Surprisingly not an harmonica but Gilmour playing guitar with a “talk box” effect, which is obtained by blowing and/or talking into a plastic straw/ tube. Same way different guitar pedals allow for different sounds, the "talk box" allows the player to shape the sound, but with their mouth instead of using a whammy bar and/or pedals.

Mary Whitehouse (1910 - 2001) was a far right, religious guardian of ... everything. A well known activist back then.

This is def some of Roger's greatest and grittiest writing. Such a unique and great concept and album.

Gilmour's "scorch the earth" outro blows my mind every single time. And I always pray this time it won't end.

You nailed that really well. I don't think I've heard another band who had the innate ability to make their music match the lyrics as well as Pink Floyd did. And that's not all Roger, which is why, while both Gilmore and Waters could go out and cover Pink Floyd songs just fine, without each other, there is no new album that competes with, Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here, etc. And even with Gilmour and Waters writing together, without Wright on the keyboards it still wouldn't be the same. Those 3 and Mason too, really made some amazing music together.

I saw this tour in Boston in 1977 and Animals was what they opened with, the second set was Wish You Were Hear in its entirety with a Dark Side medley as then encore. You can find a good audience recording by the soundboard on You Tube, Gilmour's guitar was beyond his usual amazing that night, the Animals set in particular had him on fire, playing with energy and soul that had the crowd going crazy. It is well worth tracking down. Unreal Floyd! Enjoy. 🎵🎸🎤🎹🎶

Just about to close my laptop and you posted this - so I am obligated to watch & listen. I was a teenager when this album came out and loved it then. Still love it. Props to you for your analysis of both music and lyrics, you do a great job digging out subtle details. The 2018 remix, that finally came out this fall, of this album is top notch and adds the option of a 5.1 mix - if you have the opportunity to listen to it on a proper surround setup it is fantastic. Edit - if your pet peeve is fantastic solos during the outro, brace yourself when you get to Steely Dan. That is their signature move.

Mary Whitehouse, a British conservative activist from that time.

The interesting thing about Animals is how David Gilmour takes the emotion in the room and channels through his playing. The tension developing between he and Roger is making Gilmour play much more aggressively than he did on say DSOTM or WYWH.

can't wait for sheep, the best on this album

Yep. Shredding. Play it over - whole album and hear what you missed or had forgotten. Then do it again and again. After about 20 plays you'll know what's next. So good, it'll give you little shivers of delight. 40+ years on still in my top 10 albums of all time and my fav PF album

Animals is the pinnacle of Pink Floyd’s works in my opinion..

That sound you thought was a harmonica is actually a guitar being played through a voice box. It's a transducer that takes the notes on the guitar and sends them through a tube that is placed in the mouth, right nest to the microphone. The various sounds are made by changing the shape of the mouth cavity, or by talking and singing. Peter Frampton famously used it in his song, "Do You Feel Like We Do?" Dog - Businessmen, bankers, lawyers. Pigs - Politicians, bosses, CEOs. Sheep - the rest of us

David Gilmour is on the bass by the way.

Thr Pig sounds are Gilmour using a talk box. Also it's Waters on rhythm and Gilmore on Bass, and of course his "burn it down" solo's, which I agree should have not been faded.

Syed, my man, the real dog, whilst we’re on this Pink Floyd train, you should check out there album The Final Cut, I really think it’s worth a listen, peace ✌️

It's Gilmore using a Talk Box effect on his guitar.

Algie🐷 definitely went in hard🔥🔥🔥😆 And Gilmour with a thrashing shredding solo out of no where🤯😱he just kept going and going and going basically endless😳🤯😱🔥❤️

I bought this album in 1977 when it came out and I played this song over and over for days.This was and still is my favorite song on this album. Thank you for reacting to it.

I can tell you that popular current-day bands still make music that will require your attention with long tracks. King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizzard come to mind. Great reaction!

One aspect of the track that is often overlooked is how much Dave playing bass added to the track. His melodic sensibility changed the dynamic. The effect in the instrumental bridge is a talk box that Gilmour is singing into. Pigs is a great marriage of Gilmour’s musical sensibility (bass, guitar and added effects like the talk box) with Roger’s lyrical angst, anger and the tension he brings to the track.

Nice! Can't wait for SHEEP...

Another brilliant reaction. Incredible music

once again if you can imagine a bunch of nerds in the basement making a track so cool though, using the electronic tools they know so well, heap of credit to roger for using them and his lyrics, so smart

It was the time of LPs and people bought them and listened to music at home and went to concerts, not on the internet, phones, etc. Music was still allowed to be music in its fullness, instead of today's rule of time limits and short quick gags, music today is more of a backdrop to other events for quick consumption and mostly quick forgetting.

