This morning, Roger Waters revealed the great news that the new James Guthrie stereo and 5.1 surround mixes of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, Animals, is to get a release. This was held up due to disagreements over the sleeve notes but sounds like a way forward has been reached. It’s important to note that there’s no detailed announcement yet over what the release will entail. In a video that Roger has posted talking about it, there’s a cover shot which doesn’t necessarily seem to be the final image (the contents sticker doesn’t have any catalogue numbering on it, which you would normally expect to see). It is an atmospheric update on the classic cover image, taken from a different angle (the train sheds in the foreground are just outside Victoria station) and while the Power Station building was in the early stages of being rebuilt for the new occupants. It is possible that the release consists of the one item: a “limited edition 4-disc package [containing] the remixed album on LP/CD/Blu-ray & DVD. Blu-ray & DVD also contain new high resolution stereo and 5.1 mixes, plus 1977 original stereo mix”. It also gives the technical detail of the audio resolutions on offer: “Blu-ray – stereo (24-bit/192kHz, dts MA [Master Audio]), 5.1 (24-bit/96kHz, dts MA). DVD – Stereo (LPCM 24-bit/96kHz, dts), 5.1 (dts, Dolby Digital)”. The contents sticker COULD be just a placeholder, mentioning the main confirmed elements, as we presume there might be a booklet with images as well, for example. As to whether any of the elements will be released outside the 4-disc package, and when it is being released, will be a case of waiting for the official, detailed announcement. Once we have that we will bring you all the final detail, but we figured you’d want to know that the Animals release was happening, as it has been talked about for some time now.
