ATOM HEART MOTHER

Difficult to explain, but "Summer'68" is the most beautiful song I've ever heard. When you're in a bad mood, just listen to this one and then you'll just smile. It surprises me every time I listen to it, even after many years. The rest of the album is nice too, but not as good as "Whish you were here".

Although the "songs" on the album are all remarkably good, the six "thematic episodes" of "Atom Heart Mother" are the very essence of prog-rock, and deserve a special place in genre history. With the exception of the Moody Blues, this is also the first blending of rock, orchestra and chorus, and a brilliant one at that. As good as "prog-rock" gets.

Now this is what i call progrock. This Floyd outing is (in my opinion)far better than" Dark side...". All the basic things are there...good songs,great arrangements soundscapes and special effects to the hilt. Its a Masterpiece !!! Think Camel,think Moody blues,think Floyd: PINK FLOYD. Essential!!

One of the weirdest from the Floyd, this album is a completely experience of its own. Atom Heart Mother probably on of the best prog songs made by them. The rest of the tracks are (forgive the fans of Meddle) much better than the ones presented in their next album. Interesting stuff.

Maybe the best of the pre DSoM recordings, the title track is a sprawling Floydian soundscape, one of their long pieces where they stretch out and really define their sound. The second side of the album contains four excellent and memorable low-key pieces, concluding in one of their best pieces incorporating sounds into the music, 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast'. A great early seventies 'head' album.

Are you talking about the same album that puts me to sleep ?. Disregarding "atom heart mother suit", this album is either POP, blues or whatever. But not progressive in any sense. "Atom heat mother suite", which by the way, makes Waters feel shame, is nothing but a moderate experimental rock and classical fusion of 10 minutes with a horrendous middle part and a remix of the first 10 minutes. prog rock?, please ���

The Atom of your Mother's Heart

AHM is a very controversial album, decried by many as boring and pretentious (this usually the Barrett unconditionals pissing on Floyd's successful convalescence of their Syd-loss), almost disowned even by some Floyd members and hailed as the first giant step to the group's ascension to perfection ? it was after their first chart topping album. Despite the album's flaws and it not always ageing well, I rank in the last category of fans, even if I wonder sometimes how this album became so successful. No doubt Hypgnosis' cow un-tagged pastoral artwork helped out (it was a fad that Crimson and Zep tried before they did), but that doesn't explain much, especially with the sore studio experience of Ummagumma.

On the A-side, Floyd tried more successfully what many failed to do before them: integrating classical music and the symphonic orchestra and choirs into the rock fusion. Purple had failed as would Caravan later (although un-rehearsed), Procol only doing a readaptation of their better stuff, The Nice failing miserably on Ars Longa (etc..) but Floyd managed it well enough, but had to resort to outside help in the name of Ron Geesin. If you're not sure about Geesin's role in the AHM track, listen to his collab with Roger Waters's The Body, and it'll all become clear, even if musically there is no resemblance between the two albums. The birth of this epic was not an easy one, the group starting on a Gilmour idea following the More soundtrack and brainstorming led it to become a suite, which was then tested live, bearing the name of The Amazing Pudding (a few recordings exist or this work-in-progress). Apparently, something was missing and Geesin was called up (they had met a while before at the Technicolour Dream extravaganza) for his classical training, which lead directly to the awesome cello-filled Breast Milky. Geesin is the one who also found the final name of the epic, legend has it from a tabloid article about an atomic-powered pace-maker for a pregnant mother. This epic suite has many aerial and celestial moments, when the brass section had a field day taking the track into bombasticland and most notably the choirs, which take on a Kobaian overtone at the end of their second intervention. Floyd's group intervention in Funky Dung is coming as a just-in-time breath of fresh air, Gilmour's outstanding solo piercing your armour of indifference while Wright's Farsifa organ is underlining the group's tightness. While the dissonant musique concrete passage Mind Your Throats may be an interesting piece on its own, it is always a tough intervention on anotherwise marvellous and melodic piece like AHM, but one does learn to appreciate it with repeated listenings.

The flipside is completely different with the three songwriters grabbing one song each, thus almost recreating the Ummagumma pattern, but this time obviously the other members looked into what the others were doing, each singing their own song. This last aspect sort of breaks the side's unity, but it's not a big deal. Waters' If track is already pointing at his future obsession of alienation from society behind his acoustic guitar strumming; gentle but ambiguous stuff, especially in the light of their future. Next to that, Wright's Summer Of 68 is a very (overly?) ambitious project with the orchestral fanfare taking it over the top, but at least it has dynamics and almost rocks. Gilmour's first real songwriting effort (can't call is Narrow Way from UG a "song"), Fat Old Sun is an acoustic strumming guitar with added bottleneck (or is it lapsteel?) and the group's full participation is excellent, even Mason's drumming. Closing up the album is one of the remains of the Man And The Journey project that was never officially released and only once recorded live in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw in Sept 69. This mini-suite is a bit of a non-event describing sonically Alan's start of the day with shower and scrambled eggs. Short instrumental pieces (jams) separated by their roadie's mumblings, nothing fascinating comes out of this, but it is 13 minutes of non-offensive slightly-soporific easy-gliding (if not filler) stuff that has limited interest for demanding progheads.

With AHM, Floyd emerges from the spacey jams it was known for, and they jump on the prog train ambitiously (maybe a tad too much for their yet self-confidence), taking chances and mostly succeeding. While the album might seem that it hasn't aged as well as its successor, it is probably due to that then-refreshing na�vet� that pervades through the album, prolonging the hippy era a few more years. But this slightly-flawed album is certainly no less essential than the following masterpieces they will astonish the world with.

Very interesting stuff.Not one of PF's more radio friendly albums but thats not a bad thing.PF was never the musicians of their British prog peers but they more than made up for it with great songwriting and atomspheres.

It's an interesting inheritance that my dad used to listen to this CD every morning on his 14th summer holidays and oblivious to this, I did the same when I was 14. Of course the summer's here are a lot hotter than in the Netherlands, but that doesn't degenerate the quality of the music and the first rays of sun stream through the curtains.

"Atom Heart Mother" is somewhat an instrumental waste of time and at the same time a spaced out and free-flowing fantasy piece complete with a chorus. This is a good piece of lengthy progressive material as far as Pink Floyd is concerned and an out of the ordinary song for fans to explore.

On the second side Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Rick Wright have a song a piece and then end with "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast". "If" is an indication of the song writing skill that Waters could develop on Meddle (1971) and define him as a leading songwriter of the time. "Summer '68" is very English psychedelic fantasia, which would usually hit my speakers at about 8 o'clock. Starting the day with Pink Floyd gusto.

"Fat Old Sun" and "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" slowly meander through some guitar tunes, which although lacks focus still gives Atom Heart Mother an overall nice touch. Worth considering, if not adding to the collection.

It's surely a Masterpiece. The tittle track is the best song I ever heard, although it's 23 mins long, I could listen to "Atom Heart Mother" the whole day long and I would never get tired of it. I highly recommend it.

When I was a young kiddie - boo-boo I bought what I was told to be one of FLOYD's stronger albums. From the first moments this album hit my turntable to the CD digital re-mastered version I frequently spin, "Atom Heart Mother" is a masterpiece. FLOYD blend blues with psychedelic rock with orchestration delivering one of their most artistic pieces of work todate. "Atom.." is a real sonic exploration with loads of great organ, guitar, bass and drum workmanship. Epic track "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is a real stunner with loads of talking and background breakfast nook sounds. I think the song is actually put to the process of preparing ones breakfast. Personal favs would be "IF" and title track "Atom Heart Mother" which explores the heavy combination of rock and full orchestra.

Shame on me. I don't listen enough Floyd. But, this record has my sympathy. Mainly because if you buy Echoes, you won't find any of AHM songs on it. The title track is a marvellous song. My favorite is summer of '68. It's funny, the trumpet-organ that Rick's Wright's using in that song is rejoycing, hee hee, guilty pleasure on a cloudy day.

The most progressive effort- a symphonic one- by Pink Floyd, even though usually they are not so progressive. The "psychedelic" elements are mixed here with the rumor of tanks, epic horns and such a typical soundtrack for an epic number. In between you find some tepid breaks through for this anyway important symphonic album (which prevent me to give it the maximum score), but the first track alone is well worth checking out. At the end the present recommended work is the only "progressive effort" for this great but controversial band, along with "Meddle" and- in some circumstances only- also "Animals" and "Wish You Were Here":altogether those are unforgettable numbers!!

This record is a bit different. The rythm is very slow: no Hurry! On "Atom Heart Mother", you have delightful classical arrangements that give another dimension to the psychedelic mood already present. Female choir is also a turn on. What I find more ordinary is those smooth acoustic songs with mellow vocals "Summer 68","if" and "Fat Old Sun". Finally, the last song allows you to be witness of "Alan's...Breakfast", which is, indeed, very psychedelic; maybe the eggs did not pass well...

A nice old cow

Looking at "Atom Heart Mother" retrospectively, Pink Floyd took another giant step forward towards their "Dark Side of the moon" masterpiece with this album. There was still along way to go right enough, but the album is generally much tighter than previous releases.

The title track takes up the whole of one side of an LP, and while nominally in 6 sections, it is very much a complete piece, the section breaks being irrelevant and often indiscernible. The controversial inclusion of orchestral backing makes the music seem almost classical at times. While the piece is enjoyable, is does tend to have the feel of being stretched.

Side two is generally lighter and more commercial. "If" and "Fat old sun" are delicate acoustic numbers, the former being particularly precious. There are hints in "If" of what was to come on "The wall", particularly in some of the cynical lyrics.

"Summer '68" is undoubtedly the most accessible track, veering towards the psychedelic flower power sounds of the late 60's. It has some superb and uplifting brass, and a very catchy hook.

The final track "Alan's Psychedelic breakfast" is something of a filler, including sound effects of a breakfast being prepared. I would suggest simply considering the album finished after "Fat old sun".

Lovely picture of a cow on the front cover too!

There are some who think this is the best PINK FLOYD album and then there are those who think this is their worst. Well, I can't make the claim that it's their best, luckily I can't say it's bad either. On side one, the band created a side-length suite called "Atom Heart Mother Suite". Here the band incorporates orchestra and choir with rock band. There is many atmospheric and experimental passages, including a twisted passage fooling around with the Mellotron (yes, PINK FLOYD used the tron, but only on this album, "Ummagumma" and "A Saucerful of Secrets"). There are oddly passages that sound like The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT circa "I Robot" (minus the synthesizers, of course, since this was 1970, not 1977, and synthesizers were still mainly big bulky modular Moogs). Maybe that shouldn't be any surprise as Alan PARSONS made his first appearance here on a PINK FLOYD album (not "Dark Side of the Moon", as commonly believed, although they had him mispelled as Alan PARSONS on this album).

Side two consists of more or less song-based material, trying to do another "Ummagumma" here by giving each band member their chance to stroke their ego (except for Nick MASON, luckily, since we don't need another drum/percussion experiment that falls flat). First you have Roger WATERS' "If", an acoustic ballad that he often likes doing. Then there's Richard WRIGHT's "Summer '68". Here's the odd piece: here he'd desperate to recreate the sound of "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". It has all the trappings of late '60s psychedelia, you might think Syd BARRET had returned (of course he didn't, but he did record two solo albums the same year as "Atom Heart Mother"). Even that "Bah, bah, bah" chorus is present, making me think of certain California bands circa 1967 (The TURTLES, The ASSOCIATION, or even the Chicago band SPANKY & OUR GANG). It's almost as if the "canyons of your mind" and "flowers and beads" psychedelia reared its head once again in 1970! Still, it's a great song. I had never really cared for GILMOUR's piece, "Fat Old Sun". Here he tries for a country vibe and it just falls flat. Pretty mediocre. And for the last piece, rather than Nick MASON going on a drum/percussion wankfest like on "Ummagumma", the space was left for a full band composition, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfest". I presume "Alan" was meant for "Alan PARSONS". Mainly a bunch of background chatter and environmental sounds. There's an acoustic piece, more ambient stuff, then the band finally gets to kick in with some real music.

Yeah, it's a bewildering album, but at least it's not quite off the wall as "Ummagumma", but can be a bit uneven in place. Still recommended for those who are sick of "The Wall" or want to start exploring FLOYD before DSOTM.

this album is different to the others. its a big step from ummagumma but this really paved the way to the latter floyd albums (meddle to the wall). the 70s had arrived. which would give birth to a chain of incredibly atmospheric and inspirational works. i personally prefer the early years but musically i think the 70s era was untouchable.

anyway... atom heart mother. if you thought interstellar and saucerful were epic tracks then you aint seen nothing yet. atom heart mother suite, taking up a whole side of the album to itself is one of the most underated pink floyd tracks of their career. this song defines experimental music, progression and is probably the first time david gilmour really pushed himself. the solos weaving out of richards piano pieces are remarkable. this album shows how pink floyd can work flawlessly as a team and also show off with the individual pieces on the album (side two).

rogers beautiful "if" is a similar piece to cirrus minor and grantchester. whipping out the old acoustic to dazzle us in a new way. before this rogers best songwriting appeared in set the controls but "if" shows much better lyrics as this track is almost a ballad. a prelude of better things to come indeed. dave and rick provide uplifting tracks and show off the best solo pieces (along with ASOS) alans psychadelic is confusing and trippy but a neat little way to wrap up the album if you can make any sense of it. this album may require more of a demand to get the best out of it but once you do see how good this album is it will be worth it. in a word...brilliant.

I keep coming back to this album for the same reasons I keep listening to "Meddle" and "Ummagumma"- its always so intriguing for me to hear these glimpses of the band in between their psychedelic rock beginnings and the later, more focused works. I feel bad that everyone doesn't love it, so I'll try to be your study guide..I'm only taking a stab at which sections are which- much harder to read the grooves on a cd than an lp haha- but I'm sure I'm pretty close... 'a) Father's Shout': the band plus a horn section establishes the main theme, weighty and grand and just slightly grim. Once the fanfare is complete, we hear a simple but memorable bass line which pulls us into a quieter section; 'b) Breast Milky',a lovely and mournful melody on violin that is repeated and expanded upon by the whole band, and finally the strings, horns and choir. Once this section reaches its climax, it gives way to movement 'c) mother fore', a pretty but increasingly eerie choir section (newcomers may initially be reminded of the original "Star Trek" theme, but let's get past that), also eventually joined by the band to conclude this movement. The organ comes in with an odd key change and suddenly we are in a piece, 'd) Funky Dung', that sounds remarkably similar to the two-chord jams on "Dark Side" and "Wish You Were Here" (it's even a similar chord change, from minor root to 4th/7th). This gets stranger as the choir returns with some unintelligible scatting and if you're anything like me, you wonder at this point whether it is more scary or silly. Luckily, the climax is a reassuring return to the original theme, a tiny bit faster this time. You think we've come full circle, but PF still has another curve ball to throw at us: 'e) Mind Your Throats Please', the incredibly strange next section, filled with odd synths (the mellotron, official keyboard of progressive rock, makes a rare PF appearance), disembodied voices, leslie-soaked noises a la 'Echoes", and general mounting chaotic menace. Just when it gets unbearable, strains of the previous movements begin to filter through and you realize that the piece is building towards the final climax, 'f) remergence', a reiteration of the main theme which allows the embellishment of that lovely violin movement we heard in section 'b'. This build up nicely and the suite ends very large, with all hands on deck (band, orchestra, and choir) for the finale. A fine way to spend 24 minutes. The 2nd half of the disc is individual songs focusing on individual members. "If" is a pretty little tune, very honest and simple for Waters, with some very well-written lines. "Summer '68" sounds very cool but Wright's refusal to rhyme still bugs me as much as it did on his solo album. "Fat old sun" has some great guitar (well of course, it's Gilmour!) but is somewhat limp as a song- I'm sure they could have recorded it with more impact. Finally, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is classic PF jamming, unremarkable but very nice to have on in the background. The album as a whole is probably less essential than 'Meddle' but in a similar vein and well worth repeated listening. We won't be able to hear anything quite this improvisational for much longer in PF's career; the 'concept' albums with their tighter focus are right around the corner.

A bit like Nursery Cryme for Genesis this album acted as a metamorphosis for bigger things to come. It is bold, brash and flawed which is what makes it so satisfying. Side one being the highlight and "Summer of 68"

To begin with, the titlesong is the best Pink Floyd has ever written and maybe it is one of the best songs of all time. The drumfills of Nick Mason... the lapsteelguitarsolo of David Gilmour... that cellosolo... every time i listen to it it shivers down my spine. On this website i can read that progrock is, in many ways, a mixture of classical and popular music and i think this piece of music is the greatest example of those two combined. Buy the album, push play and close your eyes to dream away for atleast 23 minutes which is actualy way too short. But the rest of the album may also not be underestimated. "If" is a great piece of work and the lyrics are top notch. "Summer of '68" is a superb pianopiece. "Fat Old Sun" just carries you away to another world. "Alan's psychedelic breakfast " is my least favorite track of this album but it is still not a bad song. I don't know what it is with this album but it seems like it breaths something that you cannot let go and takes you away to faraway places. THE BEST PROGROCKALBUM OUT THERE!

With Atom Heart Mother Pink Floyd seem to continue the journey that began with the studio section of Umma Gumma. Of course the most tedious aspect of that double album was it's studio cuts. But Pink Floyd were still regrouping at this stage but for me Atom Heart Mother is a needless exercise in way too much cerebral over indulgence that goes beyond a progressive experiment. Experimental but unfocused and for the most part hurried and some of the suites are way over long for comfort and it is hard to see the direction as to where the Pink Floyd were actually going at this stage as they continually thrashed out loose, inconsistent and at times unsympathetically overwhelming music. Some of the orchestration was interesting to me on the extremely infrequent occasion, but even playing it now it comes over rather annoying and seriously irrelevant, luckily they had reduced the boredom and were produced some good cutting tunes by the time Meddle, which was released the following year, hit the shelves. "Alans Psychedelic Breakfast" is interesting as it is simply not interesting on any level, nor is it a major psychedelic experience though at first I did find it a tad amusing but now I feel nothing, or at best very little, and could live happy if I never have to listen to it or talk about it ever again. This may have seemed clever for a transient moment as the sixties came to a close through a haze of dope and LSD now its just another Pink Floyd album filler and a needless example of Waters, Gilmore, Mason and Wright being na�vely obnoxious.

From my own point of view, this is the most tripping Floyd LP. A H M is a perfect blend of euphoric, symphonic, psychedelic, refreshing and conquering pop-prog-rock.The other tracks are cool too, especially the wonderful and enthusiastic "Summer of 68". In short, this LP is a pure moment of true happiness, just play it and have a nice escape

I couldn't help but seeing that this site has labeled 'Atom Heart Mother' to be one of the top 20 albums of all time. I would hate to cause a big dispute, but I must disagree. To start off, I think that 'If' is just about the worst song Roger Waters ever written. I didn't think 'Summer '68' or 'Fat Old Sun' had anything in it all too great. 'Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast' does has its moments but i found the noise of pouring and other kitchen noises to be very annoying. In all fareness, after a few listens, I now think the title track is excellent. I hope i have not discouraged anyone to buying this album. According to this site the chances of you liking it are very large. I just thought it was my right as an American citizen to give my opinion.

This album was Pink Floyd's bridge from their experimental phase over to their signature sound. Musically it can be compared to both 'Meddle' and the studio sides of 'Ummagumma', only less interesting in my opinion. However, the title track is a fine work that still sends shivers down my spine but the individual tracks written by each member of the band doesn't move me much. The last track, 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' is a very interesting tune structured almost as a radio play with charming interludes inbetween and foreshadows their 'sound collage'-isms in later songs. It really doesn't go anywhere but is nice nevertheless. This album never was a favorite of mine (or Pink Floyd themselves) but it's still a good piece of work. Surely good enough for fans of their earlier material.

ATM has a few magnificent moments, but the album is very unbalanced and frankly is quite boring in a number of places especially the last track, Alan's Pyschedelic Breakfast. The band themselves admitted that during this period they were in a creative limbo and consequently Ron Geesin, Water's friend, was brought into the studio to help write the album's 23 minute instrumental title track. Basically, Geesin added the orchastration to the track, incorporating a violins, a brass section, and choir to the song. ATM does indeed have some beautiful moments, the violin solo which segues into Gilmour's pedal steel solo is especially blissfull. However, the song becomes somewhat repititive towards the end and ATM simply doesn't sustain the passion nor the interest as does the even longer Echoes from Meedle. Even Geesin was unhappy with the final cut and desired to work on it further, but it had to be kept for finicial reasons. Side two begins with If. Opening with some simple yet lovely acoustic guitar, Waters' lyrics are the first of many more to come to pertain to madness,"if i go insane please don't put your wires in my brain" and possibly to Syd Barrett. Altogether a nice song, though it does lack excitment. The next song is by Wright entitled Summer of 68. An underappreciated song, this is probably my favorite track on the album. A reluctant lyricist a best, Wright describes the shallowness of the whole groupie experience and his lyrics though not great are quite good. The best part of the track however is Wrights' masterful piano playing. Fat Old Sun written by Gilmour is nostalgic piece describing his adolensce years in the English countryside. This is definitely Gilmour's most tranquil work to date but the song lacks emotion. Even Dave's guitar solo is surprisingly restrained and uninspiring. The final track, Alan's Pyschedelic Breakfast, is undoubtly the low point of the album. The music is rather mundane and the fact the only sound effects the band could conceive was breakfast munching indicates the band was at a loss for creativity. I tend to be too critical of this album simply because it is several notches below their best work which at this time was still to come. ATM offers some strong matieral and is definitely progressive rock and so if your a Floyd fanatic like myself buy it, but if your just getting into Floyd buy one of their better known albums first.

Atom Heart Mother represents an evolution, a new cycle in Pink Floyd music. Absorbed by the classical/rock music fusion tendencies performed by MOODY BLUES and particularly emphasized by the previous year KING CRIMSON debut album, Pink Floyd started to establish themselves as classical composers, in their own way. So they picked their psychedelic ideas and fuzzed them with classical music. They probably couldn't reach it without the precious help of Ron Geesin, who managed to add the orchestra to the record.

So what to expect from listening to the album? You have a first track, the title track, which is a fine suite and the soul of the record with its classical arrangements built with orchestral instruments (trombones, horns, mellotron, piano, bass, violin) and choir, and some discrete rock interferences performed by one solo guitar and some drumming. The 3 middle tracks are much poppier and the album ends with a psychedelic purist, though not reaching the level of the best tracks of their previous phase.

The main arrangement of Atom Heart Mother is achieved with trombones and horns and it certainly is a nice catchy motif, followed by nice violin, but another highlight of the track is the crescendo chorus with background mellotron and bass sadly playing, very peaceful and emotional! The chorus changes a little bit further, after an brief guitar solo, becoming more explosive and somewhat psychedelic leading again to the main motif. Then we have psychedelic arrangements remembering Interstellar Overdrive which conducts to the conclusion. The following track, If, from Roger Waters, is a very calm melody with acoustic guitar. Summer'68 is from Richard Wright and my favourite from the 3 middle "commercial" songs, with classical piano, catchy refrain a la BEATLES with energetic acoustic guitars and joyful piano added by classical instruments. That is followed by the calm country track Fat Old Sun from David Gilmour. These 3 tracks have little from progressive, very little indeed. The last track is what I said before. Well, we actually can listen to the preparation of the breakfast and eventually get hungry, but musically nothing of very transcendent.

The album worth's it mainly because the first track, a memorable suite. The 3 middle tracks little have with progressive music itself, though Summer'68 is a memorable song.

My rate: 7/10

A very good album. AHM Suite is very good. David's lap steel rifts are very soothing and Nick's drumming is outstanding. I don't like "Funky dung". They should have taken that out. Side 2 is very much like side 1 in Meddle. It, Summer of 68 and Fat Old Sun are very good solo efforts by Rog, Rick and David. Alan's Psycedelic Breakfast is alright but would appeal more to people with autism.

If only RON GEESIN had never been allowed in the studio! Otherwise I'm sure I would be giving this album a full 5 stars--but when a title track of that length is fouled up so badly, it costs an album pretty severely. All in all, even with that said, PINK FLOYD's members perform wonderfully, even on my least favorite, the title track. RICK WRIGHT begins to show hints of his more mature Hammond-playing style. Also, DAVID GILMOUR truly begins to come into his own as a guitarist. Unfortunately, the annoying intrusions of GEESIN's choir (and to some extent the horn section as well) greatly diminish the title track. There was potential there--if only they had gone it alone!

The other much-maligned longer suite, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", is far more successful, and truly Floydian. Yes, the eating noises become really nasty at one point, but that's its only real drawback. Otherwise, APB has some bright, snappy band jams that make a very filling "meal" for the listeners. I'd like to make the point that this is not drug music contrary to what some think--this is of too high of a quality to have been thrown together under the influence.

ROGER WATERS' simple, heartfelt "If" I could go on all day about. Here, without any hint of the belligerence he built up over the years, WATERS tentatively, shyly lets the listener hear perhaps even more clearly than on The Final Cut or "Flickering Flame" who he really is. A young man, dealing with the numerous contradictions, insecurities, and aspirations within himself delivers his touching lyrics in an unusually soft, vulnerable, even "Wrightish" manner. For this, "If" is a truly precious gem. There are no barriers of anger that prevent me from making a full "connection" with what he sings of--of being someone who seeks companionship and understanding in a very confusing world. "If I were a good man, I'd understand the spaces between friends." But at this time...I feel he was still trying, and that's why I am able to empathize. People often confuse mere bluntness with honesty--unlike Animals and other venomous lyrics...this is true honesty.

The next track is equally stunning--RICK WRIGHT's "Summer '68". There's more substance to this than simply a song about cavorting with groupies. The character WRIGHT assumes actually has some interesting things to say. Perhaps inspired by watching the total abandon of the "Swinging 60's", this character of his finds the situation troubling and emotionally dissatisfying. His commentary isn't--at first glance biting or sarcastic in nature, but it's very obvious he feels a "cold", loveless relationship (one where he couldn't truly know the answer to his question "How do you feel?") is not for him. Despite the soft delivery, though, one look at the lyrics does reveal an uncharacteristically snide tone, where he seems to say to these loveless "lovers", "HEY, how about actually giving a damn for once?!" It's not WATERS' kind of in-your-face sarcasm...but it is there if you're willing to look. (On a related subject, note his 1996 solo masterpiece Broken China, where he demonstrates what he's willing to invest in a true bond of love.) Musically this is an absolutely infectious foot-tapper of a song with beautiful vocals, and naturally it would be WRIGHT who finds something truly useful for this album's horn section to do! Given his classical and jazz roots, it's no surprise he was able to pull it off.

"Fat Old Sun" is a pleasant DAVID GILMOUR guitar-based piece, which interestingly enough, is the first place we hear the bells that reappear in The Division Bell's "High Hopes". While nice to listen to, I must admit it doesn't quite stand out like APB, "Summer '68" and "If"...although when he croons, "Sing to me, sing to me..." I can't help feeling something in my heart. I would say AHM is rather underrated, at least...the band's contributions to it!

It's a shame GEESIN had to drag the overall product down so.

After reading recent reviews I had to listen to the album again. The symphonic side-long title suite is their most progressive work co-written and arranged by Scottish composer Ron Geesin. The suite is really good although it's starts to drag near the end because of some aimless experimentation. Fortunately recapitulation of the main theme makes things good again. I like Geesin's use of orchestra and choir. This makes the music sound like a Morricone Spaghetti Western soundtrack. Next tracks are good for relaxing but musically nothing special. The last track "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is an exception. It's a weird mix of kitchen sounds with relaxing music. It makes me want to eat if I listen with an empty stomach but it's really an enjoyable listen when I'm trying to fall asleep... Overall, this album lacks direction and is not on par with their later masterpieces. Nevertheless, it has some good moments. "Atom Heart Mother Suite" earns the album 4 points!

A very interesting album from a symphonic rock perspective, from Pink Floyd's formative years, before they 'went commercial'. They were at the crossroads at the time, and definitely showed some progressive potential. The album features a 20-minute suite written with enough musical skill to suggest that the band could have gone into a more progressive direction, have they chosen to. Otherwise, the album's overall mood is mellow and songs are mostly melodic. The psychedelic/experimental stuff is kept to a minimum, as in Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast - but even this bizzare track is melodic and mellow. Good album, fits in well with other early prog stuff, and a real pity that the albums to follow were not as good.

Ok, let�s give this underated album the rating that deserves. The Band never liked the result of Gessin and Pink Floyd but this is not a reason to think that is a bad album. In fact for it�s more interesting than meddle. Atom Heart Mother Suit (9/10) Incridible combination of Rock and classical instrumentation It �s more listenable than Ummagumma Experiments or A Saucerful of Secrets If (6/10) A quiet song which never liked too much Summer 68 (9/10) Great Wright song Fat old Sun (8/10) Gilmour marks here the Pink Floyd clich� (look drums and lead guitars, they would use this kind of sounds in Meddle and Obscured by clouds) Alan�s Psychedelic Breakfast (8/10) perfect and clear sound: Pink Floyd in the 70s, Ummagumma is over.

I think Atom Heart Mother is one of the best and most underrated Pink Floyd albums ever made. It's long instrumental introduction song makes this album great. The song Summer '68 is truly unique in it's sound and differs from almost all other Pink Floyd songs. I defiantly recommend this album to anyone who wants to relax and take in the full effect of Pink Floyd.

Music won't get better than this... The amazing and long title track is the pure essence of what I know as "progressive music"... "If" is some what of "wanna be Cat Stevens", but it works out pretty good... "Summer 68" is an incredible track, but Wright can sing even worse than Waters, but that's ok... "Fat Old Sun" is the most beautiful track here... I call that a perfect song, one of the best dellivered by mr. Gilmour... The last track... Well... I don't care much about it (don't find any excitement in boiling an egg), but the other 4 worth the album... Amazing...

"Atom Heart Mother" is one of Pink Floyd's more underrated albums. The 24 minutes long title track is a quite unusual by band standards, bombastic, orchestral track and the only symphonic one they ever did. I think that the orchestral choir arrangements are done well, as well as the performance of each band member, specially Nick Mason delivers one of his best work on drums. Except the choral passages, the whole piece with six parts is holden instrumental. It also has some lengths after about seventeen minutes, where the psychedelic part of the song takes control, that's why the track can't reach the charm and brilliance of the space-masterpiece Echoes, but it's by no means a less than solid epic. After the 24 minutes long piece follows "If", a slow piece by Roger Waters, which is just nice but boring at first listen, but becomes even more meaningful after some more listenings. The lyrics are poorly sad but the uplifting mood of the song makes it at the same time pretty joyful. Unspectacular but rewarding. "Summer '68" is the secret highlight of the album, very good lines and a emotional chorus sung by Rick Wright, actually one of the most overlooked gems in Pink Floyd's catalogue! A song that reminds on the flower-power era, but in a real nice way. "Fat Old Sun" is David Gilmour's song on AHM, after we already have heard Water's and Wright's collaborations on the album. It is a lot more exciting than If in a straight musical aspect, with nice vocals a emotional guitar solo by Dave Gilmour at the end, which also closes the song. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is to me a dull filler, with some cool ideas though, for example you can hear the cooking of some eggs and stuff. The 13 minutes long epic is only weared by a acoustic guitar and a guy who talks at breakfast, during he cooks the eggs.

