The flying pig above Battersea Power Station will return in a new anniversary collection. Pink Floyd have announced Animals 50 – a reissue of the album “Animals”, due for release on January 22, 2027, via Sony Music, five decades after its original release.
The collection will be available in several formats – a deluxe box set, single and double vinyl editions, a two-CD set, Blu-ray Audio and a digital edition. At its core is the original 1977 album, accompanied by the 2018 remix made by James Guthrie.
Previously unreleased recordings from the “Animals” era
Among the archival materials is Roger Waters’ previously unreleased composition “Young Nicholas Jon”. The tracklist also includes early versions of “Dogs” and “Sheep”, as well as “Studio Jam” – a studio recording that has never been officially released.
The first material to be unveiled is the radio edit of “Sheep”. The version was created for radio broadcast in 1977, but has never been commercially released until now. It cuts the original song down to around four and a half minutes.
David Gilmour described the change in the band’s sound at the time as follows: “It’s a more aggressive, stripped-down and rougher album”. According to the musician, the influence of punk, which was reshaping the British scene in 1977, can be felt in the way Pink Floyd worked on “Animals”.
Complete concert from the 1977 tour
The biggest addition to the deluxe edition is the concert recording from Oakland Coliseum Arena. It includes performances of songs from “Animals”, as well as “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, “Welcome to the Machine”, “Have a Cigar”, “Wish You Were Here”, “Money”, “Us and Them” and “Careful with That Axe, Eugene”.
The recording was made by Reinhard Holwein, who was 19 years old at the time. The concert was long known mainly through unofficial recordings, and will now receive its first official release.
The story behind the cover
The deluxe box set will contain five CDs, three vinyl records, a Blu-ray and a 64-page hardcover book. It includes essays by writer Jonathan Lethem, an interview with Holwein and an excerpt from the memoirs of Aubrey “Po” Powell of the design studio Hipgnosis.
Among the previously unpublished images are photographs from the album sessions, the cover shoot near Battersea Power Station and the subsequent world tour. It was there that one of the most recognisable photographs in rock history was taken – featuring the inflatable pig Algie, a symbol of greed and power.
“Animals” is the third of Pink Floyd’s major albums to receive an anniversary edition in recent years, following “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here”. The new collection will be released in January 2027, and pre-orders are already open.
Sources: pitchfork.com, au.rollingstone.com, stereogum.com