The new issue of the UK's Classic Rock Magazine (out today, April 26th, cover date June 2012) features amongst its pages a detailed and fascinating look at Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals, and its associated tour. The pig even makes an escape attempt on the cover [click the thumbnail to the left to see].

The seven page article, which includes some really nice, unusual pictures from those days, is written by our friend Mark Blake, author of the excellent "Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story Of Pink Floyd" (known as "Comfortably Numb" in the US). Blake relates the thoughts of David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, along with the late Richard Wright, about the creation of the album. It also goes into detail on the live shows, with some insight into the inflatables and the addition of Snowy White to augment the guitarwork. The downward spiral of the live shows is laid out, with an increasingly frustrated Waters driven, eventually, to THAT incident in Montreal on the final night of the tour. Finally, there's a segment looking at the creation of the iconic cover, speaking to the photographers and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis, to get the story of what happened on the three days in December 1976.

Elsewhere in the magazine, there are features on Slash, Uriah Heep, The Cult and T.Rex. Classic Rock is available across the UK, and individual issues can be purchased online for despatch worldwide via this link to the retail arm of their publishers, where you'll find a special offer selling the magazine at 20% less than you'll pay instore!