Well, "Atom Heart Mother" is a strange Pink Floyd album, but it grows from time to time. It couldn't reach the brilliance of milestones like Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here or even Animals, but it's a state of art record. The band themselves hate it, but I think it doesn't deserve that bash. AHM was IMO even the best work of the band to date and is something of a transition album of Floyd's psychedelic phase and the later direction took on Meddle towards commercial success on DSOTM and WYWH. It's at the end a great addition to any prog collection, at least for the monumental, if flawed title track.

album rating: 8.5/10 points = 83 % on MPV scale = 4/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

This album is great!! I think Atom Earth Mother suite is their first symphonic song, it's colourful and amazing, i recomend to hear with a good headphone in a dark room. Summer 68 despite the title remenber me the seventies, a time that I heard it thousands of times. The only track which sometimes I consider boring is "Psychedelic breakfast" but it isn't so bad. I rate AHM with 4 stars because Meddle, DSOTM and Animals are better.

I like the fact Floyd havn't held back with this record like ummagumma and gone for broke in an experimental fashion. The first time i heard this i thought that it was absolutely brilliant and i couldn't pick one fault with it. Years later i listen and i still have the same feelings but what really comes across is how this record stands out from the Floyds other works. I cant compare it with the others because of the Geesin influence which makes it sound unique. (heavy orchesra and brass on Atom H Monther and sum 68)

The whole album seems so well structured with the powerfull Atom Heart Mother then the individual middle pieces then finishing with the relaxing and dreamy Alans Psycedelic Breakfast. The Rick Wright song Summer 68 is the most joyfull and uplifting which gives the album a great balance.

Overall i would describe this album as a fantastic individual sounding album. If only the other Floyd fans would stop comparing this to the other great albums they would probobly appreciate it more.

"Quiet in the studio..."

With one of the most recognized album covers in existence, "Atom Heart Mother" is a highly moo-ving progressive experience. Together with Ron Geesin (who previously collaborated with Waters in the OST "Music From The Body") the FLOYD embarked on their most ambitious journey yet. The addition of a brass orchestra into their repertoire was nothing short of ELP-bombastic.

If the 'Atom Heart Mother' Suite could be described in a single word, it would be: Rich. The centrepiece of the album, there is a lot to discover here. Many different instrumental and orchestral layers to peel away. There are no 'lyrics' per se in the suite, but the accompanying voices add a certain 'movie music' texture to the piece. One could only guess what would have been playing on Mr. Screen behind the band if it had actually existed back then.

In a better example of how to make solo pieces for an album (unlike the "Ummagumma" studio album!) the individual band members put together some very interesting tunes for Side Two. 'If' is not Waters' most inspired work, and in fact is a bit dull. 'Summer '68' and 'Fat Old Sun' are the real hidden gems on AHM, written by Wright and Gilmour respectively. Wright continues to show that he is a very competent songwriter, and his offering on AHM is easily superior to Mr. Waters'. Dave Gilmour builds upon his soft and unique 'Green Is The Colour' type sound to give us the wonderfully pastoral 'Fat Old Sun'. It's hard to decide what is better: his voice, or his guitar playing? Enjoy Gilmour's walking-into-the-sunset guitar solo as it fades away at the end of 'Fat Old Sun'.

Love it or hate it, the 'Atom Heart Mother' Suite is a progressive rock must for all beginner progheads. The album itself is not quite a masterpiece though, due mainly to the simply ordinary 'If' and the none too serious, but still enjoyable 'Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast'. (On the original vinyl release, the dripping water sound at the end of 'Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast' will play continuously in a loop, until the needle is removed)

"Marmalade...I Like Marmalade"

I think this album represents us the phase where the band searched for a new direction after the hazy post-Barret psychedelia days. The result on this album didn't please me personally, though many wonderful songs are also borne from those days of personnel renaissance. There are some good technical achievements accomplished on this record, but the stylistic solutions are very far from my own personal tastes.

The album opens with a big 23 minutes long epic themed about cows (I think). Here the band plays over symphonic orchestra, and the composition starts with annoying fanfares. After some effect treated motives which grow my feeling of uncomfortabiltiy, the middle part offers some better movements with choir. As the symphonic orchestra stops playing, band goes for their basic slow blues, which would form as their trademark for the upcoming records of the 1970's. As the orchestra returns to the game, we get chaotic aural experimenting to disturb our mental states. I am open for the surreal psychedelic musical impressions, but in my opinion this is just plain fooling around, not serious research of consciousness altering avant-garde states. The horrifying track ends to some choirs and a bombastic theme, reaching a primitive cycle form in its failed conquest for compositional integrity. When compared to other classical music fusion efforts by Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and Procol Harum for example, this track is in my own judgment reaching the least successful result.

Rest of the album consists of acoustic fragile ballads "If" and "Fat Old Sun", which felt quite powerless acoustic wailings to my ears, maybe due lowered abilities of reception after the title suite. "Summer 68" reaches for relaxation with piano driven pop tune resembling maybe Beatles or something similar. The last "whacky" tune conlcudes the record with collage of sounds, marred through effects and causing serious boredom for thirteen minutes.

The second word of the title tune's fourth movement sadly describes this album in my humble opinion, and I want to beg my pardon from all of those who liked this album, as this record just did not match to my own tastes. There aren't innovative strength nor power here, which I found from some other albums of this classic band. Maybe fans of symphonic epics and acoustic 60's pop tunes can appreciate this album much more than me. Once more, my deepest apologies.

A word of caution: What looks like a cheese-paring two-star rating is actually a mark of the highest regard. Explanation to follow...

To me the most interesting and misunderstood phase of Pink Floyd's long musical life span was the period between "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and "Dark Side of the Moon", after the tragic loss of Syd Barrett but before their transfiguration into chart topping superstars. And it was during the same uncertain time of trial, error, and experimentation that they released what has to be their most enigmatic and puzzling album.

How weird is it? Start with the unlikely cover art: maybe the most impeccable portrait of a heifer this side of a Gary Larson cartoon, and a visual non-sequitur worthy of Magritte (Ceci n'est pas une cow�).

Consider next the epic 24-minute title track, in retrospect a noble but failed attempt by a band at loose ends to broaden their musical horizons, in the highbrow fashion of the times. This was an age, remember, when every serious rock band had to validate their artistic pretensions by recording with a classical orchestra, and Pink Floyd was no exception. At least they made a tongue-in-cheek effort to mock their own ambitions, with meaningless bovine sub-titles to each 'movement'� of the suite ("Funky Dung", and so forth).

The actual orchestration and arrangement is sometimes laughably amateur, but it's the effort that counts, isn't it? Don't blame Ron Geesin, who had to quickly cobble together a score after the band had fled on tour to America, leaving him with only the basic backing tracks to work from and a second-rate studio orchestra at his disposal. It may not be fair to compare them to the Portsmouth Sinfonia (a gaggle of non-professional musicians with no prior experience on their instruments; Brian Eno briefly played in the woodwind section), but they sure ain't the London Philharmonic.

And is that a mellotron in the mix as well? Be still my heart: a classical orchestra and choir, plus a mellotron? Give the band credit for covering all the symphonic bases.

The balance of the album (Side Two in vinyl terms) presents a trio of solo efforts from Waters, Wright, and Gilmour, not unlike a mini-"Ummagumma" but with better (i.e. shorter) results. Each song is a throwback to an older Pink Floyd, most explicitly Richard Wright's bouncy "Summer '68". The highlight here is Roger Waters' underrated and overlooked "If". It's an interesting signpost to the future: a gentle acoustic ballad able to express in an easygoing four-and-one-half minutes the same themes of madness and alienation that would later require entire concept albums for Waters to communicate.

And, for the record, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" (the album's audio verit� closing track, mixing ambient sounds of frying eggs with pastoral musical interludes) was not an homage to producer Alan Parsons, but to roadie Alan Stiles, at least according to band biographer Nicholas Schaffner.

And now about those two parsimonious stars...

It wasn't easy figuring out how best to rate this oddity. On its own terms it isn't very successful, and how can anyone endorse an album dismissed by the band itself as "a load of rubbish"? So says Dave Gilmour, quoted by Schaffner, and that isn't all he has to say on the subject, either. I won't even repeat the typically acid hindsight assessment by Roger Waters.

But on the other hand the same load of rubbish still holds enormous historical interest to fans of Progressive Music. This was the album on which Pink Floyd found its voice, when they finally shed the last traces of late '60s psychedelia and began paving the solid gold road to the "Dark Side of the Moon". Sure, it's primitive stuff, but there's a real sense of discovery here, of latent potential soon to be unlocked.

The Prog Archives definition of the two-star review is for "collectors/fans only"�. Which means if you look beyond the rating you might find a rare treasure no five-star masterpiece can equal. Newcomers and casual fans are better off elsewhere, but to collectors, completists, and Prog Rock archeologists this may be the most valuable and important Pink Floyd album in their collection.

In my opinion this album has the best brass sound in Progressive Rock, brass being used to good effect in both the title piece and 'Summer '68'. Session musicians, conducted by Ron Geesin (who wrote the orchestral score), played French horns, trombones, trumpets and tubas.

The 'Atom Heart Mother' piece - or "suite" as it is sometimes called - is atmospheric and could easily have been the soundtrack to a First World War movie (it comes complete with horses shying, shelling and a motorbike). Wright's excellent keyboard, with morose violin (viola?) over the top, sets the mood. Waters' bass line is simple yet so effective. There is plenty of Gilmour's trademark guitar to satisfy fans of the later albums. The use of orchestral instruments and a mixed choir give the piece a classical feel, although the conventional choral vocalisations give way to unusual Maori-like chanting in one place. The piece changes mood, varying from depressing to groovy and laid-back. There are also the expected FLOYD artefacts: sound effects reminiscent of a spooky cave, a PA announcement, and a train with Doppler effect. It's an ambitious and pretentious piece but I think the band pulled it off, and is a 5-star effort as far as I'm concerned.

'If' is a nice enough song, starting in a very laid-back manner with acoustic guitar. It's melodic, pleasant and relaxing, although nothing special in my opinion.

I adore 'Summer '68' though, which again uses brass effectively. It also uses piano in a simple but very pleasing way. The weekly BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs allows the guest to choose eight pieces (as opposed to albums); 'Summer '68' would definitely be one of my eight. The disdainful and seemingly acerbic lyrics appear to be about a casual fling or a groupie ("tomorrow brings another town, another girl like you") and, to me, seem at odds with the instrumentation and music itself. I find it almost impossible to listen to this track without singing out loud the vocalised refrain (which, incidentally, was used in the early 1970s as the introduction to the evening news on Brazil's largest TV network).

Softly peeling church bells herald 'Fat Old Sun', which is rather like 'If' in that it's a nice, lazy song. I like this one too. With the pace, lyrics and artefacts (the aforementioned bells, plus children playing) it sounds very 'English summer evening'. The vocals - the whole song, actually - sound Beatle-esque to me, reminding me of McCartney. The trademark FLOYD guitar rocks it up a bit towards the end and the track fades out to the sound of the church bells. Not a masterpiece by any means, but pleasant, melodic and relaxing.

A dripping tap introduces 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast', named for the roadie Alan Stiles. Recorded in Mason's kitchen it includes sounds such as the striking of matches, the making of a cup of coffee/tea, and the pouring of cereal into a bowl (the slurps and exaggerated grunts only making me want to tell him to keep his mouth shut when eating). The whole thing does have an easygoing Sunday morning feel to it, especially when the sound of an egg frying begins. It's moderately amusing and easy listening, but sounds like pure filler to me. Apparently the band thought it was lousy. Finishing with the running of the tap, the draining of the sink and the tap dripping - which is where we came in - this track is the antithesis of the title piece.

If more of the album had been up to the standard of the title piece and 'Summer '68' then I would have been able to award the album 5 stars but, as it stands, I have to go with 4 stars (Excellent addition to any progressive music collection). All four members of the band were very critical of the album - embarrassed even - in later years. Even so, it's one of my favourite FLOYD albums, although certainly much rougher than the polished and more commercial "Dark Side Of The Moon" and later albums.

This is a hugely mixed album. The first side has a similar feel to the later but MUCH better Echoes on Meddle but the "noises" section in the midle is grossly inferior. There's some fine keyboard work, some lovely slide guitar and the violin solo which precedes it is complete bliss but the brass and choral work are annoying at times. 50% for this at best. The second side is OK until Fat Old Sun raises it to a high and then Alan's Psychedelic bloody Breakfast brings it crashing down again - utter rubbish. They were showing some good ideas but the consistency was just not there. Another 3 months of work might have led to a better result but the money wasn't available. Buy it by all means but be prepared!

If i were to grade this album of what i would guess it would be to other pepole it would have been a four, but the important thing is not what anyone else think. The first track AHM is by far one of the moust powerful songs that i have ever heard and listening to it in peace and quiet puts me on the top of the world. When the quire comes in and Mason goes beserk on the drums my bones trembel and my mind goes to sleep.

If i am to define the rate of class in an album it would be how many times you can hear it without getting tierd and unaffected. Many of the albums i've heard i have heard a time and felt that there is nothing more into it, and i refer the music as "[&*!#]". This album will however never be [&*!#] i'd figure because it is of a great variaty and diffrent from other music. I feel that the last track however did not really have to be there. its still better than moust music out there but if the record had ended after fat old sun the artisticnes in the album would have raised higher. And i'd be a fool not to mentsion the guitarsolo of gilmore at the end of fat old sun. Its played so effortless and ligth that it just makes you levetate.

These are true words of a virgin who sees all beauty in life in circels of music.

This is a Oh so strong album. Except for the last track, wich is a bit of a filler, this album is perfect. It starts with one of the most excentric yet beautiful song ever written, Atom Heart Mother. It is a mix of Bluesy guitars, pychedelia structures and the insertion of an orchestra. Quite challenging ar first, this song builds up on you. Roger Waters delivers some fine basslines, and Rick Wright is especially strong. This is more of a suite than a song, as the not only the structures changes, but also the mood, as we go from scary to happy, and the whole thing accentuated by the use of a choir in a pretty unusual way, as it sings through sounds and mostly is used as percussions. This is definitely a love-hate situation. You'll have to listen it for yourself, because it is unusual. The second side of the album is split between three compositions by each member, except Nick Mason.

The first one is ''If'', the Waters one. It has a rather simple acoustic guitar riff, and the accent is put on the lyrics and the voice of Waters, wich is still not over the top at this point of his career. It is a quite cute song, and soon you find yourself singing along him.

The second one is '' ' Summer 68'', the Wright's song. It has a great use of brass, and Wright is as melodic as he could possibly be.

The third one is ''Fat Old Sun'', you guessed it, the Gilmour's one. In my humble opinion, it is the best within the 3. It is this kind of song that makes you want to stop working and just do nothing, laying in the grass all day long. It does is a ''fat old'' song, and of my alltime Floyd Favorite. Pik Floyd included it in thei tours up to the release of Dark Side Of the Moon, and some great versions of it live can be found on numerous bootlegs. Also, David Gilmour included it on his solo DVD David Gilmour Live. The solo makes you fly and the voice of Gilmour is in excellent shape also.

The album finishes with Alan's psychedelic breakfast, wich take about 6 minutes to really starts up, and never get that big anyways. A bit of a filler, it cannot compare with the quality of the rest of the album. It has its moments, but definitely not enough to take 13 minutes of the album! Some drugged junkies find it cool, but it is not my case, so nope, not my cup of tea!

When it comes to rate this album, the first side of the cd makes this album a masterpiece itself, but with the addition of three absolutely gorgeous songs, this IS a masterpiece and a tour de force. The last song is less good, however the rest of the album more than back up this little flaw. Definitely a must for any prog fan.

This album, like 'Ummagumma' belongs to the 'finding our feet' period of Floyd. See my review for that album. This one is similar in parts, although, overall, it is slightly better. Nevertheless, this is a quite dated and tepid affair, certainly not one of the band's best works. The opening suite, 'Atom Heart Mother' is a laborious affair, with far too much emphasis on a horn section that simply doesn't work. Remember how Genesis fans, (me included) disliked Abacab partly because of the introduction of horns? Well, it is a similar thing here. The music in this suite is very naive and directionless, even though you can tell the band is trying. It is, in a word, predictable. Funny how this band changed from their first two, very effective albums, to meandering experimentation. Now, I am all for experimentation, as it is one of the core ingredients in prog rock, but it has to lead somewhere, has to have a sense of melody, and a sense of completeness, with different sections complimenting one another. 'Atom Heart Mother', sadly, doesn't do this, although I know a lot of fans love this album. Second track, 'If' is almost a prelude to material on 'The Final Cut', with Waters droning on in his most depressive way. It's not a bad track, however. 'Summer '68' is better again, one of the best two tracks on here, for my money. 'Fat Old Sun' is adequate but, again, not memorable. The last track, 'Alan's Pyschedelic Breakfast' is the best song on offer here, with nice sound effects, and good guitar work. Overall, this is a patchy but, in parts, half-decent album. However, although I prefer it to 'Ummagumma', it lacks one thing that album has - an excellent cover! 'Ummagumma's cover is probably my favourite Floyd cover, effective and memorable. Still, it's the music that matters, isn't it?

I love this album. while I prefer echo's more (the title track is haunting and would be even more so if they cut down the 'noise' bit in the middle) I really love the whole orchestral/choir thing in this. Particularly how it falls apart so gracefully as the different motif's start colliding and then finally BLAM fall together for a big mighty push towards the end. Magnificent.

Funny story. Ten years ago I had dropped some acid with some friends and found myself in a really bad way. After trying everything to get happy, someone dropped Atom Heart mother on the stereo. Man I was transfixed by it, and at the end positively overjoyed. Floyed saved my brain that night.

Perhaps the best Floyd album ever (together with MEDDLE and some others), ATOM HEART MOTHER contains one of the best Floyd songs ever in the form of 24 min tittle track. It's all there. All elements that made Pink Floyd one of the top Space Rock bands are melted in a marvelous synphonic suite that goes from orquestra movements to organ/guitar explosions and weird choruses. This one of the greatest Prog Rock contributions that the band ever made, and what's better, she's not alone! Let's not forget SUMMER '68, another explendid tune written by Rick Wright: Don't you just love that orquestra part in the end of each verse? Tah dah dah... And there's also kitchen-made ALAN'S PSYCHODELIC BREAKFAST, another masterpiece, that takes off with the sounds of someone preparing, you guessed, breakfast. Explendid.

- Guilherme Baldin

I have many friends that listen to Pink Floyd that have never heard of this album. I actually have one friend that would not buy it simply because of the COVER! Although this is not Floyd at their best, it is still a fantastic buy and a must for a true Floyd fan. The title track is amazing in its ability to switch between a brass ensemble and David Gilmour on guitar. The shorter songs on the album are nice to listen to, but I never put the album in just to listen to those few songs. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is interesting, but gets too much hype from floyd fans. The sound effects are cool, but the actual music is very boring and does not impress me enough to listen to all twelve minutes.

All in all, bcause the title track is so powerful and unlike anything else I've ever heard, I give it a four star rating. Anyone that thinks of him or herself as a Floyd fan needs to own a copy of this album.

It is an extraordinary, wonderful masterpiece album to which "Atom Heart Mother" that is one of the highest masterpieces of Pink Floyd as make to the title tune and say by a lot of people is collected. However, I think that "Alan's psychedelic breakfast" is the most wonderful music when the album mesne of this.

Not so good, but essential in terms to know the progressive world. If this record didnt have orchestra it would be something much better, if PF had had a stronger drummer and not a weak drummer, they could have been much better, records with orchestra tends to sound bombastic and overdrive, the case of A Time and A Word and Atom Heart Mother but not the case of the perfect Snow Goose. But this record has historic moments and good songs like Summer 68 that could only be a Richard Wright song. PF was trying to find their way, something they would make in "Animals".

This is an obscure solid album from Pinkfloyd. The experimentation here is at its peak, but it does not always work and there are some bad spots in the album. Here, the band has on orchestra to amplify its sound, and it is probably one of Richard Wright's best moments.

Atom Heart Mother 7/10 : This is the peak of Pink Floyd's experimentations and it really works. It begins with the main theme on orchestra which is good. It has a very effective simple bass line, choirs and sounds classical meets psychedelic. It also contains plenty of Gilmour's trademark's guitar in a long amazing solo. After that solo, it contains a bass line with good keyboard riffs. it gets eventually tighter and the keyboards sound like jazzy improvisation of the highest lever (It is overly wonderful) and the peak is reached when some weird (yet effective) female chants take over. Unfortunately, it doesn't end that well, with strange irritating noises all over.

If 6.5/10 : a nice acoustic ballad with very solid vocal performance and melodies, yet it is too simple.

Summer '68 8/10 : A richard Wright piece and my favourite song of the album. the arrangements are excellent, including good keyboard performances. The 'pre-chorus' with its beatlesque (or yessy) vocal harmonies really shines, and the horn driven chorus is brilliant.

Fat Old Sun 5/10 : A boring and badly recorded lazy song that picks up with an electric guitar solo. I prefer the Mostly Autumn version of it.

Alan Psychedelic Breakfast 4/10 : It is just a bunch of noise with instrumental improvisation ... Maybe it is cool for a 'high' person, but not for me.

My Grade : C

Sadly this album is often underrated and not appreciated at the way it should be. Each note here is filled with brilliance and unique inspiration, and this is perhaps the FLOYD's more progressive work. Here we have the most wonderful union between an orchestra and a rock band. Both of them complete each other in perfect shape, and i greatly appreciate Ron Geesin's contribution with the orchestrations which is what make my love for this album be so big.

The title track is perhaps the Floyd's most essential work in terms of progressive music. It would also be their most successful song in this field along with "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and its nine movements of rich instrumental exploration. The suite opens with "Father's Shout", a great intro announcing that this is a whole new FLOYD. After some noises and pure orchestra we are led to "Breast Milky", a very melodic piece showing how Gilmour can put his soul into his guitar. This and "Mother Fore" are my favorite parts of this album, being the latter alone one of the FLOYD's most touching moments. "Funky Dung" has a theme that will be later repeated on the song "Echoes", from their next album. After this the epic starts going a bit "crazey" - but in a good way. The last parts repeat some of the last movements, mixing them together in a psychedelic vein that is characteristic of the FLOYD (yeah, even trying to make an album cover in the less psychelic way possible - a cow, just a simple cow starring at the camera, even though i think this cover is one of their most psych ones despite its apparent simplicity - they still held together with them their spacey psychedelic roots which appeal us so much). Finishing the first floydian epic in a glorious way, we have the return of the song's first section's rhythm, with an insane guitar playing by Gilmour full with emotion and beauty. This track alone makes the album worth getting, but the trip is just starting... "If" is a great acoustic song sung by Waters. Even though it is a bit repetitive, it is still very beautiful and if you are in the mood you'll get moved while listening to its interesting lyrics instead of annoyed by the mumbling singing. Next we have "Summer'68". I admit that i never liked this song, but now it is growing on me in a way that allowed me to give this album a 5 star rating. I was never a fan of the way this song seems to lose path before Gilmour says "how do you feel, how do you feel??" but i am now tolerating it. We have here the return of the orchestra, making a great work once again. "Fat Old Sun" is my second favorite number here. Gilmour shows how talented he is as a singer too, with a very soft vocal performance that fits with the music very well. Now we have "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", thirteen minutes of very well done experimental work.

In my opinion this is one of the most important prog rock works and should be listened to everyone who's into the genre. Here we notice that the true FLOYD sound was borning, leading to their golden era soon. But compare this experimental album with their last two ones, "Ummagumma" and "More". None of the those worked perfectly as this one did, and here we also had the first floydian epic, the title track. What a great way to begin the 70's decade...the one that featured the most incredible works of progressive rock, and the peak of music in general.

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.

When it was released, this album was considered as a generous compensation for many Pink Floyd fans that happened to be disappointed with the double-album "Ummagumma" for its almost inaccessible materials. This doesn't mean it is an easily approached effort. Still, whenever one successfully penetrates the extended floating orchestral "Atom Heart Mother", there surely are benefits worth whatever the cost.

The 23-plus-minute title track opener, which consists of six seamless parts, embodied interesting moments scattered throughout the track. There is no lyric whatsoever here and yet the band can beautifully incorporate many elements -- sounds, instruments, voices -- into a body of song that moves freely between grandiose and simplicity as well as dark and laid-back moods. Rick Wright contributes eloquent keyboards playing, mostly laid as solid foundation on top of which the other instruments are allowed to put colorful sketches. Among the delicious parts is where the horns and David Gilmour's guitars deliver their wonderful, uplifting passages.

While several attempts needed in order to discover the gem in the first track, this just isn't the case regarding the four tracks that follow. With "If" (by Roger Waters), "Summer '68" (Wright), "Fat Old Sun" (Gilmour) and "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" (Gilmour/Nick Mason/Waters/Wright) one actually encounters much easier situation. Nevertheless, while these are shorter and more accessible tracks, a lack of cohesiveness between them might lead the listeners to the wrong impression.

Judging by the facts that there are strengths and weaknesses, this album is far from being perfect let alone a masterpiece. However, to those who like to be challenged, this definitely will suit the need.

Floyd sound started forming with this album. "Atom Heart Mother" is very impressive and enthusiastic song, one of my favourites. But as I always said the orchestration would be much better. Pink Floyd played this song in A TV show without an orchestra and David Gilmour made the choir with his soft and beautiful voice. It's much better and more impressive. "If" is a soft acoustic song, good but not wonderful. IMO, "Summer 68" is the best song in the album. Richard Wright had an incredible work again and brass contribution makes it better. "Fat Old Sun" is a classic Gilmour song, it's really emotional and beautiful with Gilmour's soft vocals. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is a good song, but its concept is not clear and can be better. IMO, it is the first essential Pink Floyd album. Not for fans only, it's an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

The true Floyd began with this album in my opinion. The lenghty first track is one of my all-time favourites because I love those incredibly long masterpeices!

Atom Heart Mother: A really long 24 minute track that features Floyd's trademarks: Random sound effects (ie a motorcycle starts, stuff that sounds like a submarine investigating) one dominant theme that begins and recurs later on, a bunch of very atmospheric music filling in the gaps... The theme featured a lot of strings and some choir. The first bursts of the main theme of trumpets and trombones, then some strings and very Wright- sounding- Wright- keyboards, followed by Roger's bass line and keyboards with one solemn choir singer. The choir singer evolves into many, and you can hear theme singing DUNG if you listen very carefully. Continues until Masons melodic drumming follows it along. More Wright keyboards follow and in comes Gilmour. And he finally sounds like proper Gilmour! The choir returns but it sounds more like just a recital. What are they saying? I DON'T KNOW!?! Latin? And then, sounding like a Western Soundtrack, comes back the main theme! A long submarine-esque part comes in and this sounds sort of like Saucerful of Secrets. See, that damned, stupid, silly song was framework for later Floyd. One of Roger's wierd voices says: "Can I have a quick announcement?" Replaying bits of the song enters. Then the little voice says:"Silence in the studio" and the main theme returns. THE END

If: Much like Ummagumma, this features three tracks that are specifically each person's songs. Rogers short ballad features some of his quietist singing ever, and acoustic guitar. Gimour comes in and then Rogers bass continues with some Wright keyboards.

Summer 68: A Wright song. It's alright, not the best, but ok. Must be about some sort of girl he picked up on tour or something. Pretty decent, trumpet and piano and some drumming.

Fat old Sun: Gilmour's song. He seems to be emulating Paul from the Beatles. Roger's bass and a very quiet and relaxing vocal opens the song, but eventually becomes a guitar solo.

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast: What the hell is this? Wright is seemingly waking up, peeing, and making breakfast.Or is it Mason? Quite strange. It's all about his breakfast! It's good for bedtime listening. I can't say I like it very much. 13 minutes of breakfast!

Although with plausible moments, still not a perfect album!

The first FLOYD's attempt at "symphonic" sound is quite controversial. The title side-long suite is obvious answer to the requirements of the era: if DEEP PURPLE could do it with orchestra in the same year 1970, why shouldn't we do it too? The result is mixed however; many beautiful passages are spoiled by unpleasant, quasi-dramatic choir voices and strings, while it's all way too long to endure, stressing the urge to skip onto the side B of the vinyl record. What a relief! Waters' hypnotic acoustic ballad "If" and Wright's excellent piano-led orchestral psychedelic pop song of "Summer 68" rank amongst the best PF songs ever produced, alas they were often brutally overlooked in favour of the subsequent releases. Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" is negligable filler, while the interesting musique concrete of "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" with its sleepy and relaxing mood, is still a worthy and very listenable experiment. "Atom Heart Mother" is not one of the better results of the PINK FLOYD opus, but it has enough fine moments to be dig out and enjoyed.

This is definitely the best Pink Floyd album. All band members are playing to their highest standards especially Nick Mason. Their first epic track epic track Atom Heart Mother is also their best epic track. I love the part when the choir comes in the first time it's so relaxing! Another good song to mention is Summer'68 that kis brilliant! Meddle does'nt even come close!!!!!!!!! NO FILLER!!

After all those years I still don't succeed to get into this acclaimed Pink Floyd album, I miss the typical Pink Floyd 'flow' that usually carries me away to progheaven. Reading the reviews on Prog Archives about this album you can conclude that many Pink Floyd fans appreciate it very much. Well, it's not my cup of tea is my conclusion after playing "Atom heart mother" this afternoon.

During the recordings of this LP the band was in a rush because of the forthcoming USA tour. In order to gain time the band contributions were recorded first and then the orchestra and choir were overdubbed. Pink Floyd was not satisfied about the result and asked Ron Geesin to help. He orchestrated 10 brass players and a choir of twenty singers but the result remains "a plodding mess" according to Ron Geesin! In my opinion the epic titletrack has some fine and compelling moments (Gilmourian guitarplay and pleasant organ waves) but in general it sounds too experimental and fragmentic, to me there is hardly any direction and chemistry. Side two features the more acoustic/folky side from the band. It sounds warm, especially "If" (beautiful twanging acoustic guitar and tasteful organ and piano) and "Fat old sun" (pleasant acoustic rhythm guitar and halfway nice blend of sensitive electric guitar and organ). During the final track "Alan's psychedelic breakfast" my attention too often slips away, this is not my Pink Floyd music, their next can please me more!

why? why put such an essential masterpiece such as atom heart mother alonside with all those boring simple songs of side b? how did this magnificent piece of symphonic/ space rock got stuck with the bad flavoured taste of allans psychedelic breakfast? i never understood PF in their earlier albums. you get one or two great prog songs with fantastic melodies and excellent guitar and keyboards work and the rest of the album isnt good at all, not even for a simple rock band. all their albums until dark side are simply overrated. if you want prog from pink floyd go and purchase the awsome ANIMALS or the must have WISH YOU WERE HERE. as for this one, just download atom heart mother and youre done!

Sean said it all very well!!! The first of many good/excellent albums to come. Stardoom is at their door steps!, and will never be the same for these guys!! Difficult to digest with one listen, you probably require several spins, but once you get it, it will set you free!!!

I first listened to this album while I was still at school and I LOVED it. I borrowed it from the CD shop a few days ago as I hadn't heard it in years. Whilst I wouldn't say I love it now as much as I did 15 years ago, it has some very nice moments.