The whole album reeks (in a fantastic way!) of amazing musicianship! The are an amazing band at the height of their individual abilities and collaboration. Love how you enjoyed the glissando of the piano (twice) during the song. I have too many memories of this whole album, as I have listened to it more times than I can count, all of them powerful.

The fact that sheep and dogs weren’t written together with the thematic connections already made, is mind blowing to me. And then just tossed pigs in there. Somewhere along the line waters created an entire album length story that just happened to encapsulate the modern spciocapitalist ethic that had peaked in the us and uk in the 60s and then fell apart like an origami bicycle in the 70s. And then threw a series of fat grooves all over it. Dark side is a unified masterpiece, wish you were here is the most personal and the wall the most theatrical and farcical, but I think animals is their best work. It’s the most evocative thing they did since syd left the band (nothing matches that nuts first album imo).

1. Animals began with two older songs from 1974 that Pink Floyd had not included in Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here because the seething, angry lyrics did not fit in either. A song that had been called "Raving and Drooling" was renamed "Sheep." A song called "You Gotta be Crazy" was renamed "Dogs. 2. The making of the album delivered a fatal blow to the band as Roger Waters pushed aggressively to dominate the writing of the music and lyrics, later defending his aggression (which also caused him to pocket more of the royalties) by saying none of his bandmates could write lyrics remotely as good as he could. 3. While many people after the album remarked how it seemed to parallel George Orwell's Animal Farm, a tale inspired by the rise of Stalin and totalitarianism in the guise of egalitarianism, from everything I have read, Waters did not speak of that connection until others did. I take that to mean the book may have been one of the things that influenced the world view that Waters expressed in Animals, but that it was one of several, one of which was personal -- he had grown up as a socialist who then became rich. By the way, Animal Farm is a stunningly good novel and easy to read in a day. The only transparent reference Rogers explained was "Whitehouse" as he had long debated replacing it -- it referred to a conservative activist, Mary Whitehouse, and her crusade to end pornography. Beyond that, the lyrics meld Rogers' world view in a more general way. 4. While I respect much of the music and lyrics on Animals, to me, it symbolizes the downfall of the band, which reached its peak with Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here because all band members were adding layers of genius through collaboration and their varied personalities and musical focuses.

the fadeout is not only an interesting effect but it leaves you wanting more.

I will forever say there is no better Album 💿!The lyrics of words and the lyrics that the instruments speak Are unmatched by No-One! If I was able to be in a room with them…My Brain Would Be Melting Like Colors From A LavaLamp…While Drawing Words Like Graffiti…Unable To Speak……..✌🏻☀️

This album was also the beginning of the end of Pink Floyd … the intensity in Gilmour’s guitar is an expression of frustration, anger , hurt …. You feel his playing in your soul

For this album they switched things up quite a bit: the rhythm guitar on track: 1, 3, 4 & 5 is played by Waters with only Dogs & the outro riff of Sheep being played by Gilmour. But Gilmour handles the bass duties on Pigs & Sheep, with Roger playing bass on Dogs only. Of course lead guitar is still handled by Gilmour. Actually on other records too, Waters plays some rhythm guitar, and Gilmour some bass, but they switched even more on this one.

I love your reviews... only one correction here... The "harmonica" is David Gilmour playing his guitar through a voice box... STUNNING LEAD GUITAR PLAYING YET AGAIN... The only time he ever used that effect.... this album has some of his harshest guitar playing... and it's great because of that. As you said.. so emotional..... Keep on Rocking

Not a harmonica...yet another example of Gilmour's guitar mastery; this time using a "talk box" to express the emotional torment of "the pigs." Genius. Also, the outro solo is a rare example of him "shredding." His solos are usually very melodic and soulful, but this one (along with one or two from Dogs) is just straight-up nasty. Love it.

Talk Box on the guitar making all the squeeling sounds and others.

Gilmour also on fretless bass on Pigs 3x and vox pig noise is a guitar effects vocals mixer. He snorts and plays and the guitar makes that sound . One of their absolute best ❤

Fav Floyd song right here

Pink Floyd in 2022? They are called TOOL, my friend.😉👍Animals is becoming my favorite PF album. Absolutely stellar. And sadly always relevant.

Best Concept album of all time! Simple themes. No held punches!!

