Nick Mason ponders Pink Floyd Animals box set... and possibly playing Echoes live

(Image credit: Jill Furmanovsky)

Nick Mason says he thinks that a box set celebrating Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals is likely to happen at some point in the future.

Pink Floyd’s The Early Years 1965 - 1972 box set launched back in 2016 and was split into six individual volumes in March this year. And asked about the possibility of Animals receiving the same treatment, Mason tells Rolling Stone: “I think it will eventually happen.”

He continues: “It’s just sort of slow because of differences of opinion about how to do it or what to put on it, but I’m sure it will eventually happen. 

“Of all our albums that have been re-released, that’s the one that would benefit the most from a sort of reworking.”

Mason and his band Saucerful Of Secrets have further live shows lined up across the UK and North America next year, which will see them revisit early Floyd material, including tracks from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and A Saucerful Of Secrets.

Asked in the same interview if there were plans to play any other pre-Dark Side Of The Moon tracks at the shows, specifically Echoes, Mason replies: “Well, the problem with Echoes is there was a feeling like it has so much to do with Rick Wright that we wanted to steer clear of it. 

“I think that in the long term, we might look at that because it’s a wonderful piece, an homage to Rick. It’s something that we’ve talked about, but not personally addressed.”

Mason also reveals that Roger Waters could join Saucerful Of Secrets onstage for a couple of tracks in 2019, but cautions: “He said that he might come and guest for a song or two, but I’m not holding my breath on that. 

“We can worry about guest stars when we are a bit further down the line.”

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.