I like some of the music in the Atom Heart Mother "suite". The cello solo in "Breast Milky" is very nice with an interesting chord progression underpinning it, and I love the section immediately after with the bottleneck guitar and organ blending beautifully to create a very dreamy texture - a classic Pink Floyd sound. The choir section goes on a bit for me with not very much happening, but I quite like the bass line on "Funky Dung" and you can hear the beginnings of David Gilmour's mature guitar style coming through in the solo.

The main thing I don't like about the suite is the bloody brass band which keeps reprising all the way through it. It's a really boring melody, and it just reminds me of fat, drunken gits playing at a local village fete in a Yorkshire mining village (but maybe that's just me).

One more interesting bit is the penultimate chord of the whole piece. Listen to the background chord of choir (especially the bass voices) and brass band - an interesting blend.

As for the rest of the album, the best bit for me is the final part of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, another very interesting and unusual chord progression. Some of the sound effects in the background are quite funny too, as are some of "Alan's" musings on breakfast and life-on-the-road.

The other songs don't really do it for me, but that's just a personal thing. However, the lyrics to "If" are interesting in that they point the way towards some of the themes of later albums.

Overall, the album is clearly an experiment and doesn't feel like it was thought through very much (unlike "Dark Side" and "The Wall"). The focus is clearly the title-track, with the rest being fillers, each written by a different member of the band (obviously Floyd was much more egalitarian in its approach back then than it later became).

Roger Waters has said that the album was best put in the dustbin and never listened to again. I disagree. Whilst it has its failings, there are enough things in it that are worth hearing more than once.

Ah, Atom Heart Mother. In my opinion, Pink Floyd's first GREAT album. From the cover that has nothing to do with the title, to the title that has nothing to do with the songs (except for being the name of the title track), to the songs that have nothing to do with the cover, the album is nothing short of a brilliant forray into early progressive rock.

The opening track, Atom Heart Mother, with it's six subsequent parts, is one of the most unique songs ever recorded, be it on vinyl, tape, CD, 8-track, you name it. There is simply no other song like it. It twists and turns and bobs and weaves and you never know where it's going to go next; back to the orchestra or into a full blown rock track? One of Pink Floyd's best EVER.

Much like on Ummagumma, each member of the band wrote their own song (except for Nick Mason, but I don't think a 5-minute drum solo would have fit on this album). Side 2 starts off with Roger Water's If, similar in tune to Ummagumma's Grandchester Meadows, yet only in the acoustic section. Other wise the song is a total twist from Grandchester Meadows: where Grandchester was about a boy's seemingly lost childhood, If is about a man's loss of love, or eventual loss of love.

Then it's Rick Wright's Summer '69, with some amazing drumming from Nick Mason, and is porbably the best of Rick Wright's compositions with Pink Floyd.

Dave Gilmour follows up with the billiant Fat Old Sun, with beautiful guitar work and a solo that some find 'uninspiring'. However the solo has beauty to it, and is one of the best in Gilmour's repetoire.

The album ends with the 3-part Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, which features some brilliant music tied together with the sounds of a Pink Floyd roadie making breakfast!

After this, it's all gravy for Floyd fans. They wouldn't make a truly lackluster album untill 1987's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", but with this album started the golden age in Pink Floyd's career.

At the time "Atom Heart Mother" was released in the very early 70's, an extremely strange record with dreamy cow graphics that somehow made the bovines look airy and dignified. This is where Pink Floyd started to evolve from a psychedelic band into a really progressive rock.

1. Atom Heart Mother - The title suite is an epic triumphant piece, fusing classical music and vintage Floyd, 23 minutes plus, with a horn section and choral arrangement. It is also laced with very intresting sound effects ranging from spooked horses, dive bombing planes and explosions just to name a few. Certainly one their most inventive compositions. 5/5

2. If - a folky acoustic ballad about madness. Great lyrics! 3/5

3. Summer '68 - This tune composed by Wright is not only musically complex, but great lyrically as well. Great synthesizer work from Wright on this song. This really is one of Floyd's treasures. Essential! 5/5

4. Fat old sun - is a relaxing and beautiful track about Cambridge England, the Hometown of the writer of the song David Gilmour, excellent guitar solo! 5/5

5. Alan's psychedelic breakfast - ends the album on a melodic/music concrete fusion. It is fine, particularly the third part. Floyd roadie Alan Stiles can be heard through most of the suite, talking whilst making breakfast in what sounds like a very old kitchen. Some of the lines he says, like "Marmalade, I like marmalade..." and "Breakfast in Los Angeles...macrobiotic stuff" are really funny, and lends an intimacy to the piece. Not hard rock by any means. 3/5

Final Note : Overall Atom Heart Mother is a excellent addition to any prog music collection that, while some Floyd fans might not enjoy it, it should appeal to anyone who's capable of appreciating their whole career.

5+3+5+5+3 = 21

21 : 5 = 4,2

Excellent addition to any prog music collection

Curiosity 1.One of the rare consensuses between the four members of Pink Floyd is the judgment of "Atom Heart Mother" as the worse one between its collective efforts.

2.Atom heart Mother was in 1970 the first album of Pink Floyd to hit #1 in UK.

Here we are stading if front of one of the greatest albums ever done, this was the last album i heard from PF and it's my fave one. The 23 minute Atom Heart Mother is the greatest composition PF ever did, very symphonic and it also includes one of the best endings i've heard. the next three songs are very good ones. Summer '68 it's simply awesome, Fat Old Sun has a place in my heart. And the last track Alan's psychedelic breakfast shows the most symphonic prog that PF could get. i love that melody mostly at third movement: morning glory. no doubt, i say it deserves 5/5.

This album is one that either a P.F. fan will dislike or at least say it's different. It's hard to say that it is a bad album because the A.H.M. Suite is incredible. The orchestration is excellent. Now that is where some poeple may not like it. Some people believe that P.F. is to good to be using a background orchestra. I say it creates a more majestic feel. Howeve, P.F.s presence is still felt. You hear the guitar and keyboard etc. It can be looked at as a collaberation. The third side is a bit different. We have the gentle sounding "IF, The slight psycheledic beachboysish "SUMMER 68". FAT OLD SUN and to top it off with ALANS PSYCHELEDIC BREAKFAST". The tunes are good but not keeping tone with one another, it' s like Waters, Wright and Gilmour are all doing a solo song on the second side. OVerall the album is pretty good but (as the above star rating puts it) not essential. Meddle is a Must!!

I bought this album in 1972 (my first prog acquisition) and having passed 1/3 of a century here I am pleasantly making a review of it. What I mean is that time remained steady as this work is perennial, really!

The tracks:

Side A comprises only one song - and what a song! 1) Atom heart mother - the title-song is a true EPIC, a piece to be placed in the pantheon of the most important compositions of the contemporary music (ok, in 100 years ahead it'll be no more contemporary but still important). When I heard it for the first time I didn't know what to expect - I thought it could be some jazzy or experimental dull work, but it functioned like a kind of mind-cleaner; after that moment: prog-addiction forever. The song has passages that could be easily signed by any musical genius, also here and there it sounds like a dream-song and then the guitar appears to remember us that it is rock - and we rock too. A masterpiece by its own.

Side B is divided into 3 individual works and a different and unusual track. 2) If - a soft and cool song with some folky touch and a nice guitar backing. 3) Summer '68 - the song that impelled me to go the shop and buy the album. It still occupies a special room in my mind - and it is beautiful, with the piano, the choir, the singing; one of the most agreeable love songs of the entire prog universe. 4) Fat old sun - a warm and balladesque song praising our leading star and the effects it causes on us; the same good effect of this particular song. 5) Alan's psychedelic breakfast - interesting, sometimes experimental, sometimes funny, sometimes pleasant with moments of good music and some others quite dull. To be listened not frequently.

Side A: 5 stars; Side B: 4.5 stars. Total rating: 4.75 stars => 5 stars.

First and foremost, i have always been a fan of Floyd. From my early years as an adventerous acid-head ( Honestly, to this day, when I hear Chapter 24 off of Pipers, I come as close to an acid flashback as one possibly can) to this present day, I still greatly enjoy Pink Floyd's quality music. Atom Heart is not one of them( to this the band themselves also agreed) The suite is both confusing and boring, it's experimentation failing in it's attempt to captivate. The acoustic songs on "side two "are pleasant, yet very unremarkable, if fact, the only song off of this album that is kept on my I-pod is Alan's psychedelic breakfast.. This piano/ acoustic piece I find to still be "relaxing' and it is kept on my "sleeptime" playlist. Yearing for an introduction to the band, start with Dark side of the moon or Wish you were here, which are both 5 star. Atom heart? Collectors only.

Some people may be entirely too harsh on this record, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason to name a few. However, while it is still not even close to the best of Pink Floyd's work, this album does retain a certain charm that makes it enjoyable and unique in the Pink Floyd collection. This album marks the start of a short lived period in Pink Floyds career, that i like to call the "pastoral period".

Side one opens with the ambitious title track, this is what has caused so much controversy among the band themselves, and their critics. In truth the piece has some beautiful moments, the choral arrangements are quite stunning at times and their is some excellent cello to be heard also. The brass arrangements have their moments but sometimes come in a little too harsh, the piece is also too long and not enough strong ideas are put forward to match the ambition of the work. It also sees some members of the band struggling to keep in time and sometimes feels only half finished and rushed, nevertheless it is a very interesting piece and an experiment worth trying out.

Side two is a vast improvement, containing some of the most peaceful and relaxing works the band ever did, which can be a break from the darker Waters led albums of the late 70s (The Wall). Although, Waters became their most significant songwriter in later albums, his composition "If" is the weakest song on the album. Moving forward though, Rick Wrights sole composition "Summer 68" is an excellent track, and one of the best songs he ever wrote, A lively (almost psychedelic) piano led track featuring powerful vocals and some more brass arrangements from Geesin. David Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" is another memorable track from the album, A dreamy, almost lazy song containing wedding bells and a nice solo to finish. The last track on the album is another instrumental, the wonderful "Alan's psychedelic Breakfast", this may be regarded as the bands silliest moment (you can hear a roadie talking to himself as he cooks his breakfast) but it is also one of the more pastoral tracks, wonderful piano, sweet acoustic guitar, a great track to unwind to.

Overall the album does lack the spark that would be so evident on their next effort, meddle. But it did give us some wonderful tracks and a great topic of dicussion. 3.5 stars.

I've listened to that album plenty of times and loved it, and I'm a big Floyd fan, but I just can't give five stars to it. The first track is amazing, putting together theatral elements and some of the first Gilmour's solos. It goes on from the first minute to the end without any blink. Then, personnaly, If, the weakest song on the album. Good lyrics, but not complex or at least melodic. Summer 68, is to my opinion, like a lot of Floyd fans, a very great song, unique in its genre. Fat old sun is also good, with a good guitar. Finally, Alan's psychedelic breakfast ending the album in a very space song, floating in the air. Good track. All this together fits, but it ain't perfect. 4 stars is good for this must into prog historyl.

Atom Heart Mother. First Pink Floyd box office. Excellent album.

Tittle track - almoust 24 minutes suite - is excellent instrumental work with many moods and colours. Recorded with orchestra make it more intriguing. Superb collective work. One of the best composition ever. If is very nice, almoust folk sounded song, sang by Waters with acoustic guitar accompaniment and Gilmour's slide guitar solo. Summer 68 is Rick Wright song wuth excellent mood change and great brass section. Fat Old Sun. Folkish and idyllic Gilmour's song with nice guitar solo. Alan's Psychodelic Breakfast is a experimental impression built of three themes interweave into sounds of prepared and eaten breakfast.

Masterpiece of Progressive Rock!!

In my opinion this is a Floyd classic.

The title track is just incredible, really showing a transition point in Floyd's musical style. It's a completely unique sound, and it's something I never tire of.

The rest of the album is compromised of shorter tracks, each different to the last. The two highlights for me are the laidback 'Fat Old Sun', and the downright weird, yet brilliant, 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast.'

If you're a Floyd fan and don't have this, make sure you do, and very soon too!

Well... who wants a super-orchestra in a prog rock record?! I saw here criticism about the orchestra in the tittle track - the 24 minutes suite. For me, the orchestra was excellent... a great music, a great way to combine band and orchestra, a great way to make progressive rock! The second great masterpiece of the album is "Summer 68", a beautiful song by Wright, that make us smile every time that we heard it. The others music was ok, but nothing special (maybe "If" is the main song between the others). This album is great, but it isn't comparable with Dark Side, Whish you were here, or Animals.

after perhaps 15 years i heard again AHM. PF do not belong among my most favorite groups (genesis, yes, rush, vdgg), but i admit that they did a lot of for music. they produce great majestic but in principle very simple musical architecture. and in AHM they showed it for the first time. slow moving trains of tones, very impressive union of music and various artificial or natural sound. It was 1970, and at that time, there was an experiment. but it has survived definitely. I give it 5*, although i like some music much more than this one (genesis, yes, rush, vdgg). but it was the beggining, not so much deppression, not so much laboratory perfection and sterility as it was in later albums of PF.

In the grand, color-bending tradition of psychedelic experimentalism, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother takes as its title an inscrutable phrase and under the title launches a similarly inscrutable--or at least dense-- musical concatenation. The title suite features French-horn-led brass melodies riffed on by David Gilmour's guitar and the rhythm section, all of which veers into choral passages that recall Gy�rgy Ligeti's vocal works and then almost atonal pulses of keyboards that mask reams of audio snippets swirling underneath. And then there's some moody folk from Roger Waters, an almost Kinks-ish rambler from Richard Wright, then more moody folk (this time from Gilmour) on "Fat Old Sun," and, to close, the spirited melodic runaround of "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast." There's a range of emotion here, from doleful to crazed to humorous (especially the dramatized comments on macrobiotics in the closer). Atom Heart Mother was a spotlight ahead for Pink Floyd, showing the extensions of form the band would engage in so successfully on Dark Side of the Moon just a few short years later.

This is one of my favorite prog albums of the seventies. Well, to make it clear, I always refer to this album with the title track "Atom Heart Mother" which comprises seven movements. It's not to say that other tracks are bad ones, it's more on my habit of playing this album only the title track because at that time I was not really into any kind of psychedelic music which sounded to me very boring. For the sake of this review, I have listened to the album in its entirety to give you my opinion towards this album. Otherwise, my review will be biased against the first track only.

In this album the band took grandiose approach by inviting Ron Geesin to work especially on chorus and orchestra he added at the title track. The use of orchestra in prog music has always been my favorite so my opinion about this album is definitely biased towards my personal preferences. But, specific with this long track, if I put aside the orchestra addition I still can see the beauty of the song especially in its harmony and catchy melody. The opening part with an ambient nuance followed with a blast of the orchestra which flows uniquely from one part to another - especially the use of brass instruments - ha made a special experience for me. Not only that. The duet of Gilmour's stunning guitar work and Wright's organ / keyboard work is another great enjoyment to experience for me. The choir which comprises non-lyrical voices of female and male is another point of attraction especially in an angular fashion. Well, for me personally, this is a wonderfully crafted composition with powerful songwriting and great performance. Listening to this track is a joy and most of the time I realized that the end of the song seemed so sudden because of full of enjoyment throughout the 23 minutes duration. Please note, at that time there was no Yes "Close To The Edge", no Genesis "Supper's Ready", no Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick". King Crimson had already released "In The Court of The crimson King" but there was no track which consumed 23 minute duration. So, this track can be considered as a pioneer of long epic in prog. Probably the other one was Procol Harum's "In Held Twas I".

The remaining space of the disc contains songs that - for my personal taste - does not stimulate something stand-out, musically. The ballad "If" can be considered as a snoozer. Half way through of "Summer '68" is something on good intro but the coda part is something off-track. "Fat Old Sun" seems to me like a track that functions as a "filler" only to make the disc full. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is the band's exploration on different kind of sounds but nothing special can be heard.

Overall, this album still has a strong appeal to me because of the title track. The other tracks are not something that please my ears which I tend to skip them. I still consider this as an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I've been a Pink Floyd fan for years and track down all their obscure stuff just like every other fan. This album usually falls through the cracks when Pink Floyd's massive canon of work is reviewed. Too bad, because this album is truly groundbreaking. Listen to such magic as Summer of 68, which uses some nice horn work. The title track is a sprawling opus mixing classical, rock and funk with great effect. My all-time favorite is Fat Old Sun, which just might be the best PF song ever. The guitar track in this song is quite simply mindblowing. Even better then Comfortably Numb, in my opinion. The album is rounded out by the acoustic beauty of If and the fun Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, which has great percussion work by Nick Mason.

Any serious Floyd aficianado already has this album, but budding fans need to pick it up. Besides, you newbies have to give yourself a break from The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, anyway!

When I first got Atom Heart Mother, I was really turned off by basically the whole album. Now after many listens it has grown from a very mediocre album to a good, but unbalanced one. Pink Floyd's prime starts with their next album, Meddle, and ends at The Wall.

The first side of the album is the 23-minute epic, Atom Heart Mother. This is actually a very nice song, not quite a masterpiece to me, but very good nonetheless. Nice keyboards and guitar (as usual), beautiful vocals, and the orchestration is fantastic! There isn't really any one moment of this song that jumps out me, it's a very smooth, pleasing ride all the way through. Atom Heart Mother is the type of song best listened to with your eyes closed and ears focusing on the music... and you're in for a crazy ride!

The second side of the album is very subpar for Pink Floyd. It begins with If, a very boring and repetitive song that seems to last a lot longer than four minutes. Summer '68, although out of place, is easily the best song on this side and shows what these guys are capable of. It starts with a lovely piano intro and some vocals... then quickly evolves into a brilliant psychedelic song topped off with superb brass. This is probably my favorite Pink Floyd short song, and that is saying quite a bit. Next is Fat Old Sun, which is somewhat boring, but nearly as bad as If. If you're in the mood, this is actually a very fine and relaxing song, complete with some excellent guitar. Finally, the album concludes with Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. There is some very soothing, instrumental music here, but between these bits of music is pointless and annoying noise.

This album is really 3.5 stars (4 for the first side, 3 for the second), but since it is so inconsistant, I have to round it down to a 3. I wouldn't recommend anybody getting this except for an experienced Pink Floyd fan. Their next 5 albums and The Division Bell are much more solid and overall better. Still, this is certainly a nice album and a logical stepping stone for the band between Ummagumma (which I dislike) to Meddle (which is an excellent album).

Having in mind that PF are classified under Psychedelic/Space Rock, I'd say that with this album Pink Floyd made farewell to their psychedelic period and turned definitely towards space phase, I would even dare to say extraterrestrial, since it has brought numerous anthological prog releases in subsequent seven year period. 'Atom Heart Mother' was step number one in this time spam. From peculiar gatefold cover of the record to the musical substance which merged rock , orchestration and choir it was remarkable music material.In that year, 1970 it was , bands of similar rock orientation were merely emerging on the prog rock scene with rather unassuming material of their own. This album, on the contrary, strongly pulled up in the direction of unexplored and immence prog rock musical space and even today stands out as an excellent representative of rock genre that we are all so enthusiastic about - progressive rock.

I listened to this album shortly after I bought Meddle, and while finding it inferior, that fact it came before Meddle, basically meant what they failed to accomplish here, would shouw up in thier next album, for that I think this is a great album

Atom Heart Mother Suite (4.5/5): A great prog epic (nowhere close to the perfection of "Echoes". Whiole the first three minutes are fairly awkward, as are a couple sequences of odd chanting, the rest is an amazing compostion of instrumental music, the climatic buildup at the end is awesome

If (5/5): My favorite song on the album, and contians a few things in the lyrics that forshadow "The Wall". An excellent number

Summer '68 (3/5): While many consider this a good song, I don't like it as much, to repetitive and not as good as Wright's other early so credits (Paintbox, is his best)

Fat Old Sun (5/5): A cool song with some great guitar work. I prefer the extended versions of this song that was played in the early concert (availble on many ROIOs)

Alan's Psychedlic Breakfast (4/5): Probably the oddest thing I have heard, and the instrumental sections are totally random. I genrally don't like this song, but simply for the fact they put the sound of a frying egg in it because tghey could, it desrves a good grade

5/5

I have a book written by Miles called "Pink Floyd" (Omnibus Press, 1988). In this book there are fragments of inteviews with some of the members of the band about their opinion about this album. Some of the members said : "That album was crap...". I couldn`t believe their opinion about this album. The same happened to me when I read an interview done with Tears for Fears `bassist Curt Smith. He was asked about his first solo album, called "Soul On Board" (1993). He said: "That album was a compromise with the record label, I don`t like it, and I don`t expect that people are going to listen to it... don`t bother to find it in the record shops and to listen to it...it doesn`t represent me as an artist". With both Pink Floyd and Curt Smith I disagree: both albums are good.

In the case of "Atom Heart Mother", Side One of the old L.P. has the "Atom Heart Mother" musical piece, which has interesting arrangements, including an orchestra and a choir, "The John Aldiss Choir". I was surprised recently when I discovered that some of my late father`s albums in his long Classical Music record collection include this choir in works of several composers. The orchestral arrangements were composed by the band with Ron Geessin, who previously worked with Roger Waters in an album called "The Body". Rick Wright particularly worked more with Geesin in these arrangements. I can`t see why the band despise this musical piece, I think that it was unfair. Some choral arrangements are similar to some parts of Carl Orff`s "Carmina Burana" a bit.

Side Two of the old L.P. starts with "If", a song composed by Waters, which has acoustic guitar, a bit of drums, a bit of keyboards, a slide guitar solo and very good lyrics. The next song is "Summer of `68", composed by Wright, is the best song in this album and also has a very good orchestral arrangement. It also has good lyrics which seems to be about waking up after spending the night with a groupie. The next song, "Fat Old Sun", composed by Gilmour, is another good song. The album is finished with "Alan`s Psychedelic Breakfast", an experimental instrumental piece with sound effects added, which is the less interesting song in the album.

What rating can one give to albums like this which are not liked by their composers? I could give a four star rating, but, after reading their opinions about this album, I give a three star rating to it.

Produced during Pink Floyd's most experimental period, the transition between their original psychedelic sound and the more restrained and concise sound of 'Dark Side of the Moon' and beyond, 'Atom Heart Mother' is certainly a very interesting item in the band's discography. And that's not just because of the huge cow on the cover.

The title 'suite' of Atom Heart Mother is a 24 minute piece combining the instrumental skills of the band with orchestration. Now a common occurrence, even outside of prog with bands such as Metallica and even Kiss teaming up with local symphonies for a classical treatment of their hits, Pink Floyd were (arguably) the first to combine these elements and created what to some fans is a masterpiece; to others, a waste of time. Most commend its effort.

Modern 80-minute-capable CDs hide some of the nice touches of these early prog albums, especially in their separation of longer, 'epic' pieces from more accessible, straightforward numbers on alternate sides of the original LP. With their following album, the excellent 'Meddle,' Pink Floyd saved the 20-odd minute piece for the finale, after warming up with shorter songs of varying degrees of originality. With Atom Heart Mother, the listener is thrust into the odd but enjoyable bombast from the onset.

SIDE ONE

1. Atom Heart Mother a) Father's Shout b) Breast Milky c) Mother Fore d) Funky Dung e) Mind Your Throats Please f) Remergence

The separation of movements in the title suite are largely irrelevant, especially as no corresponding subject matter is being conveyed (interpret the real meaning of the music as you wish). The powerful and effective opening theme sets things up nicely and is easily the highlight of the song, resurfacing about two-thirds of the way through as a kind of premature conclusion before the music veers wildly away from its original sound. Around about 'Breast Milky' the song becomes subdued and led by Roger Waters' bass until a choir eventually joins ('Mother Fore'?), chanting unintelligible lyrics that nonetheless suit the music.

Ominous synthesised sounds with varying degrees of effectiveness take over at around fifteen minutes, similar to what would later emerge from Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) twenty-five years later, before the final five or so minutes, after the announcement 'silence in the studio,' mainly showcase David Gilmour's excellent guitar work, backed by a cacophony of horns.

This song is interesting. Long, but not unbearable. In fact I really like it. The whole thing is pretty overblown, especially when heard in contrast to the other half of the album, and the orchestration does tend to flood the speakers when it would be nicer to hear the band play in accompaniment. Even leaving aside the originality, this is enjoyable to listen to for fans of progressive rock and classical music, but probably nobody else in the universe. It's interesting to see the increasing departure from long, meandering space rock of 'A Saucerful of Secrets' and 'Careful With that Axe, Eugene' towards the more meaningful and palatable epics 'Echoes' and 'Dark Side of the Moon,' even if this does sit a little uncomfortable in the middle ground.

SIDE TWO

2. If 3. Summer '68 4. Fat Old Sun 5. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast a) Rise and Shine b) Sunny Side Up c) Morning Glory

As usual for the band at this stage of their career, the reverse side (or 'the other songs') is less of an ensemble effort, seeing each band member contribute a song they have written themselves. Unlike the non-live songs on the previous album 'Ummagumma,' these songs involve all (or most) band members and don't serve as irritating solo pieces that are only of use to critics of the band and the genre. The songs contained here are a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from exceptionally inspired to rubbish.

'If' and 'Fat Old Sun' are soft, slow acoustic pieces, the first of which, Waters' piece, almost seems like a cynical precursor to the later days of 'The Wall' and 'The Final Cut.' It's nice and very quiet, perhaps what is needed after the title track (for those listeners paying attention at least), but nothing extraordinary. The same goes for Gimour's 'Fat Old Sun,' although clocking in at nearly six minutes it does drag on, especially as 'If' has already been included. He does contribute some nice subdued guitar though.

'Summer '68' is, for most fans, the highlight of this second side, and for me is the high point of the album. Not completely original, sounding similar to a quiet Beatles song in the verses, the chorus and instrumental sections mark this out as something special. Keyboard man Rick Wright recruits a less imposing horn section for a great refrain, personally reminding me of synthesised video game soundtracks from the early nineties, which is often a good thing. The acoustic guitar is put through its paces and sounds nicely strained as the music becomes a little louder, while the ending is a nice continuation that avoids the band's annoying habit of simply repeating what's already happened in a track. Perhaps diluted by its acoustic neighbours on this CD, 'Summer '68' is a reasonably obscure Pink Floyd classic.

In contrast to this, we have 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast.' Fourteen stupid minutes passed of as a jamming conclusion. The lack of any real coherence in the album is a little relaxing, and this song epitomises the attitude. Prog fans who have listened to later, more complex albums like 'The Wall' or 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' by Genesis are allowed to rest their brains with some half-arsed ditties and sound effects structured around the loose theme of having breakfast in Los Angeles.

'Rise and Shine' is a little piano ditty that could be seen to represent the breaking of morning, but wouldn't really do this without the background noises and repetition of 'marmalade, I like marmalade' (good for you), 'Sunny Side Up' brings in the guitar to play a forgettable soothing tune ending with the crackling of frying pans and yet more recorded breakfast dialogue, leaving 'Morning Glory' (wa-hey!) to try and justify the song's inclusion a bit by introducing what sounds like a Hammond organ. Strange, but that sounds like a contradiction in terms to me. A silly song, but if you're occupied and don't realise that the album's still playing after the thirty minute mark it isn't the end of the world.

Maybe I've been a little harsh on some of the content here, after all I do view Atom Heart Mother as primarily an album to soothe the savage beast. The first track is too long, but what the hell? At least it doesn't try to keep the listener hanging on every little instrument change like some modern progressive metal. It obviously isn't up the standard of classical music, it's a prog rock song, so for rock fans, it's a nicer alternative (unless we're talking Mussorgsky). 'If' is interesting, 'Summer '68' is great, 'Fat Old Sun' is a little unnecessary and 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' is sufficiently quiet.

The sound quality of this album isn't really comparable to the band's later work, and this does date it more than their technically accomplished work from 1973 onwards. Pink Floyd fans who have started later on in the catalogue would we advised to tread backwards slowly and carefully, savouring this album's follow-up 'Meddle' and perhaps taking in the psychedelic 1973 debut before picking up the one with the cow on the front.

Okay, this is one of my favorite albums by Pink Floyd, and I'm still not 100% sure why. It just stuck to me, in a way. But I will try my best to review it. Okay, the albums that Pink Floyd made before this one were Piper at the Gates of Dawn(1967), A Saucerful of Secrets(1968), More(1969), and Ummagumma (1969). All were highly acid-based rock, and definitely prominent, great songs, but something seemed off. Maybe it's because the previous albums sounded more like garageband acid rock, and not professional recordings. Then 1970 came, and Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother. Wow! This album sounded like a big shock after the last four albums, particularly in sound quality and the tightness and seriousness of the writing. I believe that it is not Dark Side of the Moon that Pink Floyd became a force to be reckoned with, but it was this album, three years earlier, that Pink Floyd made that fateful transition. The album, due to professional studio equipment, sounded truly good and smooth, the collaborations seemed to be right on for the first time, and the songs seemed deeper and more serious, while still retaining their psychedelic quality. This album seemed more classically-based, as opposed to rough acid-rock. The way they wrote the album is very cool as well. They have a very long composition that they all work together on, before each doing their own solo track(Waters, Wright, Gilmour), and then coming together for one final long composition. Note: If you want to hear some of Pink Floyd's louder and rocking music such as that on Animals or The Wall, I might think twice about this one. Atom Heart Mother, like 1971's Meddle, is very mellow, almost classical, rock.' Now, I will review the album song-by-song.

1. Atom Heart Mother(Father's Shout, Breast Milky, Mother Fore, Funky Dung, Mind Your Throats Please, Remergence) 5/5 Okay, I personally think this is one of the best compositions that Pink Floyd has ever written, but it's an aquired taste. Many people think it sounds strange or scattered(my mother feels uncomfortable when she hears it), but I'll tell you my feelings about it. I don't think it's scattered, i just think it's different. When you start the album, you slowly hear a few almost unconcievable notes, before you hear an orchestra building up in the background, and eventually you hear very experimental trumpets playing, and this is one of the parts that annoys people I know who have listened to it. Then Floyd kicks in with their playing, and this is the main theme for Father's Shout. It took me a few listens, but now I rock to this theme. Then the weird trumpets kick in again, then the main theme, then it cools off into Breast Milky, with some inspired keyboarding by Rick Wright. I love this part because it is a mellow transition off Father's Shout and it flows really well. Then after about two minutes of this, with occasional jams from Mason and Gilmour, with Waters' bass line in the background the whole time, a very spooky female voice starts singing as we go into Mother Fore. This never fails to shiver my spine. Then it's really mellow keyboarding, and we get into Funky Dung, which is the most rocking part of the composition, with lots of material by all four members. Then we reach Mind Your Throats Please, and we can see why. Several people are chanting unrecognizable phrases. This is also a particularly unsettling part of the suite. Then that tapers down, in a very quiet way, and Remergence is basically Father's Shout all over again, and we end with a very climactic sound. Great composition, definitely a great piece of prog rock, but not for fans of accessable Floyd.

2. If Such a beautiful mellow song. Sung and played by Roger Waters, this is a simple and quiet song. Very pastoral. Very much like A Pillow of Winds in Meddle.

3. Summer '68 Rick Wright songs are rare, and this may be the best. Mellow, but not slow, Wright does a great job singing and plays a beautiful, dramatic piano, and the middle of the song has a very dramatic classical feel to it.