Who's ever decision it was to fade out that Gilmour solo so quickly should be boiled in oil. Wasn't a harmonica, it was a voice box. A contraption that modifies the sound of a guitar with your mouth. Thank you David Gilmour... also laying down the baseline on this track.

This is my favorite Floyd song. It was the first one I taught myself to play on guitar (Gilmour is a hero of mine along with Page). Such a cool song.

Since you love 70s funk grooves, you need to discover the Meters! The greatest 70s funk band, from New Orleans! They still define the sound of New Orleans. You’d dig them- Ain’t No Use is a great song. One of many!!!

Hey Syed i agree with you on the instrumentals on pigs sounding like pigs squealing. I thought the e act same thing on dogs where DG solo sounded like dogs howling at each other having a dog conversation and knowing DG guitar work and RW imagination it wouldn't surprise me

That’s a talk box, used to great effect here. Two artists who famously made great use of the talk box, whom you haven’t yet hit, are Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh

one of the best albums ever, my favorite floyd album

This album was really lambasted in the press, taken as a failure after "Welcome to the Machine" (Everyone was still waiting for "Dark Side 2" - that album was probably STILL on the charts, lol.) It was very off-putting to me at first, but over the years has become my favorite Floyd Album after "Meddle". But, for me, this is the climax of Water's beautiful bitterness. Even well before the emotional catharsis that was "The Wall", this record really plumbed the depths of post-war British paranoia. In a sense, this is Syd Barrett's story from the inside out as well as the outside in. Ugliness, fear, and a broken vision of humanity are at it's core. Thank you as always - your series on Floyd has been full of excellent insights and deep appreciation. I KNEW you would love this album - it is a keeper. It is not pretty ; it is more like telling the story of a massive cockroach you killed in the kitchen - you hate telling it, but it always gets a reaction.

could only be Mrs T hatcer they were talking about in verse 2

This song and the word Mary was directed at a woman named Mary Whitehouse who used her political power to fight against television and media in Britain as it expressed liberal views to children. She was of course a know it all who wanted to protect the children from evil things like music and entertainment.

Pure genius...❤️

The fade-out during a guitar solo is an old sales technique. It's called leave them wanting more. This is also why most successful rock songs are 3:30 in length or less. Of course, Pink Floyd are an exception to most rules.

Funnily enough the second verse ("bus stop ratbag") is about Margaret Thatcher, while the "Mary" in question later on is Mary Whitehouse. Roger usually refers to Thatcher in song as "Maggie" (see: The Final Cut)

I think they do the fade out guitar solos at the end so you'll buy a ticket to their next concert to hear the conclusion, maybe?

My grandfather raised pigs on his farm when I was a little boy, so I'm well an acquainted with the sounds pigs make, and they did pretty darn good job of accurately reproducing it. No harmonica, that's a voice box.

Great Review ! As ALWAYS Brother .... I do Believe that Roger Waters played the Lead Guitars on this Track And David Gilmour Played Bass Guitar on it as well 🐷 !

Well done

That's not a harmonica, its David Gilmour using his voice to shape the sound of his guitar with a device called a Talk Box. It's not easy to use - the pitch of his voice has to match the pitch of the note he's playing in order for the effect to work so he's literally singing his solo while playing it. He used the effect on a few other songs, as well. The most famous use of the Talk Box, by far, is by Peter Frampton on his live album "Frampton Comes Alive" from 1976, one of the best-selling live albums of all time. Two of the performances, "Show me the Way" and "Do you feel like we do", would go on to chart in the Billboard top 10. These would each be very good songs for you to check out.

What's crazy is this album used to be extremely popular. It sold some 5 million and yet you don't hear any of these songs played on the radio anymore and they are more relevant than ever

You really should have heard this on the Quad stereo systems with the Quad version of this album!

My favorite Floyd album.

The sound effect is through a voice box that goes through the guitar, like the one he uses in the live pulse version of keep talking

On Guitar solos, that's why Gilmour plays what he wanted the full solo on Comfortably Numb to be on the album version of the song. LIVE that way. But it would almost have to be a triple album to fit all the solos from songs on. In full, the way he wanted them to be. I mean I think his last solo on that song went on for over 10, 15 minutes in one live performance I saw/listened to.

No mention of the bass guitar weavings of Mr. Waters? It’s a wee subtle inclusion but lovely when able to hear it and entirely take-in the whole synthesis after multiple listens

We need more cowbells !

that end solo he was going wild while slowly sliding out of range. one of my fav PF albums

Nice to hear the 'evolution' of the Pink Floyd sound that culminated w/ the Wall & Dark Side .. so many musical themes being experimented with that Waters & the boys would re-use later on .. brilliant album .. one of my favorites.

