ATOM HEART MOTHER

This album is not for the casual listener. Pink Floyd was still knee deep in their more experimental phase, and were not shy to try something new at this point. A little bit about the rating, two stars because you will either have to be a very serious Floyd fan, or hate their later more standard cut and dry psychedelia. It doesn't have one distinct style, and everything other than the title track is just filler. Waters, Wright, and Gilmour all have one song that they penned themselves that come after the title track, and then there is "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" (named after Alan Parsons). A very uneven album, makes you wish they had seriously recorded some music to complement "Atom Heart Mother".

This album starts with a bang. The no less than brilliant orchestral "Atom Heart Mother", this kind of fusion of styles was virtually unheard of at this point in history. Despite silly concept (hey that's the trademark of prog right?) it manages to practically secrete power. I can imagine four silly looking fellows standing in the middle of an entire orchestra playing their hearts out and managing to complement the compositions very competently. On this suite Nick Mason has pretty much peaked his drumming IMO.

Now for the rest of the album. "If" is a very honest lyriced tune, but it also proves that Roger Waters still has a lot of growing to do as a songwriter at this point. Repetitive, and not very viable musically. "Summer '68" is well written, but doesn't have enough steam to do any better than mediocre, its played almost half heartedly I find. "Fat Old Sun" is pretty forgettable, not offensive but certainly not memorable in any way. Now comes the stinker of the album; "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast". Probably the most unlistenable Pink Floyd song ever recorded. With instrumentation that I would describe as annoying at best, this song tries to cater to the LSD crowd, and is nothing but a bad joke. Truly they should have kept that one for themselves.

The only reason to get this album is for the Title track. If your interested in Pink Floyds more adventurous side this album is a must. For the average listener, don't touch it with a ten foot pole.