4. Fat Old Sun Pure psychedelia, direct from David Gilmour. Gilmour obviously has fun with this one, and I believe that's what this album is. Nice, quiet song, especially after listening to what Gilmour usually does(such as the solo he does on "Dogs"-don't get me wrong, this is one of the greatest pieces of music ever).

5. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast(Rise and Shine, Sunny Side Up, Morning Glory) Most avant-garde and classical piece on the album, I believe. It features the sounds of a man cooking breakfast and his thoughts about the matter. Lots of very good piano, hardly any rock elements whatsoever. Except for the breakfast sounds, this could easily be a piano concerto from over a hundred and fifty years ago. Took me a while to get used to this one, but I love it now, just like the others.

I personally feel this is a masterpiece of progressive rock, not just because of the music quality, but also because of the historical significance of Pink Floyd's transition. If you are just learning about Pink Floyd, you should try Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here first. But if you are venturing into the more obscure and experimental side, I believe Atom Heart Mother is the best first choice.

'Atom Heart Mother' is a reasonable effort from the floyd. Atom Heart Mother is wierd but in a strange way quite good. However I think 24 minutes is too long for this tune. 6/10

If is a great folky ballad from Roger Waters that is easy listening and is a refreshing change from the usual harder more progressive rock that the floyd usually produce. 7/10

Summer of '68' is the best song on the album. I love Rick Wrights beautiful piano and the brass band elements of the tune. 9/10

'Fat Old Sun' by David Gilmour is good, a very lazy relaxing tune and a nice addition to the album. 8/10

Alans Psychadelic Breakfast is pretty poor but as its an early floyd album you have to understand and respect the experimentation and the whole concept of the song. 5/10

Atom Heart Mother is not up there with 'Wish You Were Here or Meddle' but you have to realise that they developed their brand of progressive rock by experimenting with albums like this. If you listen to floyd albums you can always notice that the album that proceeds the last always carrys an element from the last album, i.e. Meddle to Dark Side of the Moon or Animals to The Wall.

There is always continous development by Pink Floyd and this album represents part of that growth.

Overall Score 7/10.

Atom Heart Mother- Im going to review all my favourite albums today and this one is no exception. Like Meddle this album contains an album side epic called Atom Heart Mother. It is a largely orchestral song which contains very little instrumentation from the band but instead from an orchestra and a choir. The song is brilliant in its composition and structure. Prog songs can sometimes get tedious around the 20 minute mark, but this song stays fresh from start to finish. Summer '68 is a very happy song that really cheers you up ni the morning. Other people have noted that this song is their wake up song in the morning and its true for me as well. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is a trippy little tune that also makes this album a gem. This album is largely overshadowed by the follow-up albums released by Pink Floyd but never-the-less it is still deserving of credit as a prog-classic.

I must confess that the ONLY reason I kept off this album for a long time was that BOTH Gilmour and Waters dismissed their own once-lovingly nurtured child as a load of trash. I figured that since Gimour and Waters agreeing on something is such a rare event, they must be right. How terribly wrong I was! It seems to me that their only possible intention in saying so could have been to keep casual listeners or first time Floydians well away from this album, lest it scares them off from their more accessible later works. Coming to the album, it opens with the 23 minute long Atom Heart Mother suite. This is almost a dry run for the 'real' masterpiece Echos. The pompous-sounding orchestra and the completely unintelligible human noises in the middle of the track put off most listeners from concentrating and appreciating the striking similarities between this and Echos. Funky dung is very similar to the 'upbeat' guitar section in Echos and there is a wailing keyboard playing in the keyboard, just the way you are led into the 'whale' section in Echos. But for me, it's the tender violin section supposed to be 'Breast Milky' that's the highlight of the whole 23 minutes you spend on this track. Turn to side 2 and you have three songs each for Waters, Wright and Gilmour in that order. Waters and Gilmour adopt a lazy pace, taking up all the time in the world to say what they have to, while Wright surprises you with an up-tempo and uplifting pop track. I can promise you it's nothing like anything Floyd you've heard. Whether a happy Floyd song is a good or bad thing is upto you, of course. It works for me. The interesting thing about these songs is how similar the voices of three very different musicians sound. Yup, it clearly belongs to a time when Floyd was more of a band rather than a Roger Waters enterprise. Infact, the overall atmosphere of the albums from Atom Heart to Welcome to the machine in WYWH is not so different, because up until that song, Waters hadn't yet embarked on his style of filling entire songs, then albums with his rants - although very well-written rants at that - about the world in general. So while Floyd sounded sometimes eerie and sometimes irritatingly playful, from Welcome to the machine onwards (no wonder it sounds worthier of The Wall rather than WYWH) there was a focussed anger in their tone.So, while Atom Heart influences are present in all albums until then and even in Animals, things change when you run into The Wall. But enough about their later work. Now let's turn our attention to the last and much- reviled track in the album - Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. IMO this isn't anywhere as trippy or plain irritating filler as the title suggests. There are three instrumental themes preceded and bound together by sounds right out of the breakfast table. But if you are patient and reasonably tolerant of the band's directionless ramblings, you can once again see how this 'load of trash' found its way into subsequent and much acclaimed Floyd albums. Though the themes are slow to develop and don't really develop into much anyway, it's still good music - prog or not, psychedelic or not. On the whole, this compares very favourably with their later works musically. Unfortunately, Floyd haven't yet discovered how to cut the diamond in the rough into a priceless gem. In more cynical terms - how to build up a relatively simple theme into a grand concept and how to do the best possible job of recording your work so that it packs that extra punch. But clearly, a prog-rock fan can't be looking at good packaging as a criterion of the quality of the music. If you think this is at the end of the day musically shallow, then it pretty much holds true for the rest of their work as well. Floyd have never really been about intricate and unplayable instrumental passages though they were a bit of the latter in the Barret era. They have tried to evoke an atmosphere through the music and convey thought-provoking messages through the lyrics. The band struggles on these counts in this album, but there is a distinct mood to this album as well. If you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last!

Atom Heart Mother is a masterpiece!.

I haven't heard anything getting close to this; it is a perfect album from start to finish, the Atom Heart Mother Suite clockin' in at 23 minutes is a journey, every segment is perfect, and they fit so well together with such an end!!, excellent composition, this is the epic of all epics!. then when Atom is over, the floyd relaxes us all of all action that has just occured with the almost inperceptible "If", a composition by "boss" Waters. " Summer '68" is another excellent theme, that climb us again to where Floyd does it best, after that "Fat Old Sun" which is one of the best Floyd ballads at the time and personally it gives me a unique feeling. The album closes with the great " Alan's psychedelic breakfast" a suite in three parts that sounds perfect, great keybords, great guitars, great everything; the song has also a very good end.

I think this is Pink Floyd at its most symphonic, and for me this is their best album. i really don't know why this is so underrated. All is bliss, All is bliss!.

Underated Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" is the beginning of a new era. Songs are just totally good and they're getting their typical sound. This is the album which makes Pink Floyd always better album from album maybe until Waters departure (even if I still consider those albums good but not as masterpiece). The following album, "Meddle", just confirmed that Pink Floyd is growing. An awesome album which all Pink Floyd fans must have in their collection.

I've been a Pink Floyd fan for years and track down all their obscure stuff just like every other fan. This album usually falls through the cracks when Pink Floyd's massive canon of work is reviewed. Too bad, because this album is truly groundbreaking. Listen to such magic as Summer of 68, which uses some nice horn work. The title track is a sprawling opus mixing classical, rock and funk with great effect. My all-time favorite is Fat Old Sun, which just might be the best PF song ever. The guitar track in this song is quite simply mindblowing. Even better then Comfortably Numb, in my opinion. The album is rounded out by the acoustic beauty of If and the fun Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, which has great percussion work by Nick Mason.

Any serious Floyd aficianado already has this album, but budding fans need to pick it up. Besides, you newbies have to give yourself a break from The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, anyway!

Shine On Your Crazy Diamond?, Echoes?, Atom Heart Mother?; the three have the same level of raw score and technical ability ,but one factor allowed me to rate the latter higher.

And the factor is: Geesin. Pink Floyd was able to write some complex melodies (at times), but only with cosmetic brass arrangements and deliciously funny chants, their music deserves to be "over-the-top", and they get away with it. It dragged for Roger Waters when they found and stayed with the formulaic style they developed later around 1973; but for me, this version of "The Pink Floyd Sound" (as it was called with Syd's lead) was the most daring and irreverent (as opposed to the more conservative style of the mid-70's), very similar to what Deep Purple was doing a year before. Despite that, the band's trademark sound was already present: Gilmour's calculated licks, accompanied by Mason's thumping drums, Wright's basic keyboard and Waters' complementing bass lines.

Of course it's not a masterpiece; it certainly has flaws; the turn-off factor is the cheesy keyboard randomness in "Mind Your Throats Please". Then again, many things about this album is random, starting with the cover photo. Suddenly they thought about doing a suite about how cows serve for clothing and milking. The rest of the album is highly uninteresting, or pleasant and pastoral at best, with Summer '68 being the most addictive ditty, while "If" and "Fat Old Sun" are very conservative and repetitive. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is just a collage of sounds from daily morning chores, and nothing really excuses it from being a filler.

2.5 stars rounded to 3.... proof that sometimes daring is good.

I purchased this album in 1973. At that time, I already knew "Meddle" and "Ummagumma". I must say that this was a major disappointment for me. After a few spin (very few) of B- side and a few more of Side 1, I left it unheard for over thirty years.

So, would I change my mind in 2006 (I wrote this review in December but finalize it now) ?

I think that the best review I can refer to is the one from Roger Waters himself, telling about AHM, I quote :

"I wouldn't dream of performing anything that embarassing... I'm not playing that rubbish" ! I totally agree with him.

If this is not sufficient, here is what Gilmour says about it : "All I've ever tried to do is play music that I like listening to. Some of it now, like Atom Heart Mother, strikes me as absolute crap".

Then : ""...a load of rubbish, to be honest with you. We were at a real down point. We didn't know what on earth we were doing or trying to do at that time, none of us.

Are you convinced ? These are the best review for AHM. From persons that can not be categorized as anti Floyd, right ?

These quotes are posted on the official Floyd's web-site, so no invention here.

I do not usually read other reviews before writing mines to avoid being biased but when I looked at some ratings for this one (4 or even 5 stars - the masterpiece status !) I honestly believe that there is something wrong here.

Although Waters is maybe too hard with AHM. Actually, the title track is not bad; but the orchestration and choirs are so pompous. I prefer live renditions of this track. The track is then more rock-oriented and nice to listen to, really. You can hear it on some unofficial releases like "Atom Heart Mother Goes On" from the Paris Theater in London for instance.

B-side of this album is of the caliber of their studio work (?) from Ummagumma (maybe "Fat Old Son" is a bit better) : like David and Roger said : rubbish. Two stars (considering side one as three star and side two ...).

The band hate this album, especially the title suite, which was more thrown together rather than explicitly created as a work of art. But it is a wonderfully atmospheric piece, a psych masterpiece involving choir, orchestra and band in a truly Prog work that stretches across a number of sections that evolve slowly, worming their way into your brain before changing shape. The second side is excellent too: Water's reflective If, Wright's psych Summer 68 with brass band, and Gilmour's bluesy Fat Old Sun. The sound effect laden Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is bearable only once however. While future glories are still far away, this album's title track is the base point of their progress towards the majestic sound of Dark Side. Highly recommended.

This one is great. A combo between psychedelic and symphonic stuff. Pink Floyd is my favourite band. So I'm getting hard when it comes to reviewing their recordrs. Atom Heart Mother, the title track is a great compositions with some of the greatest melodies in prog ever. 23 minutes of different style changes from almost a soundtrack theme to psychedelic madness. Delicious. Then we have If. A simple, but beautiful song by Roger Waters. Some great lyrics here. Summer 68 is one of my favourite Floyd tracks, and the best song Rick Wright ever wrote. Fat Old Sun is a very lazy track, some kind of an acoustic psychedelia. On album it's only a 5 minute piece of music, but when played live it grew up to 16 minutes! And at last Alan Psychedelic Breakfast. As in title we have here an attempt to make a song out of kitchen sounds. Some music also here. Maybe it's too long, but not too bad. I really like this album. Floyd did good on that one.

Without a doubt some and without plus this is a masterful doubtless piece of the progressive rock of all the times, a piece that reunite elements of great elocuencia, concept, misticismo, aesthetic beauty, psicod�licos passages and the beginning of an era in huge truth, I consider of very personal way to this disc like the beginning of the great PINK FLOYD, that that is not only a band of cult of thousands of people that consider the best band of progressive, not if not a band which I generate discs full of ideas and great concepts, that band that I fight to make what really it felt, take all that and make it audible, one projection of the creation of the minds of the members and clear in this case of a special guest of a very compatible variant to the progressive one I talk about the New Age, that does not know that John ANDERSON and Vangelis, have often participated together, but good that is another subject. The sound of this disc is simply brilliant, creating an instrumental piece completely in which the instrumentation is almost symphonic with I touch of rock, a combination that has been wanted to equal with time, those skillful choirs created with the sintetizadores and maquinas of effects, in addition contains simplicity subjects but with a very special beauty and a subject of most conceptual in which it follows the moment of a person Alan and his it had breakfast psicod�lico, in general it is simply a skillful piece and as I say I initiate of a band in important things and unique concepts.

The beginning of Pink Floyd as most of us knew them? Of course it is. Let me explain. This album was the very first time that they started to embrace their talents for spacey sounds and more serene musical landscapes, and this is also where they ditched the hopped-up psychedelics and the made for cinema albums. This is probably as far back in time as any Dark Side of The Moon fan will go, to put it bluntly. On another topic, like many before me have stated, there is absolutely no in between on this album. Either you absolutely love it or you just despise it. Honestly, this album doesn't get the credit it deserves. A lot of rock n' rollers are excited by the hectic A-side and turned off by the atmospheric B-side.

The "Atom Heart Mother" suite gets this progressive show on the road in a fine fashion. The first part, "Father's Shout", is a complete barrage or orchestral arrangements, whereas "Breast Milky" is a more serene and harmonious piece. This flows right into "Mother Fore" which has an almost spooky vocal arrangement, and is closed pretty hard with some intense drumming by Mason. The organ pops back in with some odd time signature changes and "Funky Dung" beings. An excellent guitar showcase for David Gilmour, it slowly starts to change shape and then eventually becomes an organ driven-chant session. Kind of creepy, but you can find yourself laughing at it eventually. "Mind Your Throats Please" is one of the weirdest things Pink Floyd has ever done, musically. A big tip for prog fans, look out for the mellotron here! It makes a rare Pink Floyd sponsored appearance, so don't pass this track up. The cheesy Pink Floyd P.A. announcement is present here as well, making it rather clich�. "Remergence" ends the massive suite with a jam that is very reminiscent of the opening, what with all of the violin chords and such. The full crowd is back for a majestic ending including the band and orchestra. It really does go out with quite a bang!

The second half of the album is geared more towards the individual works pf Gilmour, Waters & Wright. The Waters ballad, "If", is a really beautiful song, even if the lyrics are sometimes of absolutely no sense what so ever. If you pay more attention to the beautiful melodies, then I'm sure you will love this song as well. Wright's piece is next, if you couldn't already tell by the huge organ intro. "Summer '68" is another beautifully atmospheric piece that is enjoyable by anyone and everyone, and even it has it's occasional flare-ups on the keys. Gilmour is the last batter with "Fat Old Sun", and this is once again beautiful in the beginning, but his changes near the end as he manages to sneak in a slashing guitar solo. Now that is beautiful! The band combines forces once again for the album closer named "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast". Most everybody I know thinks that this is a pile of rubbish, and that's exactly what I thought on first listen, but there is a ton of subtle musicianship that not many people know about. I'm sure everyone knows it was named after roadie Alan Styles, but that's a different story. What Pink Floyd was doing was replicating a traditional English breakfast scene, complete with the striking of matches, the sizzling of bacon, and the dripping of water taps. Although the song is far from a favorite of mine, I give it 5 stars just for concept and effort.

One of the greatest concept albums to ever grace my ears pretty much sums it all up here. Excellent ideas, musicianship, and production top off this amazing musical achievement. 5 stars, complete perfection.

With all Pink Floyd's work one must remember that it's all relative when deciding whether you like the album.... Atom Heart Mother, in comparison with Floyd's other work, to be frank, does not arouse the ears as much as the likes of Wish You Were Here or Animals or Dark Side of The Moon, but these three albums are widely recognised as some of the most inspiring, inventive pieces of music ever recorded....so Atom Heart Mother, when listened to, without expectations is actually a FANTASTIC RECORD....

I also must emphasise that if you are casual listener this is not the best place to start. I have compiled a small list of where to start with your Floyd collection at the bottom of this review.

Ok, the review, song by song:

(1) ATOM HEART MOTHER (23:51) (Mason, Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Geesin) [Father's shout/Breast milky/Mother fore/Funky dung/Mind your throats please /Remergence] One of their epics indeed. This colossal atmospheric trip mainly consists of Ron Geesin's horns, and fantastic classical/rock fusion texture which never lets it guard down, despite being a whole side long. The one thing about this song, and probably with most of the album, is that the song is fantastic for background music, but also for when you just want to lie down and focus completely on what your listening to. Each section satisfies by doing something significantly different from the last, and the best parts are returned to appropriately. Compared to a song like 'Money' or 'Have a cigar', this is vastly different, but still seems to fit snugly in place in Pink Floyd's catalogue without feeling like a unnecessary exploration. [9.5/10]

(2) IF (4:24) (Waters) Probably the weakest track, but is definitely a nice relaxing start to second half of the album, in comparison to the majesticaly chaotic title track. Roger Waters sings here, and the instrumentation consists mainly of broken chords played by Waters on acoustic guitar, while Gilmour plays electric. [7.5/10] (3) SUMMER '68 (5:26) (Wright) This was Richard Wright's last solo effort which is suprising due to the fact that this is a very strong track, continuing the laidback feel of 'If' and adding a little psychedelia. The piano on this track is some of Wright's strongest, and is consistently throughout. Starting with a soothing, modest melody which continues into the first verse, it then gains perkiness from the first chorus and stays strong through the more acoustic guitar- dominated sections, and then through the brass sections. [9/10]

(4) FAT OLD SUN (5:17) (Gilmour) IMO, this is a Floyd classic, and is easily the best out of the three solo compositions. Again, the corresponding member has sung his own song, and I would have to say that Gilmour has always had the best voice from Pink Floyd, some of his strongest vocal performances being on great tracks like 'Time' and 'Dogs'. This is essentialy a soft blues rock song, and carries itself with a slow-paced country feel which ends with a nice signature (yet more bluesy) electric guitar solo from Gilmour, with his vocals still noticeable in the background, which is a nice touch. [10/10]

(5) ALAN'S PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST (12:56) (Waters, Mason, Gilmour, Wright) [Rise and shine/Sunny side up/Morning glory] I read somewhere in a review that you should consider the album to end at Fat Old Sun. On the contrary, I look forward to this song, and and is a wonderfully crafted song that goes through three motions, divided by sounds of people making breakfast and what sounds like to me people being asked what they like to eat for breakfast.... no, no, wait...it works a lot better than it sounds. The three instrumental sections consist of 'Rise and shine', a melodic keys-dominated passage ending with some organ, 'Sunny side up', consisting of some equally delightful acoustic guitarwork from Gilmour, and the final, and best section 'Morning Glory', being a satisfying group effort, which ends the album with the dripping of a tap. [9.5/10]

Reccomended order in which to buy your Floyd albums:

First: 'Dark Side Of The Moon', 'The Wall' (the more accesible albums, which don't lose their initial effect) Then: 'Animals', 'Wish You Were Here' (the best albums, but probably more appreciated once your more into Pink Floyd) Then: 'Meddle', 'Atom Heart Mother' (great albums, but not neccesarily for the casual listener) Then: 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn', 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' (by now, you'll probably want to venture into their earlier psychedelic days) Then: 'Ummagumma', 'More', 'Obscured By Clouds' (not for everyone, but still very intriguing stuff, and neccessities for the hardcore fan) Then: 'The Final Cut', 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason', 'The Division Bell'. (Their later efforts, not as inspiring as their 70's work but you gotta catch 'em all)

Such diversity, and yet it always retains its Floydness. This album is a transitional album, recovering from the epileptic fit that was Ummagumma (which was still okay, but random), and moving away from the band's psychedelic roots, as evident with a more relaxed and familiar drumming style from Mason. The First track baring the name of the album, is a somewhat erratic but purely progressive fusion of orchestra and Floyd. "If" is sung by Waters, I believe, and, althoug possessing a good melody, reveals what is to become of many songs sung by Roger during The Wall and The Final Cut, but that is a long time later than this album. "Summer '68" is an amazing song by Rick Wright, who also sings it. "Fat Old Sun" is Gilmour, and very nice, with some cool drum work by Mason. "Alan`s Psychedelic Breakfast" makes me hungry and satisfied at the same time. Its a good album, but the studio album right after it is in...credible!!!

Quirky, Musical, Boring, Intense.

This is how I would describe Atom Heart Mother. You can definitely hear the PINK FLOYD in it. I knew the first time I played it just by the sound that this was a PINK FLOYD album. It's a good album. It's also not an album I recommend for long journeys. I made that mistake. It wasn't pretty. Enough said, if you like Pink Floyd you'll enjoy this. I would put it right in the middle of the list of the order you should listen to Pink Floyd records. If that makes any sense.

Turning Point

Atom Heart Mother represents the Nebulus of the 1970's Floyd sound - when you hear th band, that is. The "Orchestral" (read: Brass Band) sections are something else entirely - a curious experiment, but one that I feel does not work particularly well, and certainly did not have enough time lavished on it, by all accounts.

I'm reviewing from the vinyl here - and unlike the CD, the sections are not clearly marked, so I've had to guess... but, since there are actually 12 identifiable sections, most expressing one idea, then a "responding" idea, the lines could be drawn in a couple of places. I've drawn them where I think it makes most sense of the piece as a whole - where I can make sense of such a relatively haphazard structure.

Father's shout

A deep organ sound introduces the piece, which leads into a quasi-avante garde brass section that reminds me of the orchestra tuning up at the beginning of "Sergeant Pepper...", with flavours of the main AHM theme drifting through.

At 1:26, the AMH "Theme" is presented for the first time in its entirety: A lumbering behemoth of a theme that I find somewhat lugubrious. Just over 30 seconds later, we are treated to a rather half-hearted chromatic section, with the sounds of guns and motor vehicles - obviously adding the what is intended to be a kind of warped military feel.

Finally (it seems) at around 2:55, we hear Waters arpeggiated bass prelude the band entry, accompanied by keyboard and cello. Some bright modulations propel this section in a satisfactory way through a series of repetitions that are built upon until Gilmour's glissando guitar kicks in and announces the style that he would settle in for life - heralding "Echoes" and everything that followed it.

Breast milky

The "orchestra" accompany this in the background, until a lonely organ introduces a new background theme around 5:22 that ushers in the choir, in an architectural structure which follows the path set by "A Saucerful of Secrets". Simple, beautiful lines intensify towards more dischordant harmony and converge again. Sadly this is more or less repeated, and begins to feel like padding, even with increasingly tense layers and breakaway motifs in various parts.

It's then repeated and further intensified by the addition of the band, who jam along over two chords - the tonic and subdominant, which give a tiringly predictable feel until the new idea at 10:11.

Mother fore

This new idea feels somewhat tacked on, and is a typical 1970s two-chord riff over a subdominant pedal. This is blues, and very satisfyingly played, with lots and lots of space - a real crash course in less is more... except that it's a bit stupefying in its predictability after the big build up we've had to this point.

Around 12:50 some keyboard atmospherics are brought in, and the guitar also changes to an atmospheric texture. A new choral vocal idea is brought in at 13:25 - savage and earthy, but too far down in the mix.

Brown and sounds like a bell (and is funky)

There's a nice modulation heralding a new section around 14:30 - which itself is a re- introduction to the brass, which briefly recapitulate the first theme at 14:55.

Mind your throats please

The events are more dense now, and a new dischordant idea is introduced on a keyboard around 15:25, which is filtered and layered with atmospherics that appear to be based on synth sounds and tape splicing - ideas that probably would have come from the Beatles' "Revolution #9", and certainly hearken back to the studio part of "Ummagumma".

A new section starts around 17:45, again, based on atmospherics that predict "Echoes", but also uses more tape splicing that recapitulates the earlier ideas in the piece - it's a bit of a shambles in execution really, but the idea is a good one, as the listener tries to work out which musical idea is going to take over and dominate.

Remergence

There's little doubt that it's going to be the 1st or main theme, and it duly returns around 19:14 in a simply variated form, followed by the bass arpeggio/cello 2nd idea (which has jut reminded me of some of Julian Lloyd Webber's playing on his brother's little-known Prog masterpiece "Variations"). Gilmour's guitar idea (the 3rd section, if you will) returns, with Gilmour harmonising against what seems to be a copy and paste version of himself. The layers are all increased - in a valiant but somewhat doomed attempt to maintain interest, before the choir return over a clumsily variated brass section for some directionless sludge that drives us to the dischordant mess that preludes the triumphant final chord that ends side 1.

"If" is a harmless Waters song - pleasant, and with a nice message, but quite obviously not a prog song. It seems very much the predecessor of "Brain Damage".

"Summer Sun" is a Barrett/Beatles/Beach Boys inspired song, with an Arthur Lee inspired trumpet solo - now there's a mix! Oddly enough, the overall flavour ends up being slightly proggy, despite, or possibly because of the film music inspired brass section that's crowbarred in before and after the piano-driven coda. The arrangement is a bit Motown though.

"Fat Old Sun" is a nice, laid-back blues inspired number. 'Nuff said. ;o)

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. 'Nuff said. :o)

So yes, a very progressive album, one that marks a turning point in sound and style for Pink Floyd - but one that is both not to my taste, and not executed particularly well: An album that makes less sense as a whole than almost any other Floyd album up to "The Final Cut", and one that I really don't listen to very much because it's so carelessly and craftlessly put together - and that shows in the music.

I can't bring myself to say it's good, as I think it's just OK - but it is definitely worth checking out from a historical point of view, and not just by Floyd fans. It's also worth checking out as an example of how not to put together a side-long track ;o)

This would be the first FLOYD album to go number one on the UK charts. Which is kind of strange actually when you consider the music. Recorded as per usual at Abbey Road studios and Norman Smith is back as executive producer. The band brought in Ron Geesin to help with the side long title track. Ron had worked with Nick Mason on his contributions to the "Ummagumma" album and he had also collaborated with Waters on the 1970 soundtrack "Music From The Body". Ron was very much into electronics and the avant-garde. He was hired to give his creative opinions and he would put together the orchestral and choir sections featured here.

"Atom Heart Mother" is one of the few PINK FLOYD tracks to have mellotron played on it. In fact there really isn't a FLOYD track quite like this one. It would be difficult to even know this was them most of the time. Kind of an Oldfield flavour to this one but more symphonic really. Lots of orchestration to open the first minute and a half before drums and brass come in. It starts to sound like PINK FLOYD after 4 minutes. Synths, guitar, organ and female vocal melodies create a beautiful sound. Drums are back 9 minutes in as Gilmour fires off some rounds of guitar as the organ plays on. This is one of my favourite passages of the album. Vocal melodies are back and brass. There is a great full sound 15 minutes in followed by some experimental noises. We get the melody back after 19 minutes and some strings. Gilmour lays down some scorching guitar as horns play to end the song. For me the choir and orchestration really works well on the title track, especially the vocal melodies.

I really like the next three songs that all remind me of the "Meddle" album. It's kind of cool that each of these three tunes were each written and sung by a different member of the band. "If" was a Waters' tune with gentle guitar and vocals. A nice reflective tune. "Summer'68" was a Wright tune about groupies. Piano, drums, horns and vocals in this fun and at times sixties sounding song. "Fat Old Sun" is a Gilmour tune and a long time favourite of mine. The drums and guitar take on a greater role towards the end of the song. On "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" the actual human "noises" are done by Alan their roadie as you can hear him in the kitchen making breakfast. This goes on throughout the song in intervals. In between we get at first a guitar and piano melody until 3 1/2 minutes in. Later guitar, and then later still organ.

I like this record a lot (cows and all) and give it a solid 4 stars.

With Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd began showing more cohesion as a band than in past recordings and started showing the beginnings of what would become their classic sound. The multi-part title suite is the longest song the band had composed, this time with the help of orchestration by Ron Geesin and a choir. It has its moments, but at times seems longer than necessary. The use of horns in some of the sections is really nicely done. Sparingly used elsewhere in the band's catalogue (with the exception of saxophone), the horn sections make this song stand out as something totally different from anything Pink Floyd had done before or after. Lyrically the band still sounds a bit unsophisticated, but that would change with the next couple of albums. They carried over some of the weirdness from Ummagumma, but the music is much more composed than a freak-out or just plain goofing off.

The B side contains three tracks written by three of the members separately: If by Waters, Summer '68 by Wright, and Fat Old Sun by Gilmour. If and Fat Old Sun are slow acoustic, pastoral pieces. Very nicely done with lovely melodies. Waters' If has the most profound lyrics on the album and is a precursor of Waters being the main writer in their future. Wright's Summer '68 has a nice Beatlesque feel to it and the horn sections during the chorus are very nicely done.

The last song seems like a waste of time and is the weakest track on the album. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is basically three sections of an instrumental with sound effects of breakfast preparation between them. It's a sort of simple jam that seems like it was just thrown together to fill out the album. I don't mind the sound effects. It's the music that needs a good kick in the rear, making for an uneventful, boring ending to what otherwise could have been considered a masterpiece. Still, this is a worthwhile album well deserving of four stars.

Atom Heart Mother is very usually disliked by the band members themselves, which tells something about their huge urge to perfectionism, which can be seen on their later records. The soundworld isn't so carefully handcrafted and repaired like Dark Side Of The Moon or Wish You Were Here, but that doesn't matter at all. We are talking about one of the absolute highlights of Pink Floyd's career.

The epic title track is absolutely magnificent. Dividen into six parts: Father's shout/Breast milky/Mother fore/Funky dung/Mind your throats please /Remergence. It begins with a cool 'western'(as noted by Waters) theme by Wright and Gilmour, and Water's bass follows on the background very smoothly, also some nice horns by the visitor Ron Geesin. The 'western' theme then repeats during the song and carries it on. Nick Mason does his task as always, but doesn't get his change to show his talents so visibly as his comrades on the whole album. Nick Mason has always been more average than a superb drummer, but i think his finest moment is on Live At Pompeii, very stylish percussion work indeed. But back to the song, which goes on very gently, featuring acoustic stuff and very beautifull keyboard work from Rick Wright. There's also a lot of bizarre buzzing and various sounds which also give the song a part of it's thick athmosphere. Gilmour delivers some nice leads and his jams with Mason are also pretty cool. Towards the end we hear all kind of voices of people talking something that cannot be explained. One more time the main theme and all i can say is that AHM truly belongs to my top-5 of Floyd songs.

