professional life. You're always going to run into those people that are just, you know, it's a fake smile. It definitely hits and again, self reflective. I've done it myself. Absolutely. Everybody's kind of had that moment where you have to put on that fake smile and get through the meeting or get through the situation. So it's not a dig at anyone currently in my life. It's just a part of corporate world, really. Yeah. There's those faces that you have to put on at any moment of your day. Actually, one of the reasons I got out of the military was the cutthroat nature of as you rise in the ranks, it got to the point of I'm just not enjoying it anymore. So it was time for me to make a change. Absolutely. And change is good.

Participant #1:

I think about this a lot. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Me and my buddy Luke were talking about Dire Straits, and I was telling them how over the years, there are certain bands that appeal to me more than they did several years ago. And we were talking about why that is. Do you have any thoughts on, like, I'll give you? So my examples are were Dire Straits. I liked most of the songs you hear on the radio, but then I really in the last, say, five to six years, got into them a lot. The band. I really got into them a lot. I was going to mention the band. The only other one was Steely Dan. I was not a huge Steely Dan fan. I don't know if I consider myself a huge one now, but I definitely listen to them more now than I ever did before. I agree. And it's definitely your music tastes shift over the years. You appreciate more, you learn more about the skill and what goes into it. And I think as you get older, you can appreciate that more. Especially when you realize that you're not going to I'm talking me. You may still have a rock career head of you. I don't know where you headed. I don't think so. But the skill of just playing a guitar, playing piano, writing a song, doing all that, putting that poetry to music, doing all that is a skill and a talent that I don't have. And I really appreciate the ones that do. Absolutely. But when I was younger, I didn't listen to the band. I had heard The Weight up on Cripple Creek, but they're on WRZ. That's all I kind of knew. But as I got older, listen to more and then you find some outstanding deep tracks like Arcadian Driftwood and stuff, and it's just there. Wow. Why was this never played? This is fantastic. Yeah, there's that great XM Station deep tracks. I listen to that a lot. Oh, yeah? Where? It's the non radio hits. There's a lot of crap on there. A lot of crap. Yeah, but they play way too much King Crimson. But that's my opinion.

Participant #1:

But you're going to find some great little tracks that you didn't know from Tom Hungry or Mother Hoople and just some random bands that was good, like bands that I didn't appreciate when I was young but have really grown to love. The Bandits top of that list. But David Bowie didn't click with me when I was younger. That stuff came much later, putting me on a spot. But when I was younger, it was Eagles, Queen Credence, Pink Floyd. Yeah. And you've told me your opinion of Credence, so we won't go there. It's that one. Just Proud Mary. I'm just so sick of that. I really like some of their deeper tracks. But then there's a lot of the 60s folk stuff that I never really got into, but I agree to appreciate specifically revolving around Neil Young. So when you get into Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Crosby, Stills, Nash, buffalo Springfield and that whole crew that was riding together in California really put out some good stuff. But when I was 1920, I couldn't give a shit. True. Yeah. And I think it kind of just to be real simplistic about it, I guess it's what speaks to you at whatever particular moment in your life you're at. Your life experiences can help you interpret lyrics differently, too. Yeah. And so I was going to lead back into this album then. So has it changed for you over the years? Like how you like, let's say, back in the garage days when you first heard it? I'm sure it's much different now than it was then. Oh, absolutely. Because back then, this music is awesome. And these lyrics just they're cutthroat, they're biting. We like that because After Animals was done, we might put on Vulgar Display of Power or Bad Motor Finger.

Participant #1:

Right. And then top it off with Siamese Dream. You never know how the weekend was going to go. So it was all about just these lyrics are cool, whereas they don't necessarily mean anything to me. Whereas now, 25 years later, I've been the dog, I've been the sheep, I've been the pig, I've been all these and self reflective, really. Nobody's perfect. And this album really calls out the flaws in people. If you can look yourself in the mirror enough. Yeah, I think I was just sitting here listening to you thinking, the music maybe that doesn't really change for you over the years, but I think maybe the lyrics and the way you interpret them and how you've experienced different life events, maybe that's why these certain songs appeal to you more. Like you're saying you understand the lyrics more or at least you have a different interpretation of lyrics and maybe that's why you appreciate them more or understand them or view them differently. All those protest songs in the 60s. My dad loves those. He does. And none of them really hit to me like, what are these people whining about? Just do your duty, get it over with. I have a different opinion nowadays. I don't regret any of my choices. I still say do your duty and all that stuff. You have nothing to whine over. However, I can understand the fear of some of those as far as the draft and all that stuff. I've been to Iraq. I've done those things so I understand what they're going through or what they were going through when they were writing it versus as an 1819 year old, stop whining, Joni Mitchell. I don't want to hear your shrill. But I still don't like Joanie Mitchell. Actually, I'm right there with you, just so you know. I complain about her on deep tracks all the time. I'll take Emmy Lou Harris over joining Mitchell any day. There's something about joining Mitchell that warbling. Yeah. Crazy. If there's a track on The Last Walls that I skip, it's her Shirling coyote. I just can't stand it. So when we go to our short list of albums out, she will not be on there, I'm guessing. Well, The Last Waltz is on there. Oh, okay. So let's go to that. You want to go to that? What did not make your list that you wish we would have time to discuss? So, Rob, the top of that is definitely the band The Last Walls. We talked about it pretty well in our round table, but if anyone has not listened to that or watched the concert, please go do so. It's amazing, just the amount of sheer talent and who graces that stage. It's really amazing that it was all put together, that it all kind of went off relatively without a hitch and even with all the cocaine backstage. Exactly. And then it ends with everybody coming back on stage with Bob Dylan and the band singing, now shall be released and forever young. Great ending. Really a great album. Another one that I almost brought up was Queen a Night at the Opera. That's the one with Bohemian Rhapsody, which, when I bought my first set of CDs that I mentioned on the round table, I went with Queen at the Opera. But wasn't the first one I grabbed. The first one I grabbed was the Waynes World soundtrack. Nice. And my dad stopped me. He's like, Trust me, get this. My goodness. For guidance. Principle guidance. When it works, it's on. But that is an amazing album. And whether you're just a fan of Freddie Mercury and his vocals, but the music behind it all, I know they mock it. Not mock it, but it's kind of a meme nowadays. With Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie was like, here's where the operatic section kicks in, but the music in there. Brian May is a fantastic guitar player and he is all over that album and every song is different. That's what I like about it. Comes off with death on two legs at the beginning. Yeah. Goes into Lazing. On a Sunday afternoon, which is like some weird ass, I don't know, British thing about rocking on the cliffs of Dover or something. I don't know, is there so many weird songs. There's a song called 39, which is like my favorite one on the album, which is sung by Brian May. It's Roger Taylor. Yeah. And Roger Taylor has his high notes in there and it's about an actual space mission that goes awry and they come back years later and he's looking at his kids, but they're older than him because time flows different. Oh, wow. In your eyes, through your eyes cry to me it's crazy, but it's a great song. Yeah. Well, I'm going to have to go back and listen to that. I haven't heard that album in a while. Another one on my list is Jackson Brown running on Empty. Yes. That is an album that my dad listened to a lot, and I stole his cassette on that one. Running On Empty, and the ending of Stay. Great. Stay the Load Out. Those are two that you hear on the radio a lot, but in the middle you've got some really good songs like The Road, Shaky Town. Cocaine, cocaine. Cocaine is a great song recorded in a Champagne, Illinois Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn, yeah. Glenn Fry on it, too, I think. I don't know. I forgot about Rosie.

Participant #1:

Wow. Yeah, there's not a bad track on that album. And then, last I'll mention, Eagles Hellfreez Is Over, which that's an interesting choice. Hell Freezes Over. I came out in 94, so I was 14 and I was a big Eagles fan already. And as everybody else was really into grunge in my group, grunge and Alternative Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, all that. I was the only one who really loved the Eagles. And all of a sudden they're reuniting. They're doing an MTV Unplugged performance. This is for me, right? I loved it. I still have the VHS of it. I don't have a VCR anymore, but I have the VHS, taped it off MTV. And from the beginning with the acoustic, Spanish guitar notes, hotel California, which is really good, but they have some really great versions of some solo tracks, too. You've got New York Minute, and if you're watching the actual recording or if you have the MP3 on the side, it wasn't on the album, but Help Me Through the Night, Joe Walsh. And then you also got Pretty Maids all in a Row, The Last Restore. And then I actually like the new songs they put on that album with the girl from yesterday and learned to be still. The Timothy B. Schmidt song I could do without. Those are like soft rock, yacht rock kind of radio games. I didn't really care for those, but I do love the other one, Get Over It, that was their other one. Yeah, get Over It. Doesn't Axel contribute lyrics, background vocals of that or something? Does he really? Is that the one where he's get over? I don't know. He saw one of those. Maybe it's I swear from Get Over. He's got old Billy was right. Let's kill all the lawyers. Kill them tonight. Don Henley is another one that's done a lot of good for this world, but I won't go into his political view. Yeah, I had the song Axle helps Don Henley, and I can't think of it now. It won't back down. Other listeners probably out there going, it's blah, blah, blah. Come on, you know this. Let us know in the comment section below or something. Smash that like button. All right, Steve, before we wrap this up, would you like to tell our listeners what you're working on if they can find anywhere, or is there anything you would like to pitch? I mean, there must be something. Well, obviously I would like to pitch all of the podcasts from the Ciderial Media Group, specifically Music Rewind and Cinema Decon, and I want to thank all the listeners and supporters of the show. Our Patreon is growing. These are just side projects for me and they're a lot of fun and I hope to keep them going as long as I can. Season two is shaping up to be a lot of fun, lining up some really good guests, some other podcasters musicians and just basic die hard music fans from all over. There is a link on our website for those who would like to apply to be on the show. If you got an album you want to talk about, you can find us in all the usual places on the interwebs, your Twitter, your Instagram, Facebook, etc. Or if you tweeted them, you're pretty much tweeting at me. So I'm kind of running the show on all that. I'll be doing a small guest fight on the Jacked Up Review Show podcasts sometime next year. I'm going to do a little take on the Eagles. Keep an eye out for that and please, if you haven't already, check out Our Patreon. It's got all of our future shows. So as of this recording, you've got our Roundtable on there, you've got the Radiohead episode, you've got the Kiss episode, and soon you're going to have the Sunny Day Real Estate episode. Granted, this is the season finale, so those will all be public by the time this goes live, thanks to our patrons, especially our high value ones like Danny and Luke. They paid more, so I got to give them a shout out. Absolutely. You did listen to animals a lot, then, over the past. Oh, man. Yeah, I wasn't kidding.

Participant #1:

I think I listen to it three times today. Just I did today for obvious reasons, but when I go into the day of a recording, I'm listening to that album over and over. Again. Same. But over the Christmas break here, ever since the roundtable, I've pretty much been just hardcore, just animals, just making notes. And I really think that got lost for me. That island just fell through the cracks for me because I can't remember the last time I ever even heard it. Maybe I never heard it. I don't know. But, yeah, when you brought that up and I started listening to it, like, oh, my gosh, how did I miss this? Well, I'm glad I returned the favor, then. You gave me so many albums over the years. I'm glad I was able to bring something back to the front of your mind there. Yeah. Thank you. And that's the beauty of this whole thing. I know I keep saying it over and over, but just you go back and you discover and maybe rediscover it like it's been that long, and then get a hold of appreciation for it. And I think that's the whole to me, that's the whole idea. All right, Steve, I'd like to thank you you for your time today. It's a pleasure to sit with you and talk about animals from Pink Floyd. And thanks for doing this. Flip the script. This was your idea. Actually, I'll give you full credit for that. This was a lot of fun. Absolutely. Do you think anybody else will want to come on here and do the same? I don't know. Maybe we'll end each season this way. I'll come back on and talk to Last Waltz. Yes, that would be awesome. We'll go track by track, and we'll drag down Coyote from Jodi Mitchell. Thank you for listening to music rewind a podcast from the Sidereal Media Group. And as I always say, listen to the full album. Until next time.

Participant #1:

A podcast from the Sidereal Media Group. Back to you. Anchors.

https://musicrewind.podbean.com/e/pink-floyd-animals-with-stephen-epley/