Pink Floyd Opens The Vault For ‘Animals’ 50th Anniversary Box Set

A previously unheard Roger Waters song and an audience tape of a 1977 Oakland concert will get their first official release on Pink Floyd’s Animals 50. Sony Music will issue the 50th anniversary edition of the landmark 1977 album on January 22, 2027.

The five-track rarities disc includes Waters’ “Young Nicholas Jon,” a studio jam and rough mixes of early versions of “Dogs” and “Sheep.” The two songs took shape onstage as “You’ve Got To Be Crazy” and “Raving And Drooling,” respectively. Both appeared under those titles on the 1975 Los Angeles concert recording issued as part of last year’s Wish You Were Here anniversary set.

The Oakland recording comes from 19-year-old taper Reinhard Hohlwein, who captured the May 9, 1977 stop on the In The Flesh Tour at Oakland Coliseum Arena. Pink Floyd opened with all five songs from Animals, starting with “Sheep,” and followed with Wish You Were Here in full. After “Money” and “Us And Them,” the band returned for a third encore and its final live performance of “Careful With That Axe, Eugene.”

The deluxe box also brings back James Guthrie’s 2018 remix, which first came out in September 2022 after a dispute over liner notes by Pink Floyd biographer Mark Blake. Waters said in 2021 that David Gilmour had vetoed the release unless the notes were dropped. Gilmour told Rolling Stone that he hadn’t approved the notes and suggested that the push to include them was holding up the release. Waters posted the disputed notes online and agreed to let the remix come out without them.

Animals 50 comes with a new essay by Jonathan Lethem in a 64-page hardcover book that also includes an interview with Hohlwein and previously unpublished photos from the sessions, cover shoot and tour. The deluxe box spans three LPs, five CDs and a Blu-ray. The Oakland concert is also on the standalone Blu-ray and digital editions, while the 2LP and 2CD editions pair the original album with the rarities disc.

“Sheep” provides the first preview. Pink Floyd shared the original radio edit, a four-and-a-half-minute cut of the 10-minute album track circulated to radio in 1977 and now commercially available for the first time. Listen below.

Animals 50 Tracklist

Original Album / 2018 Remix

1. Pigs on the Wing 1
2. Dogs
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
4. Sheep
5. Pigs on the Wing 2

Rarities

1. Dogs – Early Version, Rough Mix
2. Sheep – Original Radio Edit
3. Sheep – Early Version, Rough Mix
4. Studio Jam
5. Young Nicholas Jon

Live From The Oakland Coliseum Arena, May 9, 1977

1. Sheep
2. Pigs on the Wing 1
3. Dogs
4. Pigs on the Wing 2
5. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
6. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1–5)
7. Welcome to the Machine
8. Have a Cigar
9. Wish You Were Here
10. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 6–9)
11. Money
12. Us and Them
13. Careful with That Axe, Eugene