An unheard Roger Waters song and early versions of ‘Dogs’ and ‘Sheep’ accompany the first official release of the Oakland recording.
A concert recorded by a 19-year-old bootlegger will become part of Pink Floyd’s official catalogue on Animals 50, alongside previously unreleased studio material from the album’s creation.
Due on 22 January 2027 through Sony Music, the anniversary collection includes early rough mixes of ‘Dogs’ and ‘Sheep’, a studio jam and the previously unheard Roger Waters composition ‘Young Nicholas Jon’, according to the band’s announcement.
The live recording captures Pink Floyd at Oakland Coliseum Arena on 9 May 1977, taped by Reinhard Hohlwein. Its 13-track sequence moves through all five songs from Animals, then Wish You Were Here in full, before closing with ‘Money’, ‘Us And Them’ and ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’. JamBase identifies the collection as the audience tape’s first official release.
Together, the studio and live recordings document an album David Gilmour describes as a departure from the expansive sound of its predecessor.
In the announcement, Gilmour says the arrival of punk may have influenced the band’s approach to Animals. He describes a more aggressive, stripped-back record than Wish You Were Here, with harsher lyrics from Waters.
The collection also revisits the original 1977 album and James Guthrie’s 2018 remix. The Oakland show appears on the digital edition, standalone Blu-ray and the deluxe box’s CDs and Blu-ray. It is absent from the standard 2LP and 2CD editions, which contain the original album and rarities.
Hohlwein’s recording is accompanied by his account of making it: the deluxe edition’s 64-page book includes an interview with him. It also contains new sleeve notes by Jonathan Lethem and an excerpt from Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell’s memoir. Previously unpublished photographs cover the sessions, artwork shoot and tour.
The first archival track is already available. The original radio edit of ‘Sheep’, prepared for promotion in 1977, has received its first commercial release, nearly five decades after it was made.
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