Pink Floyd

[arewethereyet]

Dogs is the last Pink Floyd song to be of such epic length, and it is the direct descendant of Shine On You Crazy Diamond from the preceding album, which in turn can trace its lineage back through the side-long Echoes on Meddle, Atom Heart Mother on the album of the same name, and the progenitor of them all, A Saucerful of Secrets. Structurally, Dogs resembles Echoes the most, with a slow lead-in, a furious main section, a contemplative "night" section, which then gives way to a reprise of the main section, but far more furious.  

Pigs (Three Different Ones) is my least favorite track, because Roger Waters snarls some very nasty lyrics about some very nasty characters. I suppose that is the point of the piece. David Gilmore uses the same device made famous by Peter Frampton which lets him make his guitar sound like a pig talking. To me the highlight is Waters' ascending and descending bassline in the long outro.

It gives way to Wright playing an expressive solo with the Rhodes electric piano as Waters rumbles in the background on bass, a pastoral setting that soon gives way to a storm of sound very much resembling Run Like Hell on The Wall. Not to be missed (you get it twice): Roger Waters' trademark maniacal scream giving way seamlessly to a shimmering synthesizer howl with exactly the same pitch, which then crashes along with the drums and guitars in a virtual rock explosion.  They called this one "Punk Floyd" but there was just as much synth as on WYWH.

Musically you're in the ballpark about "Dogs" apposed to SOYCD. But lyrically is how "Dogs" gets me gripped, because of how it addresses the master/servant relationship. SOYCD is short (but deep) on the lyrics, but the music is very emotive, to me, it covers a wide range of feeling. I wish PF had put SOYCD into one piece not broken up by the other songs, it would have helped with the continuity, but I guess the guys with cigars -- or more likely, the limitations of one side of a vinyl record -- demanded otherwise.

Agreed that "Pigs" is overwrought. The effect is called the "talkbox", and involves a plastic tube stuck on a mc stand that allows the guitarist to shape the envelope of his notes by blowing or sucking on it. Drop a middle-school joke here. You can still buy these today. You can see it here in this pic of Joe Walsh, who used it on "Rocky Mountain Way":



The outro to "Sheep", where Gilmour lays into the descending diads, is a lovely echo of the theme in that song, where "we're going to be happy no matter what it takes" even as the sheep are going full-ninja. Sometimes you gotta get angry to be happy.

I love Joe Walsh and oddly think he is much more attractive now than when he was young.

Peter Frampton also brought the talkbox to fame; but I like Rocky Mountain Way better though there was time you couldn't escape Do You Feel Like I Do...Frampton Comes Alive.