If, is a simple gentle self-studying acoustic part by Waters, which serves it's place on the album and fits on it's close-to the land terrain some kind of i don't know. You'l feel it. Pretty good, but still the weakest point on the album, Fat Old Sun, also acoustic, this time by Gilmour, who also plays the bass and drums on this one. The intro with bells kinda reminds me of High Hopes on the Division Bell. The lyrics are simple nature loving stuff, as Gilmour has stated his lack of writing proper lyrics. But still, [i]"when that fat old sun in the sky is falling.."[i], simply classic. Gilmours' solo towards the end is also one of his finest.

Summer 68, is very clearly the greatest single written Floyd song by Richard Wright. It has a beautiful melody and a great feeling, a true summer song, with lyrics about the highs and lows of banging groupies, just genious :p This song also has a repeative theme with horns and keyboards, which is very cathy and just cool.

Last we have the another massive piece, constructed around the breakfast of guy named Alan, who was some kind of hifi-guy what ever for Floyd. Alan enjoys his cereals, eggs and bacon and tea and all the stuff limeys usually prefer. The song doesn't reach as epic scapes as the title track but is still very fascinating. The first part is very minimal, with gentle guitars leads and smooth keyboards. The second part is dominated by Gilmour and his two acoustic guitars and the third returns to the athmosphere of the first part. Simple sentence eh? Truly a Floyd classic, a prog classic, a rock classic, a classic in the true meaning of the word.

"Atom Heart Mother" is a weird album for PINK FLOYD, seems like a band who has just left Psychedelia (not completely though) and they are trying to find a new sound in Prog, remember we are talking about 1970 when the genre still hadn't developed and there was nothing such as Space Prog in any catalogue.

Not bad at all, very ambitious but some parts don't sound as PINK FLOYD at any era, it's a one in a kind album, that probably doesn't satisfy the fans completely.

The opener is the epic "Atom Heart Mother", which starts with an outstanding piece of Orchestral Neo Classical or Avant Garde piece of music, very complex and elaborate, not what I could expect of the band, specially when I had heard most of their albums before this one.

Ron Geesin does an outstanding job with orchestra and choirs, very pompous and I would dare to say close to Symphonic, but about the middle of the song when Gilmour and Wright enter we can listen for the first time in the album the sound that made them famous, pure Psychedelic jamming in the best style you can get, but again the orchestra joins more pompous than before, until the weird stuff begins, sound effects, noises, spooky choirs, now we are before PINK FLOYD, even when more adventurous than ever just to end with the full orchestra.

The weirdest song I would have ever expected of a normally atmospheric band, really nice stuff that may be more appreciated by Symphonic fans than by the real followers of the band. 22 minutes of pure Progressive Rock, I guess Alan parsons took some ideas from this otrack for his most pompous song in Pyramids like "n the Lap of the Gods" and What Goes Up"

"If" is a softer acoustic track that flows gently until the final section when Gilmour gives us a bit of what we like to listen from him, nice relaxing song.

"Summer '68" is another track hard to expect from PINK FLOYD, very melodic and soft, until the middle when they hit us hard with some sort of BEATLES influenced music, this ratifies my initial opinion that "Atom Heart Mother" is the middle of the road between Barrett and the peak of the band.

"Fat Old Sun" is a classic, still not totally the band we learned to love but they are inn the way, well blended with the ballad we can listen the essence of later albums, great track.

The album is closed with "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", to be honest I never understood this track is supposedly dedicated to Alan parsons who had his first encounter with PINK FLOYD in this album and not in DSOTM as most people believe.

Too long for what they pretend, if a band wants to be experimental for the first time in a big project, 13 minutes is too much, not bad but nothing special either.

Now how to rate it= Despite being weird for them, the first epic deserves 5 stars, but the rest of the album is so uneven that they seem lost somewhere in between two worlds and it's not worth two stars, 3.5 stars would be perfectly fair, but will have to be conservative and go with 3 solid stars.

How? How did they do this?

Barely a year after the unmitigated disaster of 'Ummagumma' PINK FLOYD produce a masterpiece. It is unlikely many people share my opinion of both albums, but I will attempt to justify my opinion.

First, a comment about the cover. An image chosen at random, according to the FLOYDIAN mythos, it accurately summarises the pastoral, bucolic feel of the record. Gentleness and beauty are the keys here, not harshness and experimentation.

The 23-minute title track is a radical departure for the band. Up until this point their music was primarily psychedelic in nature: however, this track is full-blown symphonic prog. Yes, it has choirs and an orchestra, mellotron and all, but the thing that makes it symphonic is the recurring theme, restated and expanded, in the way of classical symphonic music. The twinset of four falling notes denotes the main theme, for those wondering. Actually, 'symphonic' rock is something of a misnomer in genera for this type of music: the form is closer to 'concerto' rock, with this piece, 1971's 'Echoes' and YES's 'Close to the Edge' all having a typical concerto shape. An opening theme, variations on the theme, then a solo section featuring the main instrument, followed by a closing triumphant restatement of the main theme. Yes, the sounds are those of 'Ummagumma', but the shape of those sounds is symphonic, not psychedelic, and that makes all the difference.

I believe the adoption of a musical form brought discipline, direction and above all focus to PINK FLOYD's meandering musical ambitions. It wouldn't have mattered what musical direction they chose - they could have been a good punk band had they been at this crossroads in 1976 rather than 1970. That they chose the symphonic route is a bonus for all lovers progressive rock.

One other thing needs mentioning before I look more closely at this masterpiece. PINK FLOYD had their own individual way of going about things, so anything they did had a slightly odd, eccentric stamp on it. Thus 'Atom Heart Mother' might be straight-down-the-line symphonic prog, but it sounds unique. Apparently the band hated it, and even their orchestral collaborator, Ron GEESIN, disowned it. It didn't measure up to their own ambition, according to NICK MASON in his book 'Inside Out'. This is no reason to reject the music: in fact, there's more depth to this so-called 'flawed' piece than in any single composition in their subsequent stellar career. All the production troubles detailed by MASON can't detract from what is, at its heart, a beautiful and structured pastoral musical piece, with a typical PINK FLOYD quirkiness.

It begins with the opening theme, right enough, which follows a seemingly unstructured brass intro. By 1:55 we have heard the theme of the piece, and what follows is an elaboration and extension of the idea. Here, unlike DEEP PURPLE or THE MOODY BLUES, the orchestra is fully integrated with the rock musicians, producing a wonderful synthesis. A stirring violin and organ piece interrupts for a moment, leading us to the next variation of the theme, focusing on the band members. Here we get the first hint that WATERS is an excellent bass player: it is his work more than anything else on the album that integrates the piece. And for the first time we hear MASON's characteristic drum fills, the roll and play-out sound he made famous in the albums to follow.

But it is the choral moments that are the suite's special genius, and for this GEESIN must take credit. A precursor to 'The Great Gig In The Sky' (without this album that sublime track would not have existed), the choral sections impart a pastoral and contemplative beauty to the track. I ask again, how did PINK FLOYD get here a year after 'Ummagumma'? Here we have melodies to burn, one after the other, chilling in their sheer beauty, the soaring organ-backed female voices counterpointed with the slightly dissonant male voices to create such a pleasing effect. Then, near the nine minute mark, the rest of the band returns with more MASON fills to lead us to 'Funky Dung' and GILMOUR's first significant guitar contribution to the band. A splendidly understated funk, indeed, a gentle battle between keyboard and guitar.

One of the hundred highlights of this track is when WRIGHT brings in the mellotron after 12 minutes, signalling the return of the choir to do their own brand of funk over the bands' playing. So seventies, so relevant, and finally PINK FLOYD have succeeded in recapturing the sound of the times, lost since 1967. The song lifts still further with the bridge back to the main theme, which in turn presages the 'freak-out' section, 'Mind Your Throats Please'. Here the sound is directly comparable to 'Sysyphus' on 'Ummagumma', but it works in context: the breakdown, the crazy keyboard and tape effect stuff preparing us for the finale. OK, the finale is a little over the top, cheesy in fact, but they've won the right to break out the classical music cliches by what they've done before. Choir, orchestra and band join together in creating a stunning climax.

Side 2 isn't as strong, of course, but does just fine. WATERS proves he writes great stuff, thoughtful lyrics and reflective music, as long as nobody mentions the war. WRIGHT shows he kows how to handle a tune, and GILMOUR can do the blues, albeit in a restrained fashion. 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' is anything but: three gentle, pastoral tunes are linked by the sounds of one of their roadies having breakfast, a gimmick that for some spoils the beauty of the pieces. Particularly strong is the third piece, a finale to the album worthy of the title track.

Don't make the mistake of considering this album in any way related to its predecessor. Musically it is quite dissimilar, save the small psychedelic section in the title track and the idea (but not execution) of three individual member's tracks.

I'm staggered that enough people liked this album that it reached No.1 in the UK. How was that possible? There's nothing remotely commercial on this disc. People were mad back then. Mad, I tell you. And they had surprisingly good judgement.

An album that evokes diametrically opposed opinions and which remains the subject of contentious debate, this Pink Floyd effort still finds the members of the band trying to find their niche. A highly ambitious work in its attempt to interface a rock format with a more classical format, the recording suffers under the quirky and highly inconsistent and idiosyncratic work of Ron Geesin (whose own body of musical work can be summed up in the words 'squandered genius') and also under the careless disregard with which the band handled the whole affair, with the results unfortunately falling way short of the mark. Had the band or the label had the insight and forethought (some might say interest) to involve a serious orchestra and orchestrator in this project, there is no telling just how monumental a statement they would have made. Unfortunately, though, instead of Kobe beef, we get cow pies. Anyone with a passing understanding of music composition or with an innate sense of musicality ought to be able to here the lack of cohesiveness in this concept. It is a haphazard hodgepodge rather than a neatly composed and orchestrated work. Despite this, some of Gilmour's bluesy guitar in the 23- plus minute long title suite is excellent. Side two contains a number of shorter pieces that are less pretentious and frankly, more musical. "If" is a pretty little ballad by Waters and which portrays him as a bit vulnerable and sensative. It's just about the last of that we'll see of Waters' softer side as increasing cynicism and sarcasm creep increasingly into his on-record and off- record persona on subsequent recordings. Summer '68 is a moody song by Richard Wright that in many ways harkens back a bit to some of his other songs such as Sand Box, See Saw and Remember a Day-- all very pleasant and melodic but lightweight in terms of any real world significance and devoid of any serious innovation or musical statement. Fat Old Sun is a pretty little song by Gilmour in a key that is too high for him to effectively sing, and, with a voice that at times is somewhat thin to begin with, the song suffers as a result. If you can find a way to put the flawed vocal performance out of your mind, you may find the relatively simple but majestic guitar break at the end of the song to be very rewarding. Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast is an amalgamated experiment of psychedelic noodling with musique concrete (bacon and eggs sizzling away, and let's not forget the marmalade--- I like marmalade!) but there is really nothing cutting edge about it and the endproduct from a craft (rather than art) perspective (since they and a mess of other bands were doing this stuff before) is not particularly effective. With this last piece, the last lingering final vestiges of 1960s psychedelia are shed, creating a clearing for a different direction about to unfold with their next release, Meddle. They say love is blind, and it would seem that a number of folks have amblyopia. With anything more than a lazy eye (or ear) and anything more than simple blind adoration, it is easy to see that this is far from Pink Floyd's best work. More attention to the first half of the album might have resulted in a masterpiece. Regretfully, what we got instead was a funky dung substitute for what could have been the real deal. "If", "Summer '68" and "Fat Old Sun" all have redeeming moments but not enough to raise this recording out of the muck of a two star rating.

MUSICAL MASTERPIECE

First of all, I am very surprised about this album ratings and all the controversies it raises. Well, "the gustibus"... For me personally, like for many other prog fans, "Atom Heart Mother" is one of the best, if not he best, Pink Floyd's albums. What is more, I consider the tittle symphonic suite to be one of the best musical works in the whole history of music (sic!). The rest of compositions (on side B) are quite different but also essential to Pink Floyd style: all are melodious, melancholic, psychodelic, and...just charming. What can I add? It was one of few albums that, while listening, just kept my mouth open, I just couldn't beleve such things are possible in rock music.

The more I listen to this one, the more I like it.

This is a great, original work, an exposition upon order and chaos from Pink Floyd.

Atom Heart Mother is the epic on the vinyl. It's not quite up there with Echoes, but it's close. A brash brass section, an ethereal chorus, atmospheric keyboards, and Gilmour finally developing his mature style on guitar all lead to an enjoyable composition. But what's really interesting about it is how all of these bold statements devolve into a chaotic melange in the last 5 minutes or so of the piece. They are of course saved in the end by an obligatory summation, but it is still a bold and original piece of music.

If hearkens back to Pink Floyd's early days. Syd Barrett was a wonderful lyricist and later Floyd was never able to match his understated, almost pedestrian, lyrics which nonetheless were evocative and disturbing. On this song, though, they come closer than at any other time. Add in a gentle guitar and some restrained keys and you get a piece that would have been a highlight on Piper.

Summer of '68 starts out with a plaintive piano part and some wistful singing about a one night stand. And then things go nuts. Beach Boy-esque harmonies and scat, brass parts, and vocal break that would not sound out of place on mid-career Beatles albums. This song weaves together much of the musical zeitgeist of the time in an entertaining way.

Fat Old Sun is probably the track that I like listening to the least, which is a strong statement about how strong this album is. It's a quieter piece with some nice bass and Gilmour's slide guitar work popping up fairly often.

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is the other epic. While it isn't as good as Atom Heart Mother, it doesn't deserve the hate that is sometimes focused at it. As Atom Heart Mother is all about music devolving into chaos, this is about chaos (the sounds of a person waking and making breakfast) evolving into music. Floyd would revisist this idea on DSOTM in the track Money, but here the relationship is much more subtle and you need to be listening closely to appreciate it. The actual musical parts are nice, but the breakfast parts do indeed get a bit tiring.

Anyhow, I'm giving this one 4 stars. It's Floyd's most innovative album (possibly excepting Piper), and it is the monolithic landmark that marks the end of Floyd's days of lack of popular recognition.

Another album full of solo songs, which isnt so hot here. Most of the projects on Ummagumma worked well, but now they seem to fall flat, including Roger Waters' solo song. The title track is incredible, seeming to be a joint Floyd/Orchestra Jam of sorts, alternating between those two ensembles. Some great sections where gilmour finally gets to flex his chops, with good results. Very atmospheric song. If, Waters' song, is a boring folky song with some distant slide guitar. Summer '68 picks up a little, but is a little too poppy for my liking. I like the use of real piano though. Fat Old Sun is Gilmour's song, with lots of acoustic strumming, and a nice solo at the end, but it doesnt salvage the song. Alan's Psychedelic breakfast, no doubt a reference to the Alan Parsons of Alan Parsons' Project, is another extended jam that starts with some strange sounds, but when it gets going, theres some great piano work from wright. however, this is succeeded by another 2 minutes of strange sounds. the sounds are nice, but when done right. then it slowly moves into an acoustic section, followed by what appears to be the sound of eggs frying. The final part is another jam, but this picks up a bit and provides a nice close to this inconsistent album.

Overall, Floyd are still found to be finding their stride, hitting on the album after next. They would soon change the face of rock history.

Featuring Pink Floyd's, and thus music's, greatest moment. Here a song-by-song:

Atom Heart Mother suite - (rating is off the scale)

I struggle to describe why I love this. Like On The Run: the first time I heard the Atom Heart Mother suite I knew my development in musical love had significantly changed. There are many reasons that make this piece perfect:

- the low humming build-up - the signature line - the violin line - the vocals, my God the vocals - the introduction of the guitar solo - that first POING! is life affirming - the abstract middle section - the finale! My God the finale!

If - 7

Pink Floyd, wary of causing the very fabric of reality to conflict with itself, lower expectations and pace with this easy number. A soft ballad with nice vocals and guitar work...but it doesn't deliver goose pimples.

Summer of '68 - 9

Sung by Wright (who sounds like Gilmour), this is narrowly the best piece of the trio of songs in the middle of Atom Heart the album. Mid-paced summery rhythms remind of Beach Boys or Beatles. The song also has a big brass section which gives it an edge.

Fat Old Sun - 8

Gilmour sings it like he sings Green Is The Colour: ie - he sings it falsetto and very well. This is a lovely song, but it's not quite magic. The 14-minute BBC sessions version however, is quite magic (info: John Peel 1970 session).

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast - 8

It took me a few years until I started enjoying this piece. It is a harmless and good-natured jam with themes of what one has for breakfast (like jam). The contents of the music are as funny as the song's title.

So, Atom Heart Mother is clearly a masterpiece of progressive rock music and, for me, has a much weightier epic song than its successor Echoes (from the Meddle album).

The wierdest Pink Floyd album I know (though I've heard that Umagumma is even wierder). The two suites Atom Heart Mother and Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast almost make this album essential. The three individual songs by Waters, Wright and Gilmour are nice but they don't add much else to the album. The 23-minute title track featuring orchestra and choir is the highlight. Very memorable moments can be found here, plus it's entirely instrumental. The closing track is another lengthy instrumental by the band, including some monologues and wierd sounds by Alan while he makes his breakfast. Essential for PF fans but an excellent addition overall.

Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother' is perhaps their most progressive record. The title song suite on the first side could easily be categorized as avant-prog. On this track the band enhances its psychedelic song-writing with the soulful guitar of David Gilmour, the beautiful Hammond organs by Richard Wright, a layer of orchestration (mostly copper), a very modern choir performance in the middle section and one of the most psychedelic recording sounds ever. The orchestration by Ron Geesin sounds modern/atonal and fits in perfectly with the abstract sound of the music. Like most epics the songs has a dark/horror section in which a bomb seems to explode. After it the band launches a section of studio manipulations that allows them to create an explosion of parts that are fading in and out. More compelling than any tape manipulations ever done by Zappa. The ending section of the 'Atom Heart Mother' combines the band, the orchestra and the choir in order to maximize on its main theme; not unlike the beautiful ending of 'Tubular Bells'. Its such a journey to listen to this. This Pink Floyd masterpiece has such a distinct atmosphere that there is simply almost no recording that sounds anything like it. I only used it once as a reference in a review, for the Italian 'Il Paese dei Belocchi' album, which I can also warmly recommend. I also like the fact that not even all Pink Floyd fans seem to like Atom Heart Mother that much, whereas this is not at all like their post-Meddle smooth recordings. Instead, this album is recommended to listener of psychedelic (acid) music, chamber music, eclectic prog and avant-prog. By the way, I haven't listened to the second side in years..

Atom Heart Mother was always a hmm... what's that kind of stuff... record to me. The epic title track is a must for every prog collection. Pink Floyd with orchestra and choir and even going funky at times! Very diverse and yet homogenic somehow. Combining this track with Echoes (from Meddle) would have made an immortal album. The remaining tracks are all fillers, maybe Summer 68 stands up best to the epic. The rating: the epic is 4-5 stars, the rest is 1-2 stars = 3 stars for the album.

This is probably one of the best progressive rock albums of all times, and one of the Floyd's 5 best albums - with The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Ummagumma, Wish You Were Here and a personal choice, More. The 'Milkcow sleeve album', as often nicknamed, is a very strange one indeed. The title track, 23,40 minutes of symphonic pandemonium, is as great as oppressive. There are a really incredible guitar solo (on the 'Funky Dung' part), some choirs which are amlost similar to the Carmina Burana's ones...Unforgettable track ! The remainder (side B) is pretty, though I think Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is too long, and a little boring in the end. But I love If, Fat Old Sun, and in a certain way, Summer 68 (but not these too noisy horns on the end of this song). Great album. Not the first to be listened to if you begin into the Floyd, but an essential anyway.

Okay... It was the last album of Floyd in my PF education... I heard it for the first time two years ago. A few days before Tool's 10k days, but it's not a matter...

I think this is one of the best Pf albums. Five tracks. One amazing, one catchy and powerfull, one nostalgic, one ballad filler and one tottaly missing my taste.

Amazing track: Yes: Atom Heart Mother... wonderfull guitar motives, western feeling and a great use of orchestra. It last circa 24 minutes, but it isn't boring at all. 5/5

Catchy track: summer 68': cool lyrics, cool singing and fantastic refren. Very good, very cool and fun to ply on your own. 4/5

Nostalgic track: Fat Old Sun: very good one. Nostalgic, with great lyrics and melancholic atmosphere. But I preffer expanded version of this song, where it's longer, sounds harder and have more emotiones. It's sad you can't find it on any official cd. 4/5

Filler track: If: I can't say anything of this track. It reminds me fillers from Medlle. 3/5

Boring track: Alan's: geez, even tittle is boring. It is long, three parted quasi-suite about making breakfest. I know some people find it interesting but from me... well... i turn off AHM after Fat Old Sun. 2/5

hmmm... 5+4+4+3+2=18.. 18/25=0,72

So

4 stars

One of my favorite early Floyd albums. Starts out strong with the title track and stays pretty even throughout the entire album. I would put this album 7th out of 14. Atom Heart Mother is the first attepmt at an epic and it turned out great IMO. The wonderful full sound that the variety of instruments gives is great. While the title track is the best on there, Summer of 68 and Fat Old Sun are great songs too. If i would say is the weakest song on the album but still not a bad songs. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is a wondeful trip through breakfast, complete with bacon sizzling. Overall this is not best but it certainly isn't the worst Pink Floyd Album. Anyone trying to get into early Floyd should check this out second, only after Meddle.

A bit of direction never hurt anyone

After a couple of very improvisational and mostly instrumental albums Pink Floyd finally hit a chord. This is the true beginnings of the band that would later put out masterpieces like Dark Side Of The Moon. Not to say that this album is as tight or well played as those later albums, but the ideas are all there and they're all falling into place. Stylistically this album follows very closely to the previous two albums. Spacey, long instrumental freakouts that are honed in live performance still dominate the album. But the difference here is that the Floyd seem to have found how to play these very tightly as the album comes off as something probably more planned sounding than it actually was. There's a certain amount of delight to this because anyone who enjoyed elements of their very strange Ummagumma album will find that the good points have been fine tuned and the bad points left out.

There's only five compositions on the album. Two of which are the long freakouts that we're used to from the band. The title track, Atom Heart Mother is a long divided side long suite that goes though just about every kind of motion that you can think of capturing a very nice side of space rock with a kind of lulling music that at points stabs and demands attention with sharp raises in volume and an almost victorious sound with the chorus of voices. A sometimes overlooked Floyd masterpiece, this is the first time that the band would create a side long venture. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is much shorter and much less demanding of the listener, this one more dealing with ambiance, but it remains a pleasant voyage none the less. The sounds of someone cooking themselves breakfast in the morning at the beginning of the song can be somewhat annoying the first couple of listens through, but one gets used to it with repeated spins.

The rest of the songs on the album are just short little songs more in the traditional manner of progressive rock. If is a very slow and reflective track which is a welcome addition after the very crazy opening epic, which is a soothing track perhaps made entirely for the purpose of bringing the audience back down to earth. A lo-key guitar and vocal track make this one pleasant but nothing to write home about. Fat Old Sun is much in the same except with this one having the guitar pick up into a very nice solo from Gilmour at the end.

Indeed the most notable song from the shorter ones falls right in the center. Summer '68 opens with an almost 'Peanuts'-esque piano track and soon leads into more of the lo-key insturmentation and vocals before exploding into a surprisingly up tempo ride for the whole family. Pleasant harmonizing of vocals and a very catchy and simple acoustic guitar make for a very triumphant sound as the song makes it's way. One of Floyd's very best short songs.

This album is not really essential if you don't enjoy the beginning period of the band, but it certainly is the turning point from the more psychedelic Floyd to a more progressive Floyd later expanded on Meddle. Very ''trippy'' and pleasant with the shorter songs this one makes for an excellent addition to any progressive music library.

Here Pink Floyd was trying to consolidate their own sound, Experimenting strongly in the A side of the Album, but with a poor B side, where almost all songs are very simple and pop.

Atom Heart Mother: is a colossal epic, great symphonic arrangements, strong athmosferical feeling, and interesting mix of sounds. The problems with this one: Somme passages are extremely long and reiteratives, just makes the song a little boring at times. The second problem is Musician technical skills, this guys clearly are not Virtuosos and whn you made a very ambicious epic like this, the lack of technicity is more evident. In general lines is nice to see how Pink Floyd try to do sommething big and very original. 4 stars for the effort.

If: is very basic and simple, with nice accoustic guitars and bass lines. The strong point are the existencial lyrics and the emotional voice. 4,5 stars

Summer '68 : Compossed by Wright, is a very popy song, is nice to hear it, with good trumpets, but really one expect something more for Pink Floyd, 'cause this can be made easily by the Beattles... 3 stars

Fat Old Sun: Another easy song, for sure this one inspired various Radiohead's songs. Nice bass by Waters. 3,5 stars

Alan Psychedelic Breakfast: This one is just filler. 13 Minutes of nosense. 2 stars.

Nice try, but Floyd can make it a lot better.

Overall 3,4 stars

A mind trip - but forgettable and tiresome!

This was the last album I purchased of the Pink Floyd Machine - perhaps the greatest prog band in history. After hearing the brilliance of such epic masterpieces as Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish U were here, Division Bell and Animals, I was looking forward to hearing this much-acclaimed album. I will admit that it is definitely the most proggiest album of PF, however it did not have the same impact for me as the other Floyd albums. There are no really catchy hooks or memorable tracks, it just all blurs together seamlessly but forgettably.

Atom Heart Mother is the 23:51 epic that takes up side 1 and it starts out well enough but becomes rather dull, unlike other epics for PF such as Echoes, it does not go anywhere and meanders around on one idea before fading into obscurity. I was struggling to come to terms with the sound, it was so unlike the brilliant PF I was used to.

Side 2 was an improvement with the rather strange 'If', and the cool 'Summer '68' and 'Fat old sun'. But the sleeper and best track on the album is 'Alan's psychedelic breakfast'. At 12:56 it encompasses all that is great about PF and prog in general. It begins with an hilarious episodic sound montage of Alan eating rice bubbles (I think) and then greeting the day in his unusual way. It is mesmirizing! Perhaps he is eating psychedelic bread and acid. He launches into an acid trip and the song goes into a freak-out bizarre riff that grips you and is quite chilling in parts, amidst the dark humour. A very different side of PF and a welcome change for this album.

It is a pity the other tracks are so dreary in places and overall the album does not live up to PF's other repertoire which makes this look quite mediocre in comparison. Perhaps the album taken on its own works well as a curio piece, but I was not impressed. Try DTOTM, WYWH, TW, or TDB instead if you want brilliant PF. This album could scare off newcomers, but it is OK as something different with a darker edge than the usual uplifting symphonic Floyd sound.

This is my first PINK FLOYD review, and I'd preferred if I could've started with a better album than this flawed record. But in the interest of chronology, I'll say just a few words about a release that has been already very thoroughly discussed.

There's no point in me describing PINK FLOYD. By now only people living in complete isolation of the rest of the world could not know what this legendary band sounds like. Suffice it to say, "Atom Heart Mother" is a transitional point for the group, where the complete mastery of their art hadn't yet been reached, and actually it had just started to be defined.

The direction of PINK FLOYD's sound was not-yet completely evident here. The title-track hints at the spacey-atmospheric future that the British would travel starting with their next release, but most of the rest of the songs lack that particular magic. Psychedelia is here, but it's not sure if it's to stay. The addition of an orchestra is an example of this uncertainty.

The album, ultimately, fails because it's uneven from a musical point of view. After a first brilliant track, the epic "Atom Heart Mother", the remainder of the disc is made of fairly average songs, going all the way down to the mediocre ending number "Alan's psychedelic breakfast", which is poor on any element of interest and sounds more like a failed experiment.

The album has still its moments, though, and as such 3 stars sounds like the correct rating. The best PINK FLOYD was yet to come, but some of their great traits can already be heard in "Atom Heart Mother".

The 70s had begun!!! With the 70s began the biggest trip in the world of music - the golden trip of Pink Floyd! And this trip begins with Atom Heart Mother. This album is big return for Pink Floyd after shock of the lost of their previous leader Syd Barrett, who quit the band. After two weaker albums Pink Floyd returns to the quality of the first two albums, but in different way. Atom Heart Mother is the first Pink Floyd's album, that is more progressive than psychedelic; and this transition is exactly at the beginning of the decade! Here is the longest Pink Floyd's composition - the eponymous Atom Heart Mother. The composition is progressive rock golden treasure. Then, followed by the melancholic-psychedelic songs - If, Summer '68 and Fat Old Sun - true masterworks of art. The album's final composition is Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast - its name is important. Firstly it's psychedelic indeed and secondly. This breakfast is described in the music - the most musique concrète song by Pink Floyd. They use musique concrète almost everywhere, but this song is true example of that. 4 stars

Better than siblings Ummagumma and Meddle. A classic.

Review #500 for Prog Archives needed a special subject that allows discussion of the sweet and the melancholy of life, of music as metaphor for appreciating simple moments long gone (as a good friend here and I discussed recently) and as the catalyst for change. I'd like to try to make the case that this album is very strong, under-appreciated, and in my view a more solid progressive work than the acclaimed Meddle or the wild Ummagumma, its two closest siblings. A challenge to Meddle is unthinkable to some but to a few of us, it's not even close.

Floyd started off with the masterpiece Piper and after Barrett left the group proceeded to wallow for a few years in search of their way. Barrett was the man, the only able songwriter, the sound revolutionary, the charismatic jester that brought fans to Pink Floyd and the spark that enabled them to ever be discovered. The others owe their careers to Barrett. I'm not slamming Saucerful, More, or Ummagumma as all three have some very fine moments. But by their own admission the band were somewhat adrift in these years, learning to compose and getting understandably tired of playing Barrett's material. In 1970 the band left some notes and ideas with Ron Geesin as they took off for some American dates. He was left with only a backing demo and sketchy info and asked to pull some arrangements together for when the band returned. The group returned and things soon turned to panic as the material remained in some disarray even as recording needed to continue. The orchestral musicians were not seeing eye to eye with Geesin to put it mildly. After an admirable attempt and a near physical altercation with a mouthy horn player he was replaced by John Aldiss. With the working title of "The Amazing Pudding" the track began to take shape. The ideas and the music were very interesting though the album would ultimately suffer from being an extremely rushed affair which led to less than desirable recording and production. The band would comment later that they could have done much better with more time and at one point considered re-recording it. Mason notes that poorly positioned microphones picked up some monitor sound and that this will not be able to be repaired. But the remastered version sounds good enough not to distract the listener from the joy of the music. In fact to me the album's sound warts actually add a certain swampiness that adds more than it detracts as it works with the feel of the composition. It was well received by the many critics, one reviewer of the time calling it "the most successful integration of rock and formal music I've heard." Geesin's work here was superb and should be recognized, giving shape and a bold statement to this unique Floyd exploration. The band was still trying some radical things at this point which should be something to admire.

