Pink Floyd’s Animals to return in 50th-anniversary editions
The five-disc deluxe collection includes unreleased Roger Waters material and a concert recording from Oakland in 1977.
Sony Music will issue Animals 50 on January 22, marking the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Animals. Several formats are planned, with previously unreleased recordings included in the most extensive edition.
The deluxe collection spans five discs, pairing the original album with the 2018 remix and five rarities. Those selections include “Young Nicholas Jon,” a Roger Waters song that has not previously been released. Another two discs document the band’s Oakland Coliseum Arena performance on May 5, 1977. Bootlegger Reinhard Hohlwein recorded that concert at age 19.
A book running to 64 pages accompanies the deluxe set. It features a new contribution by Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn, alongside an interview with Hohlwein. An extract from the memoir of Hipgnosis designer Audrey “Po” Powell recounts the creation of the album’s cover artwork.
Animals originally arrived in January 1977, between Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Waters wrote almost all of its songs, with George Orwell’s Animal Farm and the emergence of punk among its inspirations.
