Due for release January 22nd, 2027 via Sony Music, the 50th anniversary edition brings fans fresh insight into one of Pink Floyd's most visceral and compelling works, featuring a raft of rare and unreleased music, alongside unseen photographs capturing a unique behind the scenes perspective of the recording process, creation of the iconic album art and groundbreaking tour production.
“Animals 50” will be released in multiple formats, including a Deluxe Box Set, 1LP, 2LP, 2CD, Blu-Ray Audio and digital. The Deluxe Box Set contains 3 LPs: the original 1977 album, the 2018 Remix (remixed by James Guthrie), and a disc of five rarities that includes an unheard Roger Waters track titled 'Young Nicholas Jon' and previously unreleased early versions of 'Sheep' and 'Dogs'. It also has 5 CDs mirroring the LPs, plus a 2-disc set of the May 9, 1977 Oakland show recorded live at the Oakland Coliseum Arena by a then 19 year old bootlegger, Reinhard Hohlwein, and the 1-disc Blu-Ray, which includes all of the above audio with the 2018 Remix being available in 5.1 and Dolby Atmos.
The Deluxe Box Set also features a 64-page hardback book comprising new sleeve notes from New York Times best-selling author and life-long Floyd fan Jonathan Lethem, an interview with Reinhard Hohlwein, and an excerpt from Hipgnosis' Aubrey "Po" Powell's memoir about the making of Animals' iconic album art. These fascinating insights are interspersed with previously unpublished images that document the full creative journey, from the album recording to the shooting of the cover at Battersea Power Station and the subsequent global tour. The 1LP contains the original 1977 album in orange and sandstone color variants. The 2LP and 2CD sets contain the original 1977 album plus rarities, as does the digital release, which also features the Oakland show.
"Animals" remains as relevant in 2026 as it was in 1977. Its dystopian nightmare vision of a society torn apart by greed and hypocrisy continues to fester in the current age of misinformation, disconnection and uncertainty. The music and message is eerily prescient, as Dogs and Pigs still run amongst us, while Sheep are unwittingly manipulated into compliance. There is still a glimmer of hope.
"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,” says David Gilmour. “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. We had a lot of fun making it."
Pink Floyd are launching “Animals 50” with “Sheep (Original Radio Edit)”'; the four and a half minute, promo-only edit made for radio in 1977, which has never been commercially available until now.
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