dedicated to the archiving of unofficial lossless
audio recordings

					
It's somewhere between difficult and impossible for me to review 
"Animal Instincts" without also making it a memoir.  As fortune would 
have it, May 9, 1977 was not only the first time I saw Pink Floyd, it 
was actually the first concert I ever went to in my life.  In a lot of 
ways it screwed up my expectations for years to come: 1. It started on 
time.  2. It went almost perfectly.  3. The audience was behaved.  It 
made me think that that was the concert experience I could usually 
expect.  Silly me!

By comparison, when I saw the Los Angeles opening night of the "Wall" 
show in 1980, it seemed a complete disaster.  Despite radio ads 
begging people to get there on time, it started 10-15 minutes late 
(not a big deal by rock 'n' roll standards, but remember that the 1977 
show started at something like three minutes after the announced 
time!), the lighting and sound cues were hopelessly botched, the sound 
was comparatively awful, the curtain caught on fire, the audience was 
rowdy, etc. etc. etc.  I'm one of the few people I know who left that 
show terribly disappointed.

Anyway, back to 1977.  We were up in the nosebleeds with the stage 
far, far, far away.  We got there with plenty of time to spare and 
used the time to...ahem...prepare for the experience in a manner that 
was not viewed as that big a deal in 1977.  A lucky group of people 
down at floor level had brought and unfurled a colossal banner that 
even from where we sat could clearly be seen to read "ONE OF THESE 
DAYS".

Barely after 8:00, the lights dimmed.  Over the audience cheering we 
could hear that ominous bass note and nothing else.  I thought "Wow, 
they're already playing the request for 'One of these Days'!"  Oops.  

(I guess I should mention at this point that back in 1977 I found 
"Animals" to be a disappointment, so I wasn't even that familiar with 
it.  I discovered PF in the summer of 1974 when I realized that three 
songs I really liked when they'd come on the radio were all from the 
same album, which I finally went and bought.  When "Wish You Were 
Here" came out in 1975, I was somewhat cool at first, but it soon 
became and has remained my favorite album of all time.  But "Animals" 
at the time just left me cold and it took years before I came to 
appreciate it, which of course now I do.)

As "Animal Instincts" documents, the band ran through the entire 
album, albeit in a different order.  I honestly can't remember how I 
felt about it as a musical experience, but like any fan, I thought the 
inflatables were very impressive and unusual.  The quad sound worked 
very well, and though it was just a big indoor arena more suited to 
sporting events, the acoustics weren't horrible by any means.

After "Pigs", Roger announced the intermission, which was indeed 
brief.  The lights again dimmed and that familiar single note began to 
fade up.  Ah!  Now we're getting somewhere!  I remember wondering at 
the time what they were going to do after the first part of SOYCD, it 
never occurred to me that they'd simply play the entire album all the 
way through.  But they did, and I was thrilled.  Not only was it 
fantastic to hear live, with both the similarities and the differences 
between the studio album, but their use of film on the gigantic 
circular screen was excellent.  And their tasteful use of backing 
tapes to augment what was clearly a very live performance also worked 
very well and didn't feel like nearly the "cheat" that their greatly 
increased use in 1980 and beyond seemed.

But, like all good things, the set finally ended.  As the Harvested 
release documents, the audience was by and large stunned into awe and 
actually remained almost quiet until the final note faded away.  But 
once the response started, it didn't end until they came back for the 
first encore.  What I remember most of all is everyone around me 
screaming "More!  More!" for what seemed like forever.

At some point, and I'm guessing that it was probably before "Us and 
Them" based on what made it to tape, Roger made a comment along the 
lines of "On this entire tour, this is the first time that people have 
actually _listened_ to us."  In light of what we now know about 
Roger's feelings about concert audiences, that says volumes about how 
special that night was for everyone there.

Anyway, the encores were incredible.  I didn't have any live material 
at the time, so it was amazing to hear such an extended version of 
"Money", which, like "Us and Them", was also accompanied by some 
terrific film that perfectly complemented what we were hearing.  After 
"Money" the band again left the stage and again screams of "More!" 
started up.  They came back, played "Us and Them", and then the house 
lights came up in earnest.  But something happened that I've never 
seen happen since: While a lot of people did indeed head for the 
exits, at least half and probably more refused to budge, instead 
standing, clapping, stomping, yelling "More!" until they were hoarse.  
This went on until well past the point when it seemed possible that 
the band would actually return to the stage, but...they did!

Although we all know by now that it was the only time on the tour they 
played "Eugene", and the first time in years as well as the last time 
ever, it was very obvious to anyone there that it was a special 
moment.  There were no lighting cues to speak of, for one thing.  For 
the most part it was just a case of the house lights being out and the 
stage being lit.  The feedback caught by the Harvested release also 
made it clear that no one was really ready for what they were doing.

The song ended, and a few of us yelled for more, but we really knew 
that we'd just seen something special and were not likely to get any 
more.

So, how is Harvested's "Animal Instincts"?  It's damned fine.  It's 
clearly a 1977 audience recording, but it's a great 1977 audience 
recording with good sound and no irritating blabbermouths, 
firecrackers or other extraneous crap that so often ruins audience 
recordings.  I've been told by someone who claims to know the taper 
that security was bribed and a reel-to-reel recorder was taken in to 
do the job.  The tape exhibits very little dropout or other 
deterioration, and until the band themselves decide to release their 
own rumored document of the tour, it's the best we're going to get.

