ATOM HEART MOTHER

So...this is Pink Floyd leaving their pure psychedelia oriented first efforts into something more...progressive,though not without it's Barret-era echoings.Much the same as the following album Meddle,one side of Atom Heart Mother shows the developing Pink Floyd and what they ought to be in the future,while the other features more traditional elements of the band up to that point.

However,the centerpiece of this record is the self-titled suite that takes the whole time of Side 1 to be concluded.Here,the band experimentes with orchestrations to their own regret later on(as they mentioned several times throughout the years how poor is this whole album and song),but this really is the best composition of the lot:a stunning Floyd piece,and quite unlike anything they ever wrote,by the way.After a hesitating first moment which shows glimpses of what will be heard throughout 20 minutes of instrumental jammings,the band and orchestra burst out into the song's main theme.From there,it naturally evolves to a more relaxed and spontaneous typical Floyd jam,brilliant and catchy all the way through.The guitar/keyboard soloing grandeur and hypnotising percussion of Echoes does not come in at any given time of this composition(and indeed it unfortunately doesn't reach the intense climaxes of the latter),so being it can ultimately be heard in a more relaxed and less compromised(at moments almost background)fashion.As a whole this is nevertheless an amazing piece,managing to sound quite unique and still hold the Pink Floyd trademark in every compass.

Side 2 of the LP,as one can expect,is drastically inferior to what has been heard so far.Still,it is considerably better than what is heard on the 'overshadowed' side of Meddle.Consisted in shorter and more uncompromised tunes,the remaining 20 minutes of Atom Heart Mother do have their highlights,as wel as a fair share of mediocre moments.'If' is quite a sub-par Roger Waters ballad with rather silly sympathetic lyrics,while Summer '68 is a stunning song of growing intensity,where David Guilmour and Rick Wright are heard in remarkable performances(this one truly is a lost gem).The closing song is where we're presented with (as it couldn't be any other way)some 12 minutesof priceless psychedelic rock,starting of with actual soundings of someone's breakfast,and eventually evolving into a proper song.All in all it's quite a pleasent track,but be forewarned:the average prog(and non-prog)listener may like this so called Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast,as well as completely despise it.Just what you would expect of the obscure Pink Floyd,lost in the mists of time and light years away from the spotlight which songs like Wish You Were Here are forever destined to be placed under.

Even if somewhat more consistent than the following effort,this classic album does not reach the thrilling peaks of intensity of Meddle,setting it in a lower standard in the overall picture(in yet another comparison between both albums,seeing as they hold major structure resemblances).From an historical point of view,these two recordings represent the transitional period of Pink Floyd,from an underground English psychedelic act to the undisputed gods of rock music (regardless of their significance to a specific movement as prog).From a musical perspective,however,both stand up as flawed works of art.