Pink Floyd Reissues 'Animals' for 50th Anniversary With Unreleased Tracks and 1977 Live Concert

Pink Floyd will release a comprehensive reissue of their 1977 album 'Animals' on January 22, 2027, across multiple formats through Sony Music to commemorate the album's 50th anniversary. The release includes the original stereo mix, the 2018 remix by James Guthrie, five previously unreleased or rare tracks, and the first official release of the band's May 9, 1977 concert from the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

The unreleased material features an unearthed Roger Waters composition titled 'Young Nicholas Jon,' early rough-mix versions of the album tracks 'Dogs' and 'Sheep,' a studio jam, and a 1977 promotional radio edit of 'Sheep' that cuts the 10-minute track to approximately four minutes. This radio edit has never been commercially available until now. The live concert, originally recorded by then-19-year-old bootlegger Reinhard Hohlwein, captures full performances of 'Animals' and 'Wish You Were Here' alongside selections from 'The Dark Side of the Moon.' Notably, it marks the first and only time Pink Floyd performed 'Careful with That Axe, Eugene' during the 1977 tour and the final time the band ever played the instrumental.

The deluxe box set includes three vinyl LPs, five CDs, and a Blu-ray disc. The Blu-ray offers both the original 1977 stereo mix and the 2018 remix in stereo, 5.1, and Dolby Atmos formats. Additional formats include standalone 2-CD and 2-LP editions containing the original album plus rarities, as well as CD, vinyl, Blu-ray, and digital-only releases. The deluxe box set features a 64-page hardback book with new sleeve notes by author Jonathan Lethem, an interview with Hohlwein, previously unpublished photographs from the Battersea Power Station cover shoot, and an excerpt from Hipgnosis designer Aubrey 'Po' Powell's memoir about creating the album's iconic cover art.

Band members provided context on the album's creation. David Gilmour stated, 'The mood in music was changing in '77. Punk music was hitting everything and I suspect that had a little bit of an influence on the way we were working on the Animals album. I mean it's quite an aggressive, stripped-back album. It was moving away from the sort of soundscapes that we had on 'Wish You Were Here.' This album is more in your face and more rough and ready. And definitely the lyrics are a lot more aggressive from Roger.' Nick Mason added, 'There were all sorts of differences beginning to surface within the band but in some ways 'Animals' was a remarkably cohesive enterprise. The big thing was the development of Britannia Row,' referring to the band's self-designed recording studio.

The reissue resolves a lengthy delay in the album's anniversary release cycle. A planned 50th-anniversary box set was scrapped due to disputes over liner notes, and the album was instead released in 2018 as a remix-focused reissue. Previous 50th-anniversary deluxe box sets were issued for 'The Dark Side of the Moon,' 'Wish You Were Here,' 'The Wall,' and 'The Division Bell.' 'Animals,' which features primarily four extended compositions built around Orwell's 'Animal Farm' and the punk era's emergence, reached quadruple-platinum status despite being less commercially successful than its predecessor 'Wish You Were Here' or successor 'The Wall.'