A piece of the show is missing from the master just before the vocal 
begins in the second half of SOYCD, but this is apparently from where 
the tape was flipped and is missing from all prior versions that I've 
heard as well.  True to form, Harvested has integrated the same 
passage from a different performance.  It's hardly seamless, but it's 
infinitely preferable to simply leaving a jump cut.  Considering the 
importance of this show, it's wonderful that this is the _only_ 
missing piece!

Those of you with copies of Great Dane's release of this show will be 
happy to note that the "Wish You Were Here" set does _not_ suffer from 
a faint reprise of the "Animals" set leaking into the audio.

My copy exhibits the occasional, very rare bit of digital noise on 
disc one.  For reasons not worth explaining, I believe this is on the 
digital master and is not a duplication error.  It's not enough to 
ruin the experience at all, I only mention it for those who are even 
more obsessive than I am. :)

People have mentioned the loud, deep pops that can be heard during the 
WYWH set.  Rest assured that neither Harvested nor your source did 
anything wrong, that noise was actually present during the live show.  
I'm not sure what it was, though others I was with were convinced that 
the less-than-perfect weather outside included lightning that was 
somehow interfering with the PA system.

"Animal Instincts" is a great document of a great show.  For those who 
weren't there, it's a fantastic taste of a great band at a peak that 
some believe they never hit again.  For those who were there, it's a 
great way to relive a memory and verify that it was indeed a 
fantastic, once in a lifetime show and not just something that seemed 
that way at the time due to consumption of an agricultural product 
imported from Thailand.

A huge "thank you" to all who made it happen!

____________________________________________________________________________

Review : ANIMAL INSTINCTS - Harvested 014

Live at Oakland Coliseum, CA, May 9, 1977

A MUST HAVE !!! :-)

About The Performance :

After the 68-69 tour, after what I would called the "glory days" during
70-71 (a large place for improvisations), and the '72 tour which premiered
the Dark Side Of The Moon, the '77 tour is the next Great tour. There was
not too much space for improvisation anymore, but Dave's solos were almost
always inspired and different at each show.
Sheep, especially Dogs and Pigs (3 different ones) are GREAT. Dave's solos,
angular and incisive, are awesome. The way is playing his solos during
"Dogs" is preceding the solo of "Comfortably Numb".
Snowy White did a wonderful solo during Pigs On The Wing Part 2.
This is a better performance in my opinion than the Montreal show, July 6,
1977 (Azimuth Coordinator 2) which have only an historic interest due to the
"who was told not to split on the fans" "incident", though this is a
*decent* performance.

About the "Wish You Were Here" set, though I prefer the performance of the
Madison Square Garden, July 2, 1977 ("Welcome To The Machine" -
Swingin'Pig), this is even so a very good performance. The vocals are a bit
better than the July 2, 1977 show. Some inspired and melancholic solos
during "Shine On You Crazy Diamonds part 1". Roger and Dave are way out when
they're singing the first lines of "Have A Cigar". You can hear Dave burst
into laughter. There is an awesome guitar solo by Snowy White during "Have A
Cigar". Dave's "One of these Days-like" solo during "Shine On You Crazy
Diamond Part 6" is awesome too. And it's also amazing to hear the intro of
the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" played on the radio
just before "Wish You Where Here" starts.

As for the encore : I don't particularly like their versions of "Money"
after the '72 tour, the song is slow down step by step with these
never-ending guitar solos. However there is some nice solos played with an
echo effect. "Us And Them" ("This one's got a very quiet beginning"
announced Roger) is not the greatest performance I have heard from this
song, but this is a descent performance for a '77 performance of "Dark
Side..." material though. It is also very interesting to hear as a third
encore "Careful with that Axe, Eugene", which had not been performed since
October of 1973. This is also the last time that song was played by the band
and for this '77 show ONLY.

There is also A SURPRISE BONUS TRACK at the end of the second disc ! :-)
the 8-track studio version of Pigs On The Wing (Part 1-2) with the
wonderful solo of Snowy White. The sound quality of this track is perfect.


About THE SOUND QUALITY : EX+/SUP- (SUP for the "surprise bonus track")

I have made a comparison between ANIMAL INSTINCTS and the previous release
of this same show "In The Flesh" by Great Dane records.

There were some "dropouts" on "In The Flesh" especially during Pigs (3
different ones), which were rather annoying. These "holes" were filled with
another source (of a lower sound quality). There was also another "black
hole" in "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part 6-9" (just at the moment when they
start to sing "Nobody knows...") which sounded to have been filled with
another source but NOT from the same show : a part of "Shine On..." from the
'75 tour (New York, 16 June 1975; this sounds exactly like the same show
than on "RANDOM PRECISON" from GREAT DANE).

But NOW on ANIMAL INSTINCTS all that "dropouts" mentioned above have
disappeared (there is just one "hole" which have been filled with another
source during "Shine On... Part 7).
A new source seems to have been used and this new source is superb !
Harvested did a very good job ! :-)
The sound quality have been significantly improved. If you want my copy of
"In The Flesh",  then I give it away for free (but I will keep the cool
booklet :-)
The sound is well-balanced on all the sound spectrum (there is no lack of
bass). So technically I would rate it EX+ . But if you just turn the treble
button of your hi-fi system (more treble), then you will hear a crisp and
clear sound (you can notice this particularly with the drums, and Roger
Waters' acoustic guitar during Pigs On The Wings).
Therefore, I would say SUP-
Thus, in terms of sound quality ANIMAL INSTINCTS is BY FAR the BEST RoIO
available for a '77 tour. It is as good as "Welcome To The Machine" from
Swingin'Pig, but this CD has only the "Wish You Were Here" set.