The reissue of Pink Floyd‘s classic 1977 concept album Animals, featuring a 5.1 Surround Sound mix created in 2018, gets released in multiple formats this Friday, September 16.
Along with the updated mix, the reissue boasts a reimagined and updated version of Animals’ memorable cover art, which featured a photo of London’s massive Battersea Power Station with a giant inflatable pig tied to its chimneys.
Both covers were created by Aubrey “Po” Powell, co-founder of Hipgnosis, the graphic-design firm that has worked on most of the band’s albums.
The new cover features an ominous-looking recent photo of the building, which is covered in scaffolding, taken at night from a different angle than the original pic, with the pig added digitally.
Powell tells ABC Audio that he had to act fast to get a good current photo of the building because the site is in the middle of a “massive regeneration project” that’s obscuring the view of the station.
Powell says the new photo reflects Animals’ cynical look at humanity, which was partly inspired by George Orwell‘s dystopian novel Animal Farm.
“I think the reflection of the image is very much related to the album, this Orwellian, dark, bleak, futuristic image,” he notes. “It’s almost sci-fi … Roger [Waters is] over the moon about it, and I think one of the reasons is because [it echoes] the period of time that we live in.”
Powell adds that Pink Floyd’s other members also think the new cover was great.
In addition, Powell says the cover reflects the edgier, more in-your-face new Animals mix, which, he maintains, “sounds so different and so good.”
The Animals reissue will be available Friday on CD, vinyl LP, Blu-ray and SACD. A deluxe multiple-disc package will follow on October 7.
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