Some latter day reviewers have noted that Waters and Gilmour belittled these early classics years later but let's look at what they felt about the album *then* when it was fresh to them. The fact is they knew these were great albums when they created them. Whose judgment of quality prog do you trust more, current day Waters/Gilmour egos or the boys at the time when they were creating their musical legacy? While I understand they might feel a little funny as older men discussing something they did as kids, for what I'm looking for out of music, I concur with the comments they made at the time:

"This one is much simpler to listen to. It's more emotional, a sort of epic music in fact, because we have added brass and a choir." [Richard Wright, Melody Maker 9/70] ".much nicer to listen to. I think it's by far the best, the most human thing we've done." [Roger Waters, Sounds 1970] ".the faults are basically in details and I thought, overall, it was good. It has a very strange feel to it. Parts of it, like the ending, are real ham, which I like." [Nick Mason, Sounds 1/71]

I suppose once you've created an album like "Dark Side of the Moon" it is perhaps easy to look back at something more na�ve and experimental and proclaim it silly or somehow beneath your current status. What these guys fail to realize is that there is a certain spark and magic that comes from naivety, youthful exuberance, fearlessness and lack of musical cynicism. Music fans can still look at something like Atom Heart and feel the same excitement for the material that the band felt in 1970. Atom Heart captures a snapshot in time and place of this band and these friendships, a point I need to stress. Sometimes capturing the simple moments of your life are as important to your story as are the planned spectacles and big events-this goes for life and art. You shouldn't assume your big planned event is any more important than that beautiful anyday Sunday morning waking next to your loved one, having a coffee and the paper with the sun coming in the window. Nor should the Floyd assume their later masterpieces must render their own simple breakfast of eggs, high-minded humor, and music with a friend regrettable. Both are valid moments that color one's life or one's artistic career with great authenticity. On your death bed it is quite likely that memories of your life's simple joys will bring you more comfort than recalling some big planned event or goal that you felt you had to achieve. And thus what Atom Heart represents for the lads and captures for the listener should not be under-estimated simply because more critics (and fans) bought The Wall, or because Roger thinks Radio Kaos was more substantive. The misgivings the bandmembers have with the material of this period have become all the more amusing and ironic to me as a music lover. They say this album is "rubbish" and that they had no idea what they were doing, and yet it is this material ('67-70) that remains the most intriguing for the long-time Floyd fans who have heard the later, safer stuff to death and wish to hear the band at their most reaching and curious. I would argue that the post-period pronouncements of the band members miss the point entirely and are driven by factors not important to music lovers. Furthermore, the two long tracks are gloriously free of lyrical content and prove that music done properly can convey feeling without words, another feather in the cap of this particular album. An interesting comment I noted by Gilmour was that Waters would not become lyrically strong until "Obscured by Clouds," noting that his lyrics before that, and on Echoes specifically, were merely "words to hang the music on." I bring this up because again, many Floyd fans love the Echoes lyrics and Gilmour's dismissal of them is not all that relevant.

The album's strength lies in the two long pieces Atom Heart Mother and Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast which comprise 36 of the album's 52 minutes. This is pure musical exploration and progressive nirvana, taking the raw adventurism of Ummagumma's studio material in a much more listener-friendly direction. AHM is "out there" but it is not dissonant, difficult to enjoy, or lacking warm melody. It is the best of their transitional albums because it does improve over Ummagumma and yet retains the interesting progressive side better than Meddle would. The horns, effects, and choirs-as well as the free-spirited material itself-satisfy this listener over time in a way that Echoes has ceased to. Echoes is a very pretty track that begins well, with gorgeous frailty, but bogs down in the middle and becomes quite easily assimilated in the way that AHM and APB do not. The palette presented on AHM/ASB is just stunning and I would argue far more interesting than the static, predictable Echoes repetitions (more on specific tracks following.) The title track is a feast of emotions and feelings from the soaring grandiosity of the main theme propelled by horns and guitar, to the fragile melancholy of the violin over Wright's beautiful keyboard, to the baroque feel in places. From there we will experience some of Gilmour's fine lead guitar, gorgeous, haunting, and searching. The piece continues by moving into dark territory with desolate wordless vocals building to dramatic, frightening-at-times chants by the full choir. There are gorgeous operatic vocals here that bring chills. It will revisit the various sections and twist beautifully back into the main theme before charting off again leaving you feeling uneasy, but with hope. That is what AHM leaves me with: a musical overview of the human condition. Mason would talk about the cover being intentionally plain and wanting to make a connection with the "earth mother" and if that includes pondering human emotions they succeed smashingly. Moving on to the second gem here we have Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast which I recall being inspired by German composer Carl Orff. Another track that too many listeners mistake as "filler" material because they don't have their ears on apparently. This is pure sound beauty, pure progressive delight, or "sound poems" as someone described them. What exactly is the problem with three beautiful sections of experimental pastoral-psych from the early heyday of a progressive pioneer? The sound effects were recorded in the kitchen of Nick Mason as roadie Alan was showing off his talents as breakfast connoisseur. But the sound effects are simply a whimsical sideshow. The fact is that the three appetizing courses of music are perfectly anonymous, wondrous because of their unassuming beauty. Not every piece has to be so "conceived" as "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" to be meaningful. Musical beauty and success come in many forms and APB is a sentimental keepsake of a band still into each other as friends sans the acrimony that success brought. Part one is filled with Richard's waking piano, sunny dispositions capturing the new day. Just delightful. Part two is courtesy of Dave's acoustic guitar, sitting on the stoop and serenading as we munch away and sip tea. In the third part, the band comes together and births one of the happiest melodies in Floyd's canon, imparting on me the coming day and moving from the morning to the possibilities of that day with hope. "Morning Glory" indeed.

The album loses the 5th star for me in the short tracks. They would have been far better served omitting "If" and "Fat Old Sun" and maybe just allowing Richard's joyous little "Summer '68" be an odd transition between the longer pieces. They could have even added a fourth section to APB with the extra time. "If" is a fairly weak Waters track with the wrong feel for this album's eventual optimism. "Fat Old Sun" would later become a stronger piece in Dave's live shows and while not out of place, it just doesn't match the strength of the surrounding material. His performance here is beyond laid-back, so sleepy as to be comatose. So while Atom Heart Mother is not the perfect masterpiece that "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is, it is an essential title to fans of Pink Floyd and highly recommended to any adventurous progressive fan. The '94 remaster sounds great but features the annoying "new" artwork inside the accompanying lyric booklet rather than authentically matching the original design, a real pet peeve of mine. A minor quibble for a great album.

Cherish the small moments, and be well.

On Atom Heart Mother one can see some signs of what was to come on Meddle. The acoustic ballad If, for example, is strongly reminiscent of the acoustically based songs from that album. However, Atom Heart Mother was still very much a psychedelic album; a child of the 60's. Summer '68 even explicitly celebrates this decade in which Pink Floyd still were very much stuck at this time. Summer '68 has very Beach Boys- like vocal harmonies. But these songs lack memorable melodies.

The side long title track is a symphonic piece, complete with a symphony orchestra. This could have been interesting, but there is unfortunately nothing memorable about it. I have listened through this track several times and the only thing I can remember about it is that there were a choir and a symphony orchestra involved. That is not a good sign! The closing track, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast symbolises exactly what I don't like about (much of) Pink Floyd's music. This "song" is based on samples of someone making breakfast! Musically it is going absolutely nowhere. It gets boring right from the very start and it has nothing at all to do with progressive rock - this is pure psychadelic experimentation (like The Beatles Revolution Number 9). This sort of thing was perhaps interesting in 1968, but was very dated in 1970.

Overall, to say that I'm not impressed with this album is an understatement. The sonic quality of the album is not bad though and this together with the presence of one or two half decent songs keeps me from giving this the lowest rating. Thankfully, things would get a bit better for Pink Floyd later on.

Only for fans and collectors this one.

Cowy, but certainly not Cowardly.

Atom Heart Mother is really a great epic, featuring classical modern brass sounds and innovative vocals by the orchestra. It's the weirdest Floyd piece, I think. 'If' is a Waters song. Very nice, but not that special. Summer '68 is a brilliant Wright song, featuring a weird chorus and nice brass melodies. 'Fat old sun' is also very nice, but not that special. Alan's Psychedelic breakfast is brilliant. In the beginning of this piece, the track seems nice but very incoherent. At the end it's like all the pieces fit in the puzzle.

Brilliant record, but not a masterpiece because IMO 'If' and 'Fat old sun' are good but not essential. This makes the record an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

4.5 Really. This album is amazing, plain and simple, as are most of Pink Floyd's albums, with the exception of the Final Cut.

Something that is a little strange about this album is that it has a very varied sound, and you're not sure what exactly Pink Floyd will sound like in the future. They're all over the place from soft folk rock songs, to epic progressive symphonic suites, to experimental instrumentals about cooking breakfast. To some that's not too good, they want a straightforward sound, but for me, I like it, it is varied while still having the essence of Pink Floyd.

Atom Heart Mother, the title track is a nearly 24 minute epic symphonic progressive suite with no words, just instruments. I would like to say it is an amazing progressive experience, however I'd say it's the least important of all Pink Floyd's long epics. Although it's still very important. The song begins with a catchy main theme played along with an orchestra with wonderful brass instruments. It has everything from jazz brass to bluesy guitar solos, to symphonies and male and female choirs, to experimental noise, and other silly nonsense. This experimental nonsense that lots of people don't like, I am particularly fond of. I see it like a Picaso painting... it looks really really weird and strange, but it's a wonderful work of art, nonetheless. It's like when all the critics are like this is terrible, but the one wiser one steps forth in silence and says This... is... MAGNIFICENT!!!

So Atom Heart Mother is amazing, what about the other songs. If is nothing really important, just another acoustic ballad by waters. Summer 68 is a fun song to listen to, it's very warm sounding, and has nice brass, I think it's trumpets. Fat Old Sun always cheers me up, and makes me feel like I'm very warm and at peace. It's a wonderful song by David Gilmour, and in bootlegs, it had been extended upwards of 15 minutes, by adding in extra instrumental sections and a reprise at the end.

Many people will find it hard to listen to Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, but I love it, and can listen to it happily. It's basically like 3 acoustic cheerful sounding ballad songs combined in one track, and separated by odd noise recordings of a man making and eating breakfast, and then cleaning up.

In general, the album is fantastic. First song is a great epic symphonic instrumental progressive experimental rock suite. The 3 songs in between are generally warm, cheerful sounding songs, and the last is a humourous track that's quite cheerful, and sort've progressive in its own way. For someone wanting purely prog, The title track is what you want, but the other stuff is nice, as well.

Got Milk?

You know, this album saddens me, it really does, but not because the music is depressing or have a sad tone (because the music of this album does have that silent suffering feeling). I get sad because Pink Floyd managed to spoil such a beautiful album with a silly (and quite boring, if you ask me) last song, entitled Allan's Psychedelic Breakfast. Although i hardly listen to Allan's Psychedelic Breakfast, because it takes too long to the band to resume their music, even for progressive rock standards, the song isn't totally worthless. It has a couple really interesting instrumental parts. But the thing is that the song cannot hold my attention effectively due to the breakfast noises. Seriously, if i wanted to hear the noises of a person making breakfast i would just do my own breakfast instead of listening to them in a record.

However, not everything is lost. The rest of the album is just to die for, really! The Atom Heart Mother suite, for example, is great. The band, the choir and the orchestra interact perfectly with each other, although there is a clear predominance of the organs and pianos in general in the side-long suite, as far as the band part goes. The brass instruments make a great impression through the song and, along with the choir, give the The Atom Heart Mother suite an epic feeling in most of the times they appear in the song.

The following three songs are also very good. The psychedelic If, which can be played with practically an acoustic guitar alone, kind of breaks a bit the energy of the album, but that is actually good to settle down from the powerful suite that just played. They only problem of that song is that Roger Waters sings a bit out of tune, specially when he tries to hit the high notes (i mean tries because he can't really reach them). Summer 68' is considerably more energetic than the song that preceded it and actually retrieves a nice part of the suite's energy, specially due to the use of the brasses, which give the song the same epic feeling of the Atom Heart Mother suite. Fat Old Sun is mostly guitar-driven, like If, but it is rocked up, meaning that the song is pretty much a rock ballad (a very good one, but still a rock ballad).

Finally the album closes with Allan's Psychedelic Breakfast. i don't think i need to express again that the song spoil the album's closing and that it is sub-par, when compared to the rest of the album. The important thing to remember is that it ruins the end of the album.

Grade and Final Thoughts

What can i do here, but to give this album 4 stars? It is an awesome album, but the closing song ruins it! There is not much room to move, so i'll just end this review. It is a 4 stars album and that's it.

OK first of all give these guys a break. Syd Barrett just went crazy and these guys had a lot of trouble finding their footing. It was this album that they first began to lean toward the long instrumental passages their famous for with the Atom Heart Mother Suite. Although Ron Geesins orchestra doesn't sound very Floydian it is still a very nice piece of music. All through it the song is saved by Gilmour's guitar playing which is close to some of his best. If is an excellent folk song by Waters with very odd lyrics,

"If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain,"

It is one of the many hidden jewels in the Floyd catalog. Summer '68 and Fat Old Sum are also hidden jewels both be very catchy. Wright's singing is the best it's ever been on Summer '68 and Fat Old Sun's vocals are sung with perfection as well. The only thing keeping this from being a perfect album is Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. Yes the noises and instumentals are good but it would only be a good song if it were six minutes shorter. This song kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth but it isn't as bad as it might seem. It was a nice attempt Floyd but just not your best.

EDIT 8/21/10:

This album is a masterpiece. It's a grower nonetheless but it is definitely a masterpiece of progressive music. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast isn't as bad as it first seems and the other songs are darn near absolute perfection. It must have been hard to pull an album like this off under the circumstances. 5 golden stars.

Before everything, LITERALLY everything, happened to Pink Floyd, there was this: Atom Heart Mother, a confuse album, with no kind of concept or cohesion in the composition. However, each piece is, by itself, good.

Atom Heart Mother is the 24 minute epic, an orchestral composition, and it's generally very very good, it has a multiple sections, and all of them are marvelous, this is without a doubt magnificent, and a great reason for hearing the album. This is followed by 3 much more conventional pieces, very simple, very smooth and good overall, "If" is my favorite, but "Summer '68" lyrics are so terrible they almost make this song un-enjoyable.

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is one of the biggest FAILS I ever heard, it's not much psychedelic, it sure is breakfast though! It's basically a man talking about his breakfast ("Marmalade, I like marmalade) and sounds of preparing a breakfast, and then, from nowhere comes instrumental pieces with absolutely no sense, completely off the song, and are a little ridiculous, which makes this song a little boring because of its 13 minutes.

Overall "Atom Heart Mother" lacks cohesion and maturity, but it is still a very enjoyable effort.

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.

Atom Heart Mother isn't the best album, expecially when you try to relax to the sounds of Alan Parsons eating his breakfest. The title track is an excellent track though, with a catchy riff, multiple sections, a massive orchestra, and most importantly, PINK FLOYD, who could say no to this album?

The title track starts with weird spacey sounds and horns playing impossible things in sync, for around 1 minute, then what we hear before explodes into a part where Floyd joins along and the orchestra plays the lead riff for the title track, called Father's Shout. The song later progresses like any other 20 minute prog song, with various sections that don't really matter to the listener, but just sound very good. After around 14 minutes of what I said, everybody goes back to the riff, then play another section, then finish the song with a massive chord.

Some of the other songs on the album like Alan's Psych, If, and Summer '68 aren't really that great, but Fat Old Sun is another great Pink Floyd song, which will stick in your head for a while.

Anyway, this is a great addition to any prog rock collection, and while not a prog masterpiece like other Pink Floyd albums like The Wall and Dark Side, Atom Hear Mother has it's own special proginess which no other album could have.

Atom Heart Mother is the first progressive rock album by Pink Floyd, and also the first classic album by the band, the kind that defines what is generally acknowledged as the Pink Floyd sound. Still, if this was not enough, it is, in fact, much more than that.

As much as it is easy to dismiss Ummagumma as "rubbish", it is easy to overlook the importance of AHM for the whole progressive rock as a genre. Its stature may be diminished nowadays, outshined by better efforts not only by Floyd itself, but also by other major prog bands. At the time of its release, nevertheless, AHM was a watershed, daring and innovative. Particularly (but not only) for its epic, side-long title track, this album is one of the defining moments that helped to establish and shape progressive rock. Let us not forget (as many people tend or try to) that AHM, the title track, is one of the first epics of the progressive rock. It precedes Tarkus by around one year and Close to the Edge and Supper's Ready by two. And yet there are those who insist in underestimate the impact and importance of Pink Floyd to the whole progressive rock genre!

That said, let's review briefly the music itself. AHM, the title track, is an instrumental piece co-written by the band and avant-garde composer Ron Geesin, arranged for orchestra, choir and the band, divided in six parts. It starts loudly in an fanfare orchestra section (prominent brass) that transitions into a calmer, band plus violin section. Around the fourth minute starts a trademark, fiery-melodic-beautiful Dave's solo. After that, around 5:40 minutes, comes the third part, a very good, soft, evocative choir section that slowly builds up for about 4 four minutes. The next section is again the band, in a bluesy section that features some guitar-piano interplay followed by another, different, choir section, characterized by some mumbo-jumbo words. The section builds up into the return to the orchestrated main-theme followed, by the 16th minute, by a typical cacophony section that lasts about two minutes and slowly transitions into music, during which the main themes of the piece remerge (the last part suitably is called "Remergence"). Keep this transition of sound effects into music in mind, one of the trademarks of the band, and a job that they would improve and master after Echoes. After the music settles down, the violin-band section resurfaces and is followed by another Gilmour solo, clocking at 21 minutes, done over the same harmony as the one in the fourth minute, but this time with a different, equally beautiful, melody. After the solo, the orchestra comes back to finish the piece.

AHM (the track) is impressively fluid and each part comunicates perfectly with the other, making it an excelent example of progressive rock. It is a little overblown and exagerated sometimes, though, particularly the orchestra section. Highlights are the violin + band section followed by guitar solos and the choir in the third part.

Then comes the b side of the album. Apparently trying to keep up with a democratic regime within the band, each member (except Nick) provides a self-penned song in between the two major, instrumental, collective pieces.

The first of this short tracks is If, by Roger, a very good semi-acoustic song that features the first explicit references to the theme of madness, empathy and alienation that would characterize Roger's writing from then on ("If I go insane/ please don't put your wires in my brain", says one of the verses). It is another of those tunes that helps you to track down the evolution of the band.

Through that evolution, the next facet of the band would fastly disappear: Rick's compositions. Summer 68 is a delusioned look at the free-love generation, that is displayed more as disposable love. It starts slowly and beatifully with Rick's voice and piano, and builds up into a faster chorus with slyghtly distorted vocals and keyboards resembling a brass section, that sets the tone for the rest of the song. It follows the aesthetics established by the title track.

The next track is Dave's Fat Old Sun, still a concert favorite, that calms down things just as If did before. The placid vocals from Dave talks of moments of peace and quiet. An atypical uplifting song in Floyd's catalogue, that finishes in a beatiful guitar solo.

The album closes in another long instrumental piece. 13-minutes Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is divided in three very distinct parts, separated by sound effects. In the first one, the keyboard lead the scene. The second is taken by the acoustic guitar, and the keyboards take the lead again in the third. APB is neither as fluid, nor as memorable as AHM, but provides a suitable ending for the album, completing full cicle (another feature that would become a trademark of the band).

Given its historical importance and groundbreaking music, AHM deserves to lie among the true classics of the progressive rock. Still, as I said before, it pales a little (just a little) in comparison to both Floyd's and the other major prog rock bands greatest works. As good as this album is, it is simply impossible to put it in the same category as Dark Side or Wish You Were Here. Therefore, I give it 4 stars, but in a higher degree than Saucerful, the other 4-stars Floyd album to date.

"Atom Heart Mother" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK psychadelic/progressive rock act Pink Floyd. The album was released through Harvest/EMI Records in October 1970. Pink Floyd recorded "Atom Heart Mother" between February and August 1970 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Despite it�s adventurous and progressive nature, the album went number 1 on the UK charts and did fairly well in the US too although the band�s big breakthrough in America wouldn�t come until a couple of albums down the line.

The Hipgnosis created "cow" cover artwork (which doesn�t feature the band name) probably ranks among the most iconic cover artworks in history. The laid back earthy atmosphere of the cover artwork stands in stark contrast to the ambitious music featured within.

The album features 5 tracks. The original vinyl version featured the side long title track on side A and the remaining 4 tracks on side B. The 23:51 minutes long title track is quite the ambitious composition which features orchestral- and choir arrangements (arranged by Ron Geesin) in addition the band�s regular rock instrumentation (note the gorgeous David Gilmour guitar solo). It�s the centerpiece and highlight of the album although it could have done with some editing. However epic and beautiful it is, it drags a bit and could easily have been 6 - 7 minutes shorter.

The tracks on side B are quite different in style and of varied quality. "If" is a folky acoustic track, "Summer �68" is a rock song with features classical orchestration, "Fat Old Sun" is mellow to start with but features a louder section later on and the 12:56 minutes long "Alan�s Psychadelic Breakfast", which is divided into three parts, is a mostly acoustic affair but of a rather experimental nature. Out of those it�s "Summer �68" that stands out as the most interesting track. The rest are decent but not really great.

The sound production is a bit dark and murky, but the organic nature of the sound suits the music pretty well. Upon conclusion it�s obvious that "Atom Heart Mother" is a transition album between Pink Floyd�s psychadelic rock past and their progressive rock future. This album features a bit of both styles and doesn�t seem to make up it�s mind on what it wants to be. The stylistic confusion isn�t doing the band any favours in terms of album flow, but on the other hand the album sure is both an adventurous and innovative listening experience and for that alone Pink Floyd deserve some praise. Overall it�s not their best or most cohesive release but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.

It must be said here the best with worse, especially the music of the first title is great to see fantastic, especially the second side of the album ets sometimes painful and little int�tessante is cool, there are sounds of balaldes but nothing to do with the magic of the first face, so you can not put five stars to this album, and not get 1 star either. I think we must be fair and properly noted with three stars, it should suffice, even if it is discussed. Three point five stars it is not too bad then that is what I wanted to. However it remains an album advise the same for all lovers of progressive rock.

Atom Heart Mother is perhaps "the" change of PF music, with their eponymous first piece decisively influenced the design of the rock, more than 20 minutes and 6 movements sweeping symphony, and good experimental rock suitable for the size of these already giants... Followed by excellent compositions as "If", "Summer 68�", "Fat Old Sun" and "Alan Psychedelic Breakfast", which the first and second stand ... The first is a typical composition of Waters, a kind of bizarfolk, with some experimentation and introspection lyrics that give a certain kind of drama ... My particular favorite is the second one of the album, really great, it sounds like a hook line to the brain, the vibe of the late 60s', contains a good discharge of acoustic instrumentation, great voice and interpretation.

I'm slightly at a loss with what to think of this album. It's nowhere near the best Pink Floyd album. Nowhere even NEAR! And Pink Floyd themselves, particularly Waters, absolutely hated the album. Yet more people have rated this album 5/5 than anything else.

Personal history of the copy I'm listening to: my dad discovered the awesomeness of Pink Floyd in the late '70s and went out to get hold of every album he could find by them. One of those albums was Atom Heart Mother. He found it for sale in a record store at a bargain price because it was second- (or maybe even third-) hand. It's decidedly battered: two of the previous owners had written their name in, and someone left a cup of tea on it, so there's a nice brown ring on the cover.

The LP itself still plays, though, shockingly, I don't have a turntable in my bedroom. Fortunately my dad went through the process of digitising large portions of his LP catalogue. The advantage of this is that now, no matter how many times I listen to it, it won't degrade in quality. The bad news is that it was already very crackly to start off with. So I can't comment on the recording quality of the album.

Usually I dislike music which is aimless or meandering. Music with no real point or meaning. This is one of the reasons Pink Floyd dislike the album. Storm Thorgerson asked the band what the album meant, and they couldn't give an answer. They just didn't know!

So, like I just said, pointless, meaningless music doesn't usually meet with approval. Just get on with the music, I usually say. So by this argument I should hate the album. I should loathe it, I should detest it and I shouldn't be listening to it right now.

Yet, for some reason, I am listening to it. It is long, it is meandering, it is pointless, but Atom Heart Mother (the track) is... hypnotic. There's nothing else quite like it. Orchestras and rock bands appear in the same track an awful lot of the time. Especially them friggin' strings! Man! Give the string sections of the orchestras a chance to rest, guys! But the orchestra is always supporting the rock band. Here, the tables have turned. The rock band is supporting the orchestra. Crazy stuff, right? I think the only time that ever happened was The Trial from The Wall, and parts of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater.

But does it work? The trouble I'm having when reviewing this album, is that it's impossible to answer that question. And if you can't answer that question, what's the point of a review? As the band said, there was no meaning to the track. No meaning and no purpose. You always have to approach music in the right way. If you listen to a Led Zeppelin album, hoping for lots of swelling ambience, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you view it as a hard rock album which makes you want to go "OOH YEAAAAH" then it will no doubt succeed. Likewise, if you listened to an Andreas Vollenweider album and wanted it to make you go "OOH YEAAAAH" then you'd be disappointed again. If there's no original purpose of the song, it's impossible to say whether it's good at what it's trying to be.

If you're after an aggressive, angry piece like The Wall, you will be disappointed. If you are after a sincere, emotional piece like Shine on You Crazy Diamond, you will be disappointed. I think it's best viewed as an ambient piece: something which you'd want to play in the background while your attention is diverted, say, at writing a review for ProgArchives. If I went to concert to see this played live, I would probably fall asleep.

I remember seeing an advert for a Pink Floyd tribute band. I'd seen them live once already - they performed the whole of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. They were awesome - they were called Think Floyd, if you're interested, and mostly play shows in the UK. But I saw a poster for their tour a couple of years later, and they were going to play the whole of the Atom Heart Mother suite live. You know, what were they thinking? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

So in conclusion, treat it as an ambient piece. It's a good ambient piece, it's nice to have playing in the background. It's not the best ambient piece - I'd rather listen to anything by Godspeed You! Black Emperor or God Is An Astronaut any day - but it's by no means poor.

If you want an ambient, orchestral suite fused with blues, Gilmour's signature solos and other crazy things, then this is the track for you.

And then there's side two.

Side two isn't bad. It's not that awesome, either. But while side one is one long ambient piece, side two is three actually vaguely normal pieces of music plus Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (more on that later). There are three songs, one written by each of the main songwriters in the band: Waters' If, Wright's Summer '68 and Gilmour's Fat Old Sun.

If is, frankly, a bit boring. Some bland guitar arpeggio-ish thing with Waters crooning about if he was something then he'd something. Towards the end the other instruments come in, including a not-too-bad guitar solo which saves the song from absolute yuckiness. Summer '68 is more up my street, a crazy psychedelic number featuring the return of the brass. It is a fine song, much more punchy and fun than If. Fat Old Sun is a more sincere song with a mighty guitar solo (a sign of things to come?), which, though rendered fairly plainly on the album is nevertheless an entertaining piece. I would recommend the live versions over it instead.

And then there's Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. This is not Alan Parson's Psychedelic Breakfast but in fact Alan Stile's Psychedelic Breakfast (he also makes a couple of brief appearances in the title track). The basic premise of this track is the same as for the title track, replacing the orchestra track with Mr Stiles eating and preparing breakfast. That's right, a roadie making breakfast is more prominent than Pink Floyd in this track.

The sound sample is, in a word, boring. That's about all there is to say about it. Musically the track isn't TOO bad... towards the end at least. The first piece of music is a piano melody. It reminds me of the theme tunes played on piano to those really horrible old children's programmes from the '60s. You know, the ones with the little wooden towns and the really boring man narrating it all. The piano melody in this track is plain and uninteresting. Towards the end of the track things get a bit more interesting, but it takes too long to get there.

From a historical point of view, this foreshadows much of what Pink Floyd would go on to do: epic soundscapes, great guitar solos and prominent use of audio samples. From the point of view of someone who wants a good album to listen to, this isn't the best but it isn't the worst. If you ran into a record store desperate for a copy of Atom Heart Mother, I'd probably try and talk you out of it. If you went into a record store looking for something else, but saw Atom Heart Mother in the bargain bin, I'd probably try and talk you into getting it. This album represents one of the lower points in Pink Floyd's career - but being Pink Floyd, there weren't really any truly low points.

I think everything about this genious album is said by all the other reviewers before. Let me add some nostalgic thoughts. Now nearly 40 years has passed, but it still is a very thrilling moment everytime I take this album out of the record shelf, put the needle in the groove, open that wonderful gatefold cover and looking at that peaceful photograph there while the first notes are played. Such a magic moment and it still feels like the first time I did this back in 1971 when I bought the album. Every single note from the beginning of Father's Shout until the last drop of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is genious. It's so peaceful, so moving. Atom Heart Mother gives me so much energy and so much freedom. A soundtrack of my life !

The beauty in this album is that of a talented and creative rock group in search of identity. Not too far removed from the demise of their original leader, Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd was still looking for that cohesive foundation of style that they could build on with the lineup that became what most people know of as Pink Floyd. Atom Heart Mother captures this search (a search that began with the very underrated Saucerful Of Secrets) in a way that I think makes the album more interesting than the majority of their more polished works that are to follow. They are grandiose and powerful on the title track and minimalistic and recluse with If and Fat Old Sun. Summer '68 is the most approachable song with classic British layering and wonderful backing vocals. They finish up with another very creative prog gem in Alans Psychedelic Breakfast.

After this effort, with time gradually eroding the influence of Barret, the group would go down a path of more musical acclaim but in the process the beautiful simplistic psychedelia exhibited on this album would gradually fade and never return. Being a huge fan of Barrett Floyd and early Floyd in general this is my favorite Pink Floyd album and if you open your mind and give it a chance it could become yours as well.

Pink Floyd album from some period not too far from their "floydian" sound. For me, there are two parts of that album. First - Atom Heart Mother ( of 6 pieces) is absolutely perfect example of early prog. 23+ minutes long (!) composition has everything was strong in prog rock of that time. And even later PF works will never give you same example of that style.

All other songs are kind of psychedelic beat mixture. Plenty of acoustic piano, mellow sound, melodic,but simplistic pieces - all that is quite usual for psychedelic sound of the time, but still don't have that unique floydian signature on it.

I think that this album is still mixed bag, strong 3,5.

Atom Heart Mother is a typical early Floyd album where their creative genius is at war with their natural disposition: laziness. Side one is a pompous, dated but nevertheless amazing piece of music. Side two is a snooze-fest that could even bring an insomniac to a comforting nap.

In 1970 rock went classic. There had been earlier exploits to recreate classical music with rock instruments (the Nice, Procul Harum,...) but in 1970 everybody suddenly brought a Philharmonic Orchestra into the studio: Deep Purple (ok that was end '69), the Nice, Uriah Heep and of course Pink Floyd. None of these experiments have been met by general approval. Some fans like it, others not at all.

And so fares Atom Heart Mother, a 25 minute psychedelic piece that compares to nothing else in Pink Floyd's output, apart from the guitar solo in the middle that they would redo on Echoes. I value it in the same way that I appreciate Uriah Heep's Salisbury: it has aged badly, it didn't create a very coherent sound and it's definitely over the top. And yet, I find myself liking it, I don't play it too much but when I do I'm always thankful they had the ambition to pull it off. After all there aren't too many similar songs around.

Next to this epic, all band members except Mason added one track each to complete the album, similarly as they had done on Umma Gumma. Unfortunately, the result is worse. If is a nice acoustic track from Waters but Grandchester Meadow was a lot better. Fat Old Sun is a weak track from Gilmour, they would do a few good live renditions of it but the version here is poor. No, The Narrow Way was a lot better.