It’s not a harmonica, Gilmour is using a Talk Box.

Love the funky bass line in this

MARY WHITEHOUSE 😊

A little trivia.. Dave played bass and Roger played rhythm guitar on this track

The themes, lessons and warnings from these lyrics (mostly Roger Waters throughout their big albums), are still very much relevant today!

What you think is a harmonica later is a talk box. It has a rubber hose you sort of bite on and has a mechanical growl to it as the voice gives it pitch and the bite sort of wahs the texture.

the sound you think is harmonica is David Gilmour on guitar with a talkbox. A talkbox sends the sound through a tube that the player puts in their mouth. They can talk with the vibration coming from the guitar instead of their vocal cords. Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton both used talkboxes

on a roll now, verse 3 is about Mary Whitehouse, check her out

The best one ☝️

As a musician it's cool to see you talk about placement of instruments in the mix. Do you notice the same mixing in hip-hop?

I TOTALLY AGREE about fadeouts! Hate them! I often find myself cranking it up at the end to minimize them. It's why live versions are often better...

The Heil talk box was the beginning tech for the Pitch Correct feature that arrived in 1979 (singer sings into the mic, and the pitch correct, warps the voice to match the key of the music. Out of key singers, magically were talented). This eventually led to digital Auto tune in 1994-95.

One of the greatest guitar solos ever recorded and its faded out in the middle of it. Absolute travesty

Also of note: David plays all bass parts (fretless) and all guitar leads and fills on this track, while Roger plays rhythm guitar.

"Whitehouse" is Mary Whitehouse, who was a British conservative activist. For Americans, "Whitehouse" also fits the narrative of our Executive Branch of government.

whitehouse refers to mary whitehouse (hence "mary you're nearly a treat"). you can learn all about her on wikipedia.

I must have been 16 or so in the mid-nineties. Went to the record store and randomly saw this album. Bought it because I thought I may have heard of the band Pink Floyd before. Before all this media at your fingertips, we weren’t exposed to everything unless you sought it out. Needless to say, I wore my copy of this out and never looked back. Animals was my intro to PF.

Eric Cartman: "Ha ha, charade you are."

For more TalkBox see: Peter Frampton, "Do You Feel Like We Do" from Frampton Comes Alive album.

Noticed quite of few tonal and picking effects in the final solo that were noticeable and reincarnated in the Numb/Pulse solo years after this.

This song has an amazing bass line by Waters.

Mary Whitehouse who was a social critic back then.

The pig sound is produced using a guitar, talk box and a wawa pedal

A few years ago I took my daughter to Roger Waters "Us and them tour", she had never experienced pink Floyd before. This was the song she fell in love with and made her a rabid pink Floyd fan. Never forget her smile.

Great reaction to an amazing (and scathing) tune!! Kudos for Roger to find an avenue to vent, and the rest of the band to put incredible music to his ire! Loved this track on first listen! Type in Mary Whitehouse, and you'll get your answer. A conservative activist, whose deep rooted Christian beliefs led her to champion against the sexual revolution, feminism, LGBT right and others. Was very involved in censorship of various kinds - hence Roger's disdain for her (and her ilk)

There is a successor to Pink Floyd... TOOL 'nough said

Constance Mary Whitehouse CBE was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permissive society.

Fantastic reaction as usual Syed. Margaret Thatcher was already rising to power as leader of the Tory party when this was released, although she was not yet pm, and the second verse is usually thought to refer to her (You radiate cold shafts of broken glass....You like the feel of steel, You're hot stuff with a hatpin etc.). The final verse refers directly to Mary Whitehouse, a high-profile moral crusader who wanted to ban just about everything.

The Floyd used the 'funk' type rhythm a few times across the decades. This track, part of Echoes & Shine On for example. Not really surprising if you consider the band started off playing R&B covers, before graduating to original material.

Whichever politicians they might have had in mind when the wrote the song, whenever Roger Waters performs this live today, he makes it about Trump, with a giant floating Trump-as-a-baby-in-diapers balloon, and even the words "Trump is a pig" appearing overhead by the end of the song.

I believe the three pigs are supposed to be James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse, in that order

That's not harmonica, that's guitar!

Dark side is life in England. Animals is more a world .. humanity theme. Much like the book

You talk of Gilmore s soaring Guitar. But Rogers lyrics x attitude set the tone.

May I suggest you react to the video of them behind the scenes of making Brain Damage from dark side of the moon.