2000 Great Songs #1454: Sheep
Pink Floyd 's "Sheep" is the epitome of the album track. I adore 1977's Animals , probably one of the Floyd albums I still play the most frequently, but it's definitely the sort of work intended to be heard in a single sitting, and the 10-minute-plus "Sheep" doesn't necessarily work as a stand-alone song you throw onto a mixtape or listen to at the gym. That said, even apart from its role in the overall opus, the song has a few elements that have always made it a personal favorite from a band with a deep and widely varied catalog. First, the way each line of the verse segues into a matching synth tone, to the point where you can't tell where the voice ends and the music begins, is a work of production genius. Maybe in the age where everything can easily be done with a computer it's no big deal; but as a young teen listening to this on headphones, it was the coolest-sounding thing I'd ever heard. Second, what can I say about David Gilmour ...