Wright's Summer '68 might appeal to Beatles fans but it is completely out of place here and quite frankly, very dull. Alan's Breakfast is a band effort but really, I don't see the 'effort' here. Self-indulgent sloppiness is what I call it.

So, an epic monster track that is at the same time astounding and unsatisfactory; completed with 30 minutes of songs that range between tepid and hot air. If someone would release this now it would be a merciless 1 star but given its context I'd say 3.5.

Around the year of this album, dragging an orchestra into a studio to perform alongside a rock band was en vogue, largely thanks to The Moody Blues. Both the album artwork and the title are strange for two different reasons- the artwork is decidedly plain, as Storm Thorgerson reportedly went out and took a photograph of the first cow he saw (a heifer named Lulubelle III, incidentally), and while the title of the album, Atom Heart Mother, seems like a strange grouping of three random words, it actually comes from the headline of a newspaper about a pregnant woman with a nuclear-powered pacemaker. This information alone should be enough to inform someone about the psychedelic goofiness this album is all about. Unlike anything Pink Floyd had done or would do again, the centerpiece of the album is one garishly long psychedelic instrumental. By the band's own admission, this remains an embarrassing exercise in pomp- much ado about nothing, really. But then, with all the direction and purpose late 1970s Pink Floyd would exhibit with their bassist at the helm, a little nonsense does them some real good.

"Atom Heart Mother" The brass section leads off what is Pink Floyd's longest instrumental studio work. An intriguing bit of organ arpeggios and strings lead into some warm psychedelic guitar work. An eerie choir guides the music throughout the middle, accompanied by minimalistic instrumentation. Perhaps my favorite part of the piece begins about the ten-minute mark, which has a mesmerizing Roger Waters bass groove, Rick Wright's plinking organ, Nick Mason's steady and simple drumming, and a coarse guitar solo from David Gilmour. Of course, it would not be a Pink Floyd epic without a spacey and noisy passage, and that's precisely what transpires thereafter, with odd electronic noises and discordant bursts of sound. When things finally become musical again, they return to light organ and violin. The finale, despite the orchestra and choir, sound more like Pink Floyd would following this record.

"If" Written and performed by Waters, this is a gentle, pastoral acoustic song. It has a soft bit of electric guitar, organ, and a hopping bass, but retains its delicate texture throughout.

"Summer '68" Wright's sadly underused voice gets a turn on the album in this light piano-based song he wrote. Unlike the previous track, it has some sudden variation, becoming a fuller acoustic rock song, even featuring a trumpet solo.

"Fat Old Sun" Similar in sound to "If," Gilmour's contribution to the second half is a honeyed acoustic ditty. Predictably, there is an extended guitar solo during the latter half of the song.

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" If the listener did not get enough of peculiar instrumental work, the concluding piece has it in spades. With the sounds of the titular character literally making breakfast and muttering to himself, this three-part piece could have very easily been leftovers from Ummagumma. The piano in the first part makes for beautiful and bright music. For the middle, listeners are treated to two acoustic guitars and a steel guitar, all performed by the same man. The band returns to finish up the piece with a cheery conclusion, during which Mason enjoys the most activity, maintaining an even rhythm with some tasteful fills, while the band produces a happy tapestry of music.

Atom Heart Mother, for me, was a massive disappointment. I have been a huge fan of the pre Momentary Lapse... era Pink Floyd all my life and never expected to hear a mediocre album from them. Breaking down the title track: The brass section in Father's Shout is very aggressive and abraisive in nature which creates a displeasing contrast at points once Pink Floyd themselves come in with thier traditionally lush, mellow tones; Breast Milky brings in a choral section which gives one the impression that the arrangement is going to run along the lines of something like Black Sabbath's 'Supertzar', however, the piece lingers on too long without arousing emotion in the listener. The concept of the choir is interesting, but I feel feel that there is too much meandering without a definative climax or focal point in this section of the album to maintain the listener's intrigue; Mother Fore gets rockier, spacier and generally a bit closer towards the psychedelic bliss of the traditional Pink Floyd that we all know and love; Funky Dung then kills the enjoyment built up in the listener from the previous section as it is essentially a cacophonic 'experimental' section on keyboard. (Don't get me wrong, I love keboard solos, but this one is just noises without reason...) ; By the latter end of the piece, everything is just sounding a bit aimless and wrong. (Not memorable enough to even comment on) Next up, is the rest of the album; If, quite frankly, is boring because of a combination of monotonous lyrics and little instrumentation to patch it up; Summer '68 and Fat Old Sun, albeit that they aren't quite as catchy as most Pink Floyd, both are actually quite trippy and fun songs to hear; with ...'68 having a nice piano backing and a psychedelic chorus and ...Sun has a really cool, emotive solo from Gilmour; The final song, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is a bit of a letdown to say the least simply because it really isn't psychedelic at all, when you consider Floyd's other early works (So the content isn't what it says on the cover basically) It fades off into sounding like an album filler as a result of the song lacking in instrumentation. Overall, the concept of a rock band and an orchestra commingled to create a a prog epic is a good one, but theory and practice are not the same thing and it doesn't work here. Far better examples of this idea can be seen in albums such as Mahavishnu Orchestra's Apocalypse. So, all I can say is that unless you happen to be a serious collector of Pink Floyd, leave this one out and get meddle instead if you want to hear early 70's Pink Floyd.

Pink Floyd was still right in the middle of their psychedelic era at this point and delivered quite an interesting piece of prog here. Especially the title track has always intrigued me a lot. Tremendous variation lasting for 23 minutes, this one is pretty challenging to say the least. And yet there were already the first signs of a straightforward melodic Pink Floyd with this epic. Especially in the first half of the song there are hints to their later master piece epic SoyCD. And it's actually because of this that I manage to have the greatest respect for this epic. In fact it scores higher for my personal taste than the more praised Echoes from the later album Meddle. For I don't mind if a song gets complex and a little weird at times (challenging is a better word really) as long as there is also real music to be enjoyed. And that's what Pink Floyd did very well here. It's a great mix of all sorts of prog in all kinds of tempo and moods.

And this epic alone will determine my ultimate score for the larger part. Because it's so significant and essential in prog history. I mean, this is 1970 and to produce something like this at this moment in time is really a breakthrough and a milestone in progressive rock. Same as KC's debut also here I have ultimate respect for what is achieved with this track and album.

The b-side contains a couple of short songs and a mini epic to conclude with. If is a pretty ballad and quite famous of course. Nothing psychedelic here. Summer '68 is also fairly normal and quiet with dominant piano. Fat Old Sun is third in a row in this more or less same style. This time guitars accompany the restrained vocals.

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is a very interesting mini epic. In fact this is one of my earlier prog experiences as I bought the vinyl in the early eighties and after more than a quarter of a century (I just bought the disc and my pick up doesn't work anymore for a long time) I still remember the typical breakfast sounds in the song. Funny that this is actually the moment I remember most of the entire song. The rest is less psychedelic than the large epic I believe but all in all not as attractive if I may say so. Still very intriguing and original.

Leaves me the task to rate this album. It's not a masterpiece for me since it's too far from perfect. But rating it with three stars would be selling it short big time. So that leaves 4 stars as only possibility mainly due to great significance for prog history and also to sheer greatness. After Animals and WywH this is my most favourite PF album.

We have to differ good from bad guys and girls, men and women, ladies and gentlemen, prog night addicts and daytime embracers, am I right ? When something quite good gets very good rating, we have to either adjust rating for even better album, or fix first one to more fit to each other.

This is under-estimated masterpiece. Orchestral parts forced to work together as slave labor to Pink Floyd's band members (except Nick, he gets sunshine most of the time). Of course, in this case, when counting out Mason, it's Gilmour who's most prominent, but that's standard situation here, so no raised eyebrows this time. First epic, or if you want, suite. I first heard it about six years ago, when my father was (intentionally) presenting me Pink Floyd's music. I remember two things: I didn't like it much and second one: it was ancient Roman like (these trumpets), it reminded me something like Quo Vadis, or simply these old Rome films. I've returned to this album again when I saw one certain thread about epics. Someone (thanks) said that AHM is in fact first epic. So I took this as a little push-forward and tried it.

5(-), I don't regret. It's one of these albums where you can enjoy every part of it and you're still smiling wide. So high rating because it's Pink Floyd = guarantee of quality. And so it works, it's a very good one. I've said it, I've said it.

5 stars is the highest score, though for them I can not repeat this phrase for virtually any aboma. It seems to be commonplace sounds - a supergroup that it may be popular, selling ... there is a team of inhaled music don `t know how and where you want to splash out when it in the cup will be over the edge.

This disk 21 century once said their keyboards about this album ... and then for some reason I called it weak ... Mr. Wright, this would have been clearly wrong. Album evaporating their psychedelic atmosphere typical of the early period. Opera (I can not simply describe it differently) atom heart mother - the first track, nervous, anxious mood is much that can subside at some point ... but it has not lost it saves power to a new senseless jerk ... then the agony .. tale of unfulfilled dreams and the eternal human question of what if. It is beautifully done in C minor (If I suddenly wrote wrong please forgive me because I do not speak English and translate everything through Google)

This Pink Floyd album is somewhat polemic but it has an interesting structure: it songs are quite different - in many aspects. They are:

Atom Heart Mother - Probably my favorite Pink Floyds song. Atom Heart Mother is a soberb suite and incredible at every single secnd of its 24 minutes! Reminds me much of modernism period on classical music and Pink Floyds space-rock is also included most of the time. Concrete music is also found together with psych effects and, one of the greatest features, the vocals: only an orchestral choir, some bizarre sounds and two little speechs! Atom Heart mother is an epic song: it's born, it grows, it dies. I wonder a flowers life when i listen to this song.

If - A simple and short song, guitars and vocal. The lyrics are nice but it doesn't deserves any highlight. Thank God is a short song.

Summer '68 - A delightful melodie on piano and a song that everybody likes to sing. The metals part are its climax. A great song composed by Richard Wright; better than Waters "If" or Gilmours "Fat Old Sun".

Fat Old Sun - another simple song that doesn't deserve highlights. Only its guitar is enjoyable.

Alans Psychdelic Breakfast - A great experimental song fractioned in three parts. The song has speechs and concrete music features and also is made of some jazzy and calm melodies.

Finally, AHM is not a masterpiece but the first and the last songs are just incredible and they are like 3/4 of the album. It deserves 4 stars!

Pink Floyd: The Experimental Years Part 2

What do you do after you have made one of the most ground breaking experimental albums of all time. You repeat it, but you attempt to make it better by putting in catchy songs as well. And did it work...not really.

To be honest, I prefered Ummagumma and I found this album to be a wee bit tedious. All in all it was a great album, but Ummagumma had short brief experiments, this had 2 long experiments.

The 2 big instrumentals were very good, but fail in comparison to the instrumentals on Ummagumma.

I also love the artwork, it's so simple but yet effective.

1. Atom Heart Mother - Very dramatic and very classical sounding. With soundtrack like crashes and alot of improv, this song is a mammoth...well to listen to it does take near half an hour. It is very beautiful at parts, but it also can be quite tedious. The problem with long songs is that after a while, you will expect the listener to get bored, so you gotta keep em interested. I also love the use of the choir and the orchestra.

2. If - Quite a personal statement from Roger. Very melodius (as usual) and some nice guitar work. Quite catchy as well.

3. Summer '68 - A nicer more melodic style from Rick. Very soothing and very relaxing.

4. Fat Old Sun - Dave's song (they all have one except for Nick)Quite cathcy and some nice vocals from Dave.

5. Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast - My favourite song on the album. I love the quotes from the random English guy. Very amusing and an amazing piece of music. Like Atom Heart Mother, it does get a bit tedious.

CONCLUSION: This was a great album, but to be honest, Umagumma was alot better in style and experimentation. The shorter songs also display a great level of maturity and will be seen on their next few albums.

Ah... The album that launched the career of "that cow". It's a shame the same can't be said for the Pink Floyd, although they were on their way.

'AHM' is in my opinion, the first truly progressive of Floyd's efforts. Firstly because of it's obvious stylistic tendancies towards prog as a genre, moving on from the mistake that was 'experimental music' and moving ever closer towards you-know-what. And secondly, because it is literally a "progression" from 'Ummagumma'. Its better, and worth an extra star for that reason. Side 1, the suite itself, is big. A little too big at this stage in the Floyd's career. Considering it's size, there's actually relatively little content within it, which is what lets it down. It's a big, fat, bulky peice of music, but really with just a few salvagable themes and a nice jammy section in the middle. I'm not saying it's poor. But it's average. And 20 minute songs should be more than just average.

The second side treats us to more individuality from the band members (they didn't let Mason have a go this time, probably after hearing his 'Ummagumma' contribution...). Waters' 'If' is melodically similar to 'Grantchester Meadows', though thankfully shorter. Gilmour's 'Fat Old Sun' is nice, and showcases his first [good] guitar solo of the band's career. My favourite is Wright's 'Summer '68' though, which is similarly poppy yet utilises the brass instruments in a way which sort of makes it superior to the 'AHM' suite (is that allowed?!). The final 13 minutes should be ignored unless you can be bothered to rummage through all the tape effects to try to find any music lurking in there. For me it brings back bad memories of 'Ummagumma' so the less said about it the better...

And that's 'Atom Heart Mother' at face value. It's tighter, more cohesive, and more progressive than previous works, and if you hang around for long enough you can explore even more of the longer tracks. We're not quite there yet though, just one more hurdle...

A great album and also one of the best of Pink Floyd.

Let us forget about the A-side for a while. If there wouldn't be a B-side, album will lose too much. So, Summer '68 is like an ode to a lost generation. If is a simple plainer song and takes its power from this simplicity and throughout its beautifully composed lyrics. Fat Old Sun is a typical Gilmour song with a wonderful guitar solo and lyrics. For Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, I can only speak very personally. This song is a genuine composition of Psychedelic Music. This song is a hippie after 68 generation. A hippie, a "psychedelic" person who is not aware of the present, of that this is not 68 anymore. It is Alan, It is Pink. It is us that reject that 68 will never come again.

For the part A. The magnificent "Atom Heart Mother", there are so little things left to be said. It is a work of genius, of art, of beauty, of greatnes, of life. Not only for its brilliant orchestration, orchestral entrance especially, but also for the wholeness, for the life inside it it is ART. That song is a great composition that deserves to be next those of Bach's or Beethoven's.

All in all, a great album. Essential for psychedelic fans, a must, not to die w/o listening for Pink Floyd fans.

For i am the latter my rating is 5/5.

The experimentation in the extended composition format seemed to never end with Pink Floyd and instead the band continued pushing the boundaries of the format by releasing Atom Heart Mother.

Featuring a side long epic with an orchestra was indeed a daring move for the young quartet. This album opening composition of epic proportions can be regarded as a continuation of the conceptual piece A Saucerful Of Secrets but this time with a full brass section and choir backing the band. To be honest, it sounds more like Pink Floyd backing an orchestra, than the other way around, since there are very few instances here that remind me of their work. Don't get me wrong, this is quite an ambitious piece of orchestra music that works well as a soundtrack piece to an atmospheric scenery. I recently saw a video were the suite was added to a scene out of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey which truly made me reconsider my previous opinion of this composition. Still Pink Floyd's masterpiece suite was yet to come and Atom Heart Mother feels somewhat undeveloped and bleak in comparison.

Side two of the album is split between the band members where, just like on Ummagumma, every member wrote and performed lead vocals on their own band contribution. This tendency to split up a team effort has never worked in a band setting and is generally a sign of a band on the verge of a split-up (ELP's Works Vol. 1 is probably the prime example of this scenario). Luckily the band pushed on and eventually were recognized for their work. But this is neither the time nor the place for this and Roger Waters' If is definitely the only track that I consider worth checking out while Richard Wright's and David Gilmour's Summer '68 and Fat Old Sun, respectively, are just dull.

Even though Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is credited as a band contribution, this is actually one of Nick Mason's creatures that he mixed around with in the studio. This 13 minute piece does feel like a refreshing transition from the two tracks preceding it, but ultimately this collage really leads nowhere and usually leaves me feeling very dissatisfied with the whole album experience.

Atom Heart Mother was, in my opinion, a wrong turn for Pink Floyd. Although I do enjoy the side one epic, most fans should agree that the next album would show a huge improvement on the epic composition concept leaving this release only as a good, but non-essential release in Pink Floyd's discography.

**** star songs: Atom Heart Mother (23:51) If (4:24)

*** star songs: Summer '68 (5:26) Fat Old Sun (5:17) Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (12:56)

Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother is a very strange album. In My Opinion this is the worst of early Pink Floyd though I have not heard "More" yet. It starts out with the twenty four minute title track. The Track Atom Heart Mother is overly pompous and boring. Yes it was an experiment for them and yes it is symphonic but even the band will admit they didn't really know what they were doing with it. I would give it a 1/5, its long and boring with no direction. the next song is If which is a okay little acoustic ballad nothing great which deserves a 3/5 at best. Up next is Summer '68 which is probably the best song on the album, it has more energy then the previous songs but again nothing great here I'll give it a 3/5. Then theres Fat Old Sun which is kinda dull, like the previous 2 tracks it is also very acoustic it deserves no more than a 2/5. Then the the final last and disappointing track Alan Psychedelic Breakfast which sounds just like its title labels it as. A some what Psychedelic song with breakfast cooking in the background. 1/5 Maybe i'll listen to this song when i'm eating breakfast. maybe it will be better that way, but I doubt it.

This album continues Pink Floyd's transition from Syd Barrett's psychedelic style to the spacy, but highly compelling style they perfected by the time "Dark Side Of The Moon" was released. Easily, the best song, or suite of songs, is Atom Heart Mother. This is probably the closest PF came to true symphonic prog. It helps that it also has an orchestra as well. It also contains a section that previews the sound used on the later, more well known albums. For this song alone, the album deserves a listen.

The other suite, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is just too disjointed, and contains too many stretches of sound effects. But still, it shows where the band was heading.

There are also many segments which feature David Gilmour's slide guitar, which will become another integral part of the band's sound.

A nod to the band's past is Summer '68, a pure psychedelic piece that would have fit on the any of the early releases.

An uneven album, but historic.

Mindless at its worst, brilliant at its best, ATOM HEART MOTHER is one of the most controversial albums in Pink Floyd's body of work. There's not a whole lot of ''rocking'' going on here, and the prog is more of the experimental jamming type. The problem: the jamming can get pretty vacuous.

The title track holds much promise with its length and the incorporation of both a brass section and a choir, things that Pink Floyd would rarely use again. Typical aspects of Floyd jamming like Gilmour's more soulful solos and Wright's keyboard touches are here, but the drumming isn't that exciting. Geesin did a tremendous job making the brass section work, and the choirs remind me of Magma (that group was new at the time). However, there are about five minutes here that are nothing more than a void, a problem I have with several longer Pink Floyd tracks.

One more collaborative effort appears here, and that's ''Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast''. It's essentially a collage of a man making breakfast and a few delicate improvisations. It's a pleasant track when you listen to it, but the music is so sedated it's borderline dull and dreary. ''Fat Old Sun'' and ''If'' are two voids on the album that are completely skippable.

''Summer '68'' contrasts the rest of the album; jovial, full of life and not a dull moment. It really doesn't fit on ATOM HEART MOTHER given the context of the other tunes, but ''Summer '68'' is a top-notch Floyd track with superb brass lines. Rick Wright is responsible for this tune, and it indicates how overlooked his writing typically is. The track is as close as Pink Floyd got to the Cantebury scene.

ATOM HEART MOTHER is a generally overlooked album that is absolutely not for starters. Pick it up at some point in your prog journey, but have a Rush album handy just in case AHM puts you to sleep.

I don't think I have another album in my collection which I have this mixed feelings about. Is this the greatest prog rock album ever created? Or is it just some failed attempt at experimentation? Well, all I need to know is that this album made a large impact on me, look at my name for instance.

The reason why I'm having mixed feelings about this album is propably very apparent, as many other prog rock fans, I love the first side and everything about it. Every single time I put on the album I have a really hard time to grasp how Pink Floyd could record something like this one day and then go to music like... the Wall a few years later (not that I don't like the wall, but it doesn't have the same magical feel as AHM does).

You don't record songs like Atom Heart Mother over a day of course and Pink Floyd even had to get some help from their friend Ron Geesin, who had to do a major part of the arragements on the song, and I think that might be one of the main reasons why Pink Floyd didn't write a second Atom Heart Mother, it was too much work for something that wasn't even well-percieved by the main part of the rock community. But for me, this will be Pink Floyd's grand achievement forever and I could leave it at that.

As for the song, it's very unpolished, has many flaws and may even feel abit lazy at some times. But does that stop it from being the best song ever recorded for me? Even if Atom Heart Mother faces all those problems, it got something that no other song or album ever even got close to, and I can't really tell you what it is, I just don't enjoy the song because I love to listen to it. I sense another type of enjoyment when I listen to this album, and that sense hasn't left me after hundreds of spins, and propably won't leave me after my thousand listen.

Somehow this song manages to keep itself fresh, listen after listen. It just progresses in such way, which is what the core of progressive rock is for me. Music that progresses, and I'm not talking about Beatles incorporating Psychedelica into pop music or King Crimson putting the Jazz into Hardrock with 21st century schizoid man. I'm just talking about a song that progresses, all the way from the brass intro to the funk guitar soloes to the avant-garde sound collagues. That's what prorgressive rock is for me, and Pink Floyd has managed to create a prime example of it.

The other side, has four songs, which are good and enjoyable. But they don't keep the grandness in the album, it's more of a relief from what you just experienced. I can honestly say that hearing the first notes of If (which is why I prefer the CD version to the LP version on this album) is a huge relief for me. This is why the second side is needed, and is also why it keeps the album from achieving a masterpiece status for me. But there was a time in my life where I would not even think for a second when rating this album.

So, I just said that this side is pretty much what this album needs, that's true. But it sure doesn't need to be 25 minutes long, after If, the songs lose that feeling of relief and are just typical pop songs, which you can find on any other psychedelica album.

I like the ending however, it's kinda fun, but it loses it's charm after some listens, but it's still my second favorite song on the album. It's kinda the same thing that Mike Oldfield did, just takes a few good parts and put them together to a song. The only difference is that Pink Floyd is improvising and jamming, when Mike Oldfield just got already arranged part which he just build up. And that is why this is much more enjoyable for me.

So there it is, my review for Atom Heart Mother. This is the most polarizing album, I have ever heard, and is most likely going to stay that way for a long time. But, meanwhile I'll keep on enjoying Atom Heart Mother.

Even if the last 13 minutes of this 51 minutes album (very long in the vinyl age) are not at the same level of the others this is probably my favourite Pink Floyd album.

For the first time somebody who's not part of the band is credited as co-writer and this somebody is the eclectic composer and orchestral director Ron Geesin. He composed and arranged the orchestral and choir parts fo this suite that's effectively built by assembling several parts composed in different moments. Recognising who can be the author of each single part is quite easy. After a brass introduction and the noise of a car crash we have a single bass not intrducing the main symphonic theme.

The idea from which the title is from was taken from a newspaper: a pregnant woman who had a car accident and was comatose had been taken in life by an artificial heart alimented by atomic energy until the delivery. This can be intended as an evolution of the song "Embrio" which Pink Floyd were playing live in the same period, and probably the reason why that very good song has never been officially released. Maybe they have considered the concept as redundant. However the whole suite is about the life of the embrio kept alive by the atomic heart of the mother.

Symphonic parts are alternated with bluesy guitar riffs but what is really impressive is the arrangement for orchestra and choir. A great work by Ron Geesin.

Side B is made of songs. It's opened by "If", an acoustic ballad on which Waters uses the same structure of a poetry of the XIII Century by Cecco Angioleri. The poetry says "If I were fire I'd burn the world, if I were wind I'd storm on it". The structure is similar but the concept is different. While the first is saying "The world is bad but I want to enjoy its goods" Waters says "I'm not a good man. If I were I'd understand the spaces between friends".

The Orchestra is back on "Summer 68". It's a song written by Rick Wright and is about groupies and the loneliness of the life on the road. It's the theme that will be reprised in The Wall with Young Lust. It looks like it's speaking of a real event. Rick had sex with a groupies and nothing remained after. "Would you like to say something before you leave?" He asks.

Another little masterpiece and probably one of the best songs ever written by David Gilmour is "Fat Old Sun". The original title was "Sing to Me" and there are several live versions available on bootlegs. It's another acoustic ballad with a great guitar solo in the coda that's unfortunately faded out.

The album is closed by "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast". Before Atom Pink Floyd started working on a project that was early aborted: the plan to make an album using only tools and instruments of domestic use instead of musical instruments. It was too experimental and the first results weren't very good, but the idea survived in this track in three parts, the first of them full of sound of Alan, a roadie, cooking and eating his breakfast. The parts which follows are quiet instrumentals. I see an echo of this work in Nick Mason's album "Profiles".

This is the album which made me discover not only prog, but symphonic music too. It helped me to realize that violins, brasses and choirs are as good and somethime better than guitar, bass and drums. I have also discovered Ron Geesin and his experimentalisms.

This album is a milestone and deserves all the 5 stars that I can give it.

I remember seeing the cover with the cow standing in a pasture with no text or clue as to what might be on the record. I was intrigued for a long time and soon after exploring Pink Floyd's music, I picked this one up. It does have it's flaws but I was never disappointed.

The title track was very ambitious and definitely a progression from the band's earlier instrumental pieces such as "A Sauceful of Secrets". The "Atom Heart Mother" suite takes up half of the album and is split into six parts. It features a full brass section and choir while Pink Floyd mainly provide the backing and the orchestration takes the lead. However, there is one section where Gilmour's bluesy guitar solo takes the lead. The main melody is very graceful and touching and although the piece is lengthly, most of it works beautifully. There's a delightful psychedelic feel throughout, sounding different to the previous albums.

The second half of the record has some really nice songs. I like Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" very much. Waters' "If" is a mellow whispery folk ballad and Rick Wright's brass-heavy "Summer '68 is a wonderful catchy classic. The final track, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is divided into three segments and although it does meander somewhat, I find it quite relaxing, pleasurable and charming.

Overall, Atom Heart Mother had a lot of musical ideas. It is quite like "Ummagumma" in many respects because the input here came from all band members but in my opinion it's better and has a bit more direction. It was a great release. The group were quickly starting to develop their sound for more exceptional things to come. After this they finally cracked it with the amazing "Meddle". 4 stars.

The members of Pink Floyd don't have many nice things to say about this album, their first UK #1 album. 1970 seemed to be the year of both side-long epics and rock bands flirting with orchestras. Here Floyd do both at once. On this album they work with avant-garde composer Ron Geesin, with whom Waters made a soundtrack the same year. Syd Barret actually stopped by the studio to visit the band, but when he arrived only Geesin was there doing overdubs. For 1970, this is a rather long single-album. Supposedly the CD version has a different mix than the original vinyl.

Waters came up with the title after reading about a woman who got a heart pacemaker. "Atom heart mother..." was a part of the article's headline. Originally the epic was known as "The Amazing Pudding", and director Stanley Kubrick wanted to use it in the film A Clockwork Orange, but the band refused. The track is a good mix of band and orchestra(and choir). Generally I don't pay attention to the individual sections, listening to the whole thing as one piece. Some good use of sound effects throughout the epic. Wright's organ work is great after 3 minutes with the violin/viola, followed by some tasty slide guitar from Gilmour. I like the vocals starting before 6 minutes and how it builds up when the drums come in a few minutes later. Love how the choir is scat-singing in the middle. Leave it to Floyd to make a choir scat.

The main theme of the track gets reprised later. The weird avant section with samples from earlier parts of the epic doesn't really stand the test of time. I assume Geesin had a big influence on this part. Main theme gets reprised again afterwards. Then the earlier bass/organ/viola(?) part returns. The whole thing is a bit hit or miss at times, but overall the title track is well done. I never really cared for "If". Some nice sound effects and overdubbed, harmonized guitars near the end. "Summer '68" is the best of the three shorter songs. Great use of brass and a good piano melody. The lyrics are not too great, but this is a Wright song, and only Barrett and Waters ever wrote any good lyrics for this band. Like the harmony vocals near the end.

"Fat Old Sun" is another song I've never been much a fan of. Gilmour wrote a lot of better songs. The solo is the best part of the song, but it's not even one of his best. If it weren't for all the sound effects and looped talking, "Alan's Psychedlic Breakfast" would be more consistent and more enjoyable. The 'psychedelic' in the title refers to all those non-music sounds; the actual music is not really psych at all. I like how the matches get lit and then a note follows. First part: classical piano with some guitar, then some organ before a kettle goes off. Second part: folky acoustic guitars and some slide guitar. The third part is one of the best parts of the album: some kind of symphonic blues-rock with great piano and some nice guitar playing.

Atom Heart Mother has a lot in common with Meddle in that they both have some less than great songs stuck in the middle. Before DSOTM, their albums were inconsistent and featured both great tracks and not-so-great tracks. But those great tracks were really great. Every Floyd fan should have this just for the title track alone. Forget whatever Waters and Gilmour has to say about this album now; if they thought it was so awful when they recorded it, it would never have been released, right? There are some great live versions of the title track without orchestra on bootlegs. In some cases even better than the studio version. "If", "Fat Old Sun" and the non-musical elements of "Breakfast" bring this album down in quality. Overall, I would give this album 3.5 but I'll round it up to 4 stars.

Prog Floyd starts here.

The album of the famous cow. Perhaps it is simplistic, because in some moments the music is extraordinary, but the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of "Atom Heart Mother" is the cow.

The second thing that comes to mind is the suite of side one, called of course Atom Heart Mother. This piece of music marks a milestone in the evolution of the band's sound, which is slowly approaching the tastes of fans of progressive rock and abandoning the ethereal psychedelic world. The song (which I believe is the pinnacle of creativity achieved so far by the band) is made with the help of scottish composer Ron Geesin, and is basically a suite divided into several sections, played along with an orchestra composed by choirs and brass instruments. After a brief introduction, the suite begins with a guitar riff by Gilmour enriched by the brass instruments. Suddenly the band slows down, and after a bass line of Waters, Rick Wright and his organ takes the scene: many years have past but I think the organ and cello section ('Breast Milky') is absolute one of the greatest moments of all progressive rock (there are no words to describe this beauty, this part is legendary!). The suite continues with a chorus of male and female voices, a guitar solo by Gilmour on a blues-funky variation, various sound effects and reprises of the opening riff. Then the majestic grand final. "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" are amazing, but maybe this is the suite that after many years I listen with greatest interest.

Unfortunately the second side is not on the same level with references to the old sounds ('Ummagumma' and 'More', for example) and you notice some uncertainties. I liked If, an acoustic ballad by Waters, when I was 18 and now frankly a bit less. Summer '68 is a love song with references to the Beatles and the Moody Blues. Again here we have brass instruments but this time unnecessary. The best tracks are Fat Old Sun with a splendid final crescendo by Gilmour and Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast where even the typical sounds of the breakfast (for example fried eggs) contribute to the music.

"Atom Heart Mother" is central to the history of the group, the bridge that connects the psychedelic period to the more classic era, and I think one of the most beautiful work (if not the best) of Pink Floyd's career. Highly recommended. Rating: 8/10.

