Pink Floyd will release Animals 50 on January 22, 2027, with early studio material and a recording of the band’s May 9, 1977 show at Oakland Coliseum Arena. The reissue was announced on November 5 alongside the release of a radio edit of “Sheep” that had been made for promotion in 1977. Some editions include both the Oakland concert and the outtakes. The single LP sticks to the original studio album.

Battersea Power Station with a small flying pig in the sky, in the official Animals 50 artwork.
Pink Floyd’s official Animals 50 artwork features Battersea Power Station and the flying pig.

Oakland makes a good case for looking beyond the original LP. On the studio record, the two parts of “Pigs on the Wing” frame the album. The concert starts with “Sheep” and puts “Dogs” between the two parts of “Pigs on the Wing.” “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” follows. The order changes how the short acoustic songs work. In the studio they are the entrance and exit. On the live tape, the second part arrives while the band still has another long Animals song to play.

That concert is an audience recording by Reinhard Hohlwein. It continues past the Animals material into the songs from Wish You Were Here, then “Money,” “Us and Them” and “Careful with That Axe, Eugene.” Hohlwein’s tape lets listeners hear how much of the concert remained once the band had finished the album it was touring behind. The audience source matters if you are expecting the sort of studio detail James Guthrie could bring out when remixing the original recordings.

Which edition has the Oakland show?

  • The single LP contains the original 1977 album. The two-LP and two-CD editions add the five rarities, including early versions of “Dogs” and “Sheep,” the radio edit of “Sheep,” a studio jam and Roger Waters’ “Young Nicholas Jon.”
  • The digital edition and standalone audio Blu-ray include Oakland, the rarities and both studio mixes. The Blu-ray gives the 2018 remix in stereo, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos alongside the original stereo mix.
  • The deluxe box has both studio mixes and the rarities on vinyl and CD. Oakland is spread across two CDs and is also on the included Blu-ray. The box adds a 64-page book with archival photographs and an interview with Hohlwein.

Guthrie’s 2018 remix was first released in 2022, so owners of that edition already have one of the studio mixes at the centre of the box. For them the choice comes down to which archival material they want. The two-disc editions put the rough mixes beside the finished album. For the sound of the band rearranging that album on stage and carrying on through the rest of the set, Oakland is the recording to look for.