Best song: Atom Heart Mother

Review milestone #20 by DN

The first time I ever heard anything from Pink Floyd I was eight and was this album. My dad bough it on a cassette version and eventually play it. Then in those years, among cartoons and school days, I was fascinated by the length of the songs. Radio tunes normally were shorter than three minutes and here we are in front of a twenty minutes monster, an entire side for a single song. And there was also the cover: a cow in pasture. The hell is this? I've had to listen it.

So it's begin with the homonym twenty-something monster. An electric humming followed by strings and noise mixed in an apparently nonsense that fall into a symphonic overture with motors sounds and jazz drums. The entire piece roundabouts over a particular leitmotif, a tragic and heroic march running in ancient ages horses as a crusade quest in search of glory and divination, still the trip evokes over consumption and consumerism adorned in fanfares and war esque rhythms. This leitmotif is developed in different textures, tempo and moods; you can hear electric guitars, mellotrons, wind orchestra, chamber strings, haunting vocals, bass guitars, all of them pushing through the opus until there is no more to add. In fact there is a point on which the regular listener would lost every interest among amorphous computer effects and practically not a single conclusive line. But then, luckily, the machinery comes to an end, the whole monster unfolds itself, the metallic fanfare breaks throughout it returning to its very origin and trades it into an epic conclusion reloaded into an entire new dawn. Is, lacking for better words, a complex symphonic jazz experiment.

Calming the moods, comes 'If', an introspective Waters ballad mostly leaded over the acoustic guitar strings. Smooth, soft and yet thrilling. Summer of love is left behind, but the kindness remains and vibrates with good intentions and hopeful dreams. A wonderful track with such atmosphere and feeling, that is impossible to feel indifferent to it.

'Summer '68' is definitely my favourite song of the album, a jolly dynamic and also kind of melancholic track with a lot of reminiscence from the main track. The piano breaks into happy tune. Shy and timid at first, then monstrous, a loud gigantic evolves with little paints of trumpet and orchestra from the AHM's leitmotif here and there, and returns to the poppy keyboards not daring to calming down a single pace. Claiming attention, energy, burst out and screams louder with metal trumpets and shrieking orchestra. The tempo lows down into an acoustic guitar and piano, Plants a farewell or at least take more air before the final submersion. The jazzy orchestra explodes once more fading with sonorous yells of joy. Bursting out!

Gilmour gives a soft ballad, bucolic tune bathed in tears of mist and evening. 'Fat Old Sun' is completely laid on his guitar, ghostly accompanied by grinding electric string chords and blue drums. Melancholic valediction growing in a sad night that vanish slowly and softly.

A leaking on the sink, the stove, the kitchen comes alive; coffee, butter, marmalade, ingredients turned into mantra verses of a mechanical mind. A bite, and the music emerges as a kaleidoscope of sonorous sensations. Another bite. This trip concludes with 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast', created completely devoted as a sound experiment, they play with the stereo channels revolving the breakfast into the kitchen and emphasizing sensations of cooking, eating, cleaning with a bizarre and romantic 'score' a glad moment to be remembered, yet as simple as breakfast could be, every moment is celebrated and followed in a documentary style. Is so intense you can hear and even smell the eggs fried on the pan. Brilliant. And as the title suggest, an actual psychedelic experience.

Pink Floyd for me can not do anything "bad", some things are better than others, but overall everything is perfect. Atom Heart Mother has some very strange moments, but this album is very well written. The main things for this album is the cow and the opening suite. This is one of those very few Pink Floyd songs where someone else is credited for co-writing a song out side of the band. The opening "Father's Shout" is filled with bizarre sounds, and the when the band begins to play with the brass it sound great. This one does lead to some odd singing by a choir, but in "Remergence" everything comes back together. After a good 23 minutes a softer song sung by Roger Waters comes to play, "If". The next song is "Summer '68" by Rick Wright. I don't understand why he did not sing more than he did, because listening to this is proof that he could do great stuff on his own. Then David Gilmour has his moment with "Fat Old Sun". This is a really good song and it's even better to see him play it live at the Royal Albert Hall. Then the album falls back in to another instrumental suite. This for me is the weakest song on the album, but it's still a good piece to listen to. It's filled with moments of a guy talking about his breakfast. Between these moments is good music. The name "Alan's psychedelic breakfast" may sound abit strange, but it's still good. Over all this album is great. It's one of their first true progressive albums, but like others here have said you can tell they were still seaching for that "sound" and this gives you an idea of what that sound is going to be. Everything here is quite good, from the cow to the psychedelic breakfast.

Put it this way: Roger Waters and David Gilmour agreed on almost nothing in the immediate aftermath of Waters departing Pink Floyd, so when both Waters and Gilmour regularly go on the record as severely disliking this album you *know* something is up with it. For my part, it took me a long time to appreciate Atom Heart Mother; I finally do, but only once I stopped trying to expect it to either provide the psychedelic spacy textures of their early material or the more finely-crafted accomplishments of later works, but instead saw it as the necessary tightening-up of their command of the studio necessary to allow their classic run from Meddle to The Final Cut to take form.

Atom Heart Mother's title track is a sidelong epic in which the band try to fuse their music with orchestral material. By this point, I think it's fair to say that such experiments had ceased being novel and had started to become routine - Deep Purple had done it, the Nice did it, the Moody Blues had done it a full three years previously - and whilst the history of such efforts has always been patchy, I found Atom Heart Mother particularly hard to warm to. My usual preference for such things is for the rock group to be in the fore and for the orchestra to provide texture, but quite frequently the reverse priorities apply.

The other epic on the album, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, combines fairly spacey noodling from the band with breakfast sound effects that risk upstaging the track, unless you adjust to regarding them as part of the sonic texture, something which the careful engineering from Alan Parsons encourages. Solo compositions from Wright, Gilmour and Waters round out the album with some simpler musical ideas which risk seeming underdeveloped by comparison - If would make a stellar two minute song but risks trying the listeners patience by running for over four, Summer '68 engages in psych nostalgia at precisely the moment when the band needed to be defining a future for itself, and Fat Old Sun is another folky number of the sort the band were flirting with at the time.

I ended the previous version of this review by saying "When the sound of your engineer munching toast is more interesting and full of vitality than the musical accompaniment, you know you've got problems", but I think that's the issue: the album is in part an exercise in seeing if the sound of Alan Parsons munching toast can be made interesting, and listened to on good-quality headphones or speakers it certainly is. This inevitably makes it, if not an outright audiophile-only album, at least the sort of thing which gives the best results when you take your listening equipment and sources at least somewhat seriously; cheap earbuds and low-bitrate MP3s aren't going to cut it.

Underrated gem. That is how I could sum up this work of art but I'll be more detailed. In 1970, progressive rock was starting it's rise to the top and the Floyd jump right on board. After Syd left, they went almost glacial and soundscapey with Careful With That Axe, Eugene. This was PF's most ambitious experiment, I think, in their whole career incorporating a brass band and choir in the forefront of a 20+ min rock suite which is fantastic. It is a masterpiece top to bottom from the great brass arrangements to the haunting choir and the band providing a good foundation for the rest of the song. The flip side has some really good songs too. If is a short and sightly beautiful Waters number that is slightly forgettable but is still worth a listen. Summer '68 is probably my favorite of the shorter numbers on this album. I love the piano sound on this one and Wright is a underrated vocalist IMO and i think he's terrific. Fat Old Sun is also pretty good and shows how well Gilmour is on an acoustic guitar. Then, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, my favorite track of this album for it's innovation and somewhat creepiness. It's pretty interesting how they can combine a recording of a roadie of their's eating breakfast and make a song out of it, a very good song. It always sticks in my head when i hear it. Overall, a great album that gets too much negativity. Oh, I also feel i need to mention this too, It has the greatest album art ever. No joke. 5 stars. Highlights: Atom Heart Mother, Summer '68 and Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast.

A nice surprise....

I first time bought this cassette 30 years ago without really understanding the music here. It was dumped and quickly forgotten. I recently purchased the CD version (the cassette is in a loft in my parents house) together with the Pink Floyd classic albums almost as an afterthought. I have never rated this album.

..... until now.

Atom Heart Mother is Pink Floyd progressing towards the great albums which later cemented their position as one of the all time greats. The title track is a symph prog epic (to my big surprise !!) as good as most symph prog epics. It is a great song which I really love. It has been added to my very long list of alltime Pink Floyd favorite tunes. If, Summer and Fat old sun is good songs too. The closing track Alan's psychedelic breakfast is a grower and a very good tune too.

I have to say this album has moved from a one star album to what I, to my huge surprise, is about to award this album. I happens to think this album should be regarded as one of Pink Floyd's great albums. Yes, that is an overcrowded list. But I prefer this album to their more slick & mindnumbing boring A Momentary Lapse Of Reason era. For me, Atom Heart Mother is Pink Floyd as an interesting, relevant band.

To my surprise, I cannot give anything less than four stars to this album which during the last week has given me a lot of pleasure. Not to mention; shocks.

4 stars

What is Atom Heart Mother?

It's Roger Waters of Pink Floyd takes his hand and leads them on a new road. Towards an infinite that is not dreamed by Syd Barrett.

Atom Heart Mother is the beginning of a new dream. Infinite spaces. Dense fog in the morning, God knows what in the English countryside, lost down there, where the sounds are mixed with the music and the music blends into the river.

The river mixes with orchestra of Ron Geesin and powerful notes of wind instruments that awaken us. The pictures in black and white on the inside cover is even more fun of the cover.

There are souls. More souls. Roger Waters and his uneasiness, his isolation from the things of the moment, to go further into the unknown. Gilmour and his guitar unique and recognizable at the first note played. His hair is long, the nights in the studio, Abbey Road ... Mason and his one hundred thousand drums, bells, triangles, trinkets ... And Wright, Wright's priceless, with its wonderful carpets music has been with us in life, with its notes aching, his perfect and agreements on a smaller scale ... Our anxieties, our fears.

Our anxieties, our fears? They would have all been described, and to the perfection.

It began from there. From this wonderful portrait of a morning, in England. It began by Atom Heart Mother.

When I ask people if they've heard Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, the responses that I DON'T get tend to be along the lines of:

"Yeah, that "If" song has pretty cool lyrics"

"Oh, the one with "Fat Old Sun"? Yeah, that's a cool album".

What I DO get doesn't veer too far away from "The one with the cow? I don't remember, but I remember the cow". It's not really that surprising an answer. Pink Floyd have had some of the most iconic album covers in the seventies, with music generally matching the image as far as classic status is concerned. Not in this case. Atom Heart Mother is all about the cow. Then maybe the odd album title with its back-story. Then, far in the distance, the music. When I was young, I thought maybe the side long instrumental suite was a soundtrack to a non-existent film about the adventures of a cow, with an 'atom heart' as opposed to a regular heart. This gave the cow special strength-related powers. Right now I think the cow is telling me to register at Bovine University. Rough morning.

The title track does have plenty of interesting elements, my favorite being the full on brass orchestra 'theme' that shows up early on and bounces in again from time to time to add a bit of glue to the whole thing. It's a bit cheesy but majestic and fun, like music to accompany your ascent towards the apex of a small mountain. The song is divided into parts with rather 'toss-off' titles that seamlessly blend into each other, but, as far as the 'rock' side of things are concerned regarding this big cow of a track, it comes across at times like a low rent "Echoes". Not a terrible song as a whole, but at times it gets tedious.

Side two has the roots of Roger's "I'm depressed and slowly going insane" catalogue with "If", which is pleasant enough in a sad sort of way (weird I know) and has some nice atmospherics with a bit of trippy slide guitar. It also could have been a minute shorter.

"Summer '68" follows, and is my favorite song on the album because it's actually fun and yes, a throwback to their psychedelic roots, which in retrospect seemed a lot more exciting than the waddling around they were doing around 1970. The chorus and the horn section have enough of a jaunty vibe that I could strip down to my Union Jack Speedos and dance like a maniac on my front porch, except that the rest home across the street would probably call the police.

"Fat Old Sun", in which Gilmour sees himself in the far future, is ok, with Mason occasionally waking up to hit a few nice drum rolls before nodding off behind his drum kit again.

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", on the other hand, is another failed Ummagumma type experiment to me, in which more effort was made to come up with a memorable song title than a memorable tune. It's just stupid Alan walking around making breakfast and acting like a damn fool over nondescript proggish psychedelic music that goes nowhere.

Listening to it again, I realize that it's a grower, and not as terrible as I remembered it to be way back when. Still, I think as far as 1970 releases are concerned, their former leader's solo effort The Madcap Laughs trumps this album in every way. It's aged far better than the cow album, but a couple of the Floyd members that assisted on Syd's release can say, "Well, at least I was on that record". Atom Heart Mother does have its merits though. Not just the cow.

This is an interesting, transitional work by the band who were leaving their psychedelic phase behind and finding their newer spacy style. With the ratio of 3,81 I'd say this is a bit underrated in the PINK FLOYD catalogue, but not yet reaching a masterpiece level like the next one, Meddle. It's also perhaps their most "two-sided" album, as the first side is an instrumental, orchestral epic which was co-written with (and naturally orchestrated by) an experimental modern art music composer Ron Geesin, the same man who teamed with Roger Waters for the rather unlistenable The Body soundtrack.

But this one is a good listen, only slightly marred at one point by some unnecessary sound effects of war, screams and motorbikes. The whole thing works very well in its 23-minute length and includes gorgeous highlights. Especially I love the section that starts quietly with a lonely organ melody and little by little increases the tension until it's mindblowingly emotional melodic prog graced by wailing electric guitars. That's one of the earliest trademark Floyd sounds - familiar up to their latest albums.

The second side is made of four tracks, three of them written (and mostly performed) by Waters, Rick Wright and David Gilmour respectively. Roger's 'If' is a sentimental low-key ballad, and very likable in its humbleness. 'Summer '68' is one of the best songs Wright has written. It may have a certain sixties (proto prog) feel - suitable to the lyrics! - but that doesn't make it any weaker. Gilmour's bluesy, lazy 'Fat Old Sun' starts in a very slow tempo and has nice electric suitar soloing in the end. As a singer he's not at his strongest here though. Interesting to notice that this must be the only Floyd album featuring Waters, Gilmour AND Wright as equal singer-songwriters; and it's surprisingly Wright who gets the best points from me.

'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast', nearly 13-minute, ehm, musical narrative of sorts, is for the most part a waste of time, and probably a quickly made album filler in the first place. We hear a man waking up, making a breakfast and eating it; the directionlessly wandering piece keeps shifting from sound effects to very thin and uninteresting background-type of music and vice versa. But as a whole this album is essential to any serious Floyd fan. The overall sound is a bit worn-out but mostly in a listener-friendly, charming way.

I thinks that is amazing how the creators of this masterpiece reject it.

Atom Heart Mother shows us a pompous Pink Floyd with touches of classical music. Unlike many bands who have tried unsuccessfully to use classical music in his music, Floyd knew how to use the classical influence as a summation of the quality of his music.

The "Atom Heart Mother" suite leads to a major trip in the womb of a cow, a real musical exploration by the sonic storm that only this band can provide. The simple, minimalist and simple "If" can thrill me for its simplicity appealing. The only sin is in the extremely psychedelic "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", but still has brief moments of harmonic beauty.

This is one of the few albums that i really close my eyes and let me take in a musical journey.

Oh, I know it's not a favorite of critics. I do know that I like this album. Here we have the Floyd not just explicitly going prog, but they also have an orchestra, for which all parts were arranged by Ron Geesin. This kind of symphonic rock is present on only two tracks of this album, one of which is the 23-minute "suite" as the title track. Richard Wright may not have been very fond of the track many years after its creation, but I happened to like it. The "suite" is very well structured, constituted of somewhat prissy sections. Let's just give the band a chance to explore one more musical style.

Another one of my favorites here is 'Summer '68'. Rick continues his string of urban poppy narratives with this song. I like that soft jazzy-folky middle-eight that has a great contrast with the loud rocksy and orchestral parts. I also like the vocal harmonies on that song; they are just so rich in timbre. This may sound blasphemous and inconceivable to you, but I think that song is a bit ahead of its time. It has David Gilmour projecting a vocal delivery that would be very suitable in the alt-rock scene.

Allow me to also mention my biggest favorite on the album, the widely resented 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast'. "What? You like this crap?" Yes, I'm laughing right now, and yes, I like this crap. This long snake has sounds of a guy coming in and out of the kitchen, as if they were the exposition and recapitulation of a long piece of, ahem, music. You also have sounds with the same guy heating up water for tea, discussing the meals on the menu - basically, making breakfast, which gives this 13-minute "atrocity" a humorous edge. Let the band have a joke at it. My most favorite of the three sections on this "piece" is the hypnotic, ambient-folky middle section featuring a slide guitar and an acoustic guitar. I must have spent an hour trying to learn at least the first 30 seconds of that intricate acoustic guitar part.

"Wait a second, what about 'If' and 'Fat Old Sun'?" I'm not going to answer this question. Just enjoy what you have on the hand.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Atom Heart Mother' - ****

2. 'If' - **

3. 'Summer '68' - ****

4. 'Fat Old Sun' - *

5. 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' - *****

Stamp: "I like it."

Although this was one of our favourite records back in the seventies and we couldn't understand some particular criticisms there had been on it then, now that a lot of water has run under the bridges and we approach again to this music with more expert and wise -I expect- ears, I have to admit there was some rightness in them.

Not that the record -an improvment after the uneven More- were uninspired but perhaps that the materialization of that inspiration was not made in the best direction. The instrumental title theme is now too eclectic in writing and too embellished with arrangements. The shorter songs on B-side were typical of pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd, similar to the ones found in Meddle. The mini suite Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is again instrumental and full with taped sounds. All of them good and correct but none thrilling or moving.

One thing is sure, the presentation of the record as a piece af art was impressive and stunning as the following Floyd records were going to be. The display of modern, concept, avant-garde art and photography together with its humorous approach that pervades the music here and there (the two longer instrumental pieces, above all) were added values to that concept album, a must back in 1970, cow mania included.

Three and half stars really but, if hesitating, incline yourself for the following Meddle, a much more achieved work.

What's great about Atom Heart Mother? Many things, actually. Firstly, it simultaneously was the start of a structural and arranging pattern that would stick with the band for quite a while and sounds close to nothing like any of their other albums. The "Atom Heart Mother" suite isn't technically the first ever side-long in rock music, but it did predate the ones made by Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson in the following years, and even though it doesn't show as much prog-chop-showoffiness as those bands would, it does have a very similar form to "Close To the Edge", and it is a little bit longer than most of those other epics. The music for the whole album is very simple, actually, but in this case, that is a strength. In the parts where the band is playing in the suite, they have largely found their sound, with very melodic, upper register bass soli parts, espressive Leslie'd organ chords, and those hypnotic, slow bending guitar harmonies I'm sure anyone who's heard Pink Floyd will recognize. The restraint they show in their playing proves that you don't have to pull out all of the stops to play intelligent, sophisticated, and emotionally compelling music. There are some rather odd-sounding parts involving the choir and orchestra, but they're at least worth some avant-appeal, and both of the additions are put to very good use at the beginning and perfectly fitting dramaitc ending. Side Two is completely different, beginning with Waters' "If", a very good song with very pleasant vocals, sounding very much like the missing link between "Brain Damage" and the music he contributed for "The Body", his earlier collaboration with Ron Geesin (who also arranged the orchestra parts for Atom Heart Mother.) Wright's "Summer '68" is a typically atyipical classic from him, having a much individualized sound from his other songs from the early period, but all of the orgininality and character. "Fat Old Sun", by Gilmour is one his most peaceful songs, with a nice chord progression, a very singable melody, and some really tatseful touches in the production. The album closes with "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", a light experimental piece with a dry sense of humour in the sound effects, and music that I can understand some calling pointless noodling, but it's so bright and pleasant to listen to, I can't put it down, and it's really the combination of the music and the found sounds that make it the work of art that it is. The lone sound of the dripping water faucet at the end is pure Floyd. (Supposedly, some copies of the vinyl had the dripping continue into the runout groove, made especially for listeners without an automatic shutoff mechanism on their turntable, to simulate the need to get up to turn off a real dripping faucet.) The album in general has a very unique blend of serious/non-seriousness, and although I wouldn't even consider calling it Pink Floyd's best album now, it has crossed my mind before. That's exactly how great it is.

The title track of Atom Heart Mother rightly deserves the price of one of the best Pink Floyd compositions if not the best. The orchestral wind sections introduce the theme with some very majestic atmospheres as if the king walks right into my living room. The funeral atmospheric violin session afterwards brings down the mood to the next more spacial session with woman vocals singing in pastoral moods. This composition also offers some horrifying space passages and guitar space rock. It's not just the complexity, but it's the atmosphere of this composition which was never done any better by Pink Floyd or in prog in general. The guest musicians are doing some great job here as is doing Pink Floyd themselves. There are some great outbursts in the end of this composition.

The second side offer some shorter songs which never attracted me. I gave up on these songs because they gave me some bad taste after listening to this record and brings down the quality of the otherwise great record.

Because of the great atmospheric side filling title track this record is a good addition to any prog collection.

Atom Heart Mother is, in my opinion, the first "classic" Pink Floyd album. It's the band's first effort at strong songwriting, something that the more experimental Ummagumma and More didn't quite have. Everything is more focused and structured. But like every Floyd album, there is still some experimenting. The niche of this album is the use of brass and the overall symphonic sound of songs.

The title track is Pink Floyd's first attempt at an epic, and while it's not quite as good as Shine On or Echoes, it definitely has its moments. Gilmour really marks this album with his guitar style that the previous albums just seemed to miss, providing some of his best solos. Roger and Nick provide a solid rhythm, while Wright's keys are definitely more impactful throughout. The structure is unpredictable, but flows very well, and the brass ensemble is definitely a nice touch. The only fault I can possibly give this song is that it isn't as good as Echoes.

'If' is an acoustic song written by Water's. This is a very mellow and laid back song with a constant acoustic guitar melody playing throughout. There are a few breaks with organ and guitar, but this is still a very limited song. Nonetheless, the atmosphere is superb and this still remains one of my nostalgic favorites.

'Summer 68' is Wright's composition for which he plays some nice melodies on piano backed by acoustic guitar and bass. Again, the brass is tasteful, if a bit poorly executed.

Fat Old Sun is Gilmour's song and is marked by more acoustic work, and some solid supporting bass. This also contains one of my favorite guitar solos from Gilmour.

'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' is the most experimental song of the album. It has some amazing parts, especially the beginning piano part by Wright. Gilmour's guitar playing throughout the middle is rather spacey and atmospheric. The final section is a more up-tempo and is a dramatic close to the song and album. Unfortunately this song isn't very cohesive as a whole, and a lot of parts just seem to bounce directly to the other. Also, the eating and voices, while interesting and experimental, aren't really necessary.

Overall, Atom Heart Mother is a beautiful start to the classic Pink Floyd and is when they truly first found their sound.

7/10

Highly overlooked, even by the band themselves, this album deserves more credit than is given IMO. The 24-minute epic title track is a soaring journey through the classic Floyd sound we all know and love. If you are a fan of sidelong tracks and haven't listened to this gem yet, you are in for quite a treat. The recurring theme (composed by Gilmour I believe) guides the listener through different realms of psychedelic emotions only to leave one with an epic sense of completion and satisfaction.

The song If is a gentle Waters song that really calms the nerves after AHMS's grand finale ending. It can take you to meadows, prairies, or the living room, or wherever you're listening to it now that I think of it. Quite the enjoyable little tune.

Summer '68 may be Wright's most underrated song with Floyd. There is a lot of emotional reflection to be witnessed during these five and a half minutes. While the lyrics aren't anything to really draw attention to, Wright's use of brass and of course piano collaborate so well it truly does confuse me why people don't acknowledge this song more often.

Fat Old Sun can be mistaken for a Beatles song. It's my understanding that Gilmour was rather proud of himself for making this song, and he very well should be because it delivers a more gentle and carefree side of the guitarist that is rarely seen through Floyd's career. Not a song to be overlooked.

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is what I imagine happens when Floyd gets bored or has too much free time. Enjoyable as it is, the multiple passages interwoven between Alan's breakfast eating are something to admire on their own. It's the sound effects (courtesy of Mason) that really tie the song together. What I like most about this song is you can take it seriously or humorously. I like to think that was Floyd's intentions as they recorded. Certainly out of the ordinary, this song ends the album on such an unexpected note, I have no choice but to love it.

the 5th album of PINK FLOYD, colssing the decade of 60's. i'm talking 'bout "Atom heart mother". this album is totally diferent of all of his predecessors (with Alan Parson like enginner), and all of his sucessors too. here we had the album that would define to Pink Floyd like the band who became. the first song homonym to the album, with an aproximate time of 24 minutes, it's fricking awesome!! completely instrumental, classified in six different chapters, with the orchestra at the bottom... wonderful. then we have a theme by Roger Waters called "If" a beautiful acoustic song that it would a classic piece in his show performances (in the first half of the 70's decade). the next track "Fat old sun" composed by David Gilmour, an acoustic/soft melody too. the song of Richard Wright was "Summer '68", a little more heavy than the 2 predecessors. and to close "Alan's psychedelic breakfast" composed by the four members of the band with an aproximate time of 14 minutes. this particular song is amazing WE CAN LISTEN ALAN HAVING BREAKFAST!!! we can listen when Alan take his corn flakes (i wonder if it's Alan Parson), when his frying bacon, i'm really starvin when i listen this song, then the piano, and the other instruments. it's fabulous!! the whole album is a masterpice. enjoy it!

Another Pink Floyd cult classic with that unmistakable cover, the band's fifth effort "Atom Heart Mother" typically makes or breaks the fans. We all undeniably agree on the genius of the later, more fully-formed works ("Dark Side" and "Wish You Were Here" in particular), but on here, progressive fanatics may either despise or unequivocally adore the intense, yet lackadaisically-performed psychedelia displayed on here. I, for one, am erring more to the latter. By no means is it an abomination of a record, but I would certainly disagree that it should be as exalted as highly as their debut, or even perhaps their second effort "A Saucerful Of Secrets". There's still a sense that they feel they should live up to the sound Syd Barrett established in the mid-60s, and they're undoubtedly still coping with his departure at this point. Nevertheless, the addition of Gilmour initially made the albums a little hostile, and what you experience on "Atom Heart Mother" is essentially a compromise between their wacky, LSD-influenced tunes and when they finally found their feet with a new, more effortlessly atmospheric style on "Meddle".

The title track starts the record with a substantial suspense, but after a few minutes this effectively dissipates. I'd hate to call this suite a compendium of mere psychedelic noodlings, as it does have its place above a lot of similar music written by their peers at the time. There are some triumphant, emphatic moments, and it can certainly be regarded as an adventurous, yet soothing mixture of sounds and trippy ingredients (almost like King Crimson's "Islands"), but overall it lacks a punch that I desire and seek for, even in this field of music. You do obtain more of a feel for the track given a couple of listens, but it fails to lack my attention consistently for 25 minutes, and a lot of what invigorates me on here is merely the change on sonics. Some days, I'd almost say their flogging a dead horse and it sounds like an even more laboured "Devil's Triangle". Nevertheless, a commendable composition that does have a place in my heart.

"If" instantaneously exhibits a more bucolic quality, as the cover would suggest, but with a warming sentiment of post-psychedelic quirkiness. It has a certain tentative feel, and sounds a little like a homage to Syd. Essentially, a very stable and tranquil ode that just rolls over you, with a great deal of intimacy generated by the minimal band set-up. The instrumentals and whispering hi-hats that gradually become introduced give it a great sense of development throughout. Certainly much more structured than the first song, and perhaps more musical in the conventional sense while maintaining a vibe reminiscent of the era. Still, I feel there's an absence in the lack of adventure, but this secluded atmosphere does almost go hand in hand with the lyrics.

"Summer '68" again exudes this sensitivity and fragile atmosphere that gets stricken down by a harsher an oddly cheerful ditty that is typical of this brief Pink Floyd era. It does hark back to the earlier days though, as suggested by the title, and you feel there's a longing for a bygone age. The track manages to attain a vivid and outgoing tone without seeming at all showy - a difficult and therefore respectable feat to pull off. The wandering piano, shimmering vocal harmonies, and a crisp acoustic guitar knit it all together, and the occasional brass outburst brings out a more empowering quality.

The folky, wistfulness of "Fat Old Sun" and fairly stagnant chord progression produce a very stifling summery atmosphere. The high vocals emphasise this, with the simple percussion dropping out in the middle section that allows a little more room for your thoughts to roam alongside the saddening slide guitar. Gilmour adds a bluesy touch towards the end, as the whole band come together and express some more oblique soulfulness, with the blistering slide guitar melody soaring over the top. Again, a particularly pastoral moment in Pink Floyd's repertoire that links in beautifully with that surreal yet terrestrial album artwork. For its purpose, "Fat Old Sun" couldn't have done much better.

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" commences with a subtly satirical intro that bears a notably kaleidoscopic vibe once again. The simplistic piano riff emphasises the light-hearted feel the band are trying to, and succeeding to display. The exuberant jam towards the beginning brings out a jolliness and organised chaos. Unfortunately, the mood can begin to wear thin if not in the correct mindset. Nonetheless, the zany sound effects of munching seem to coalesce with the gentle guitar lines, and an extremely unique musical dimension is created. It's certainly not the polished, succinct Pink Floyd heard on "Dark Side", but it really has a personality like very few albums of the time.

C(+): Well, it appears one of my decreasingly frequent Pink Floyd album sessions has grown into a half-rant, half-approbation of this vintage, nostalgia-inducing record. Not their best by any means, but it's worth taking half an hour of your time to delve into the Floyd's unjustly overshadowed back catalogue (including "Atom Heart Mother") if you haven't already - I would sincerely encourage you to do so.

Atom Heart Mother: *** If: **** Summer '68: ***.5 Fat Old Sun: ***.5 Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast: ***.5

I am convinced that the long career of Pink Floyd should be read as a process of experimentation and research. each disc is a fundamental element in the evolution of the band. I developed this idea because I came to the conclusion that "ATOM HEART MOTHER" represents the culmination of everything the band had done before, and the beginning of all that would come later.

We are in 1970 and the British psychedelic movement is in dissolution , as it is dissolving the old way of thinking about music : the long extemporaneous improvisations that characterized the '60s are giving way to a music planned, organized and composed in table. It ' the same music industry that is changing the face just to make a product more and more radio .

The Pink Floyd realize this metamorphosis and decide that the new album will be completely different from the previous ones and, above all convey the sense of rationalization. Ron Geesin wrote the scores for strings, woodwinds and vocals that will melt by the sound of the band and " give birth " so the long suite that gives the name to ' album, and which occupies the entire first side .

It is a song quite complex and in which nothing is left to chance and that every little sound (or noise, such as nitrites horses and rumble of the motor) and every little arrangement plays a fundamental role in the final product.

Rounding out the disc there is' the gentle acoustic ballad "IF" and three songs that hark back to the origins of psychedelic ( " ALAN 'S PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST" is a set of household noises recorded in the home of Mason) .

" Atom Heart Mother " is a excellent disc , in my opinion, one of the best of the band , which now runs fast towards the masterpieces of the following years , it is a hard " watershed " for the reason that I mentioned , and it is especially the first Floyd album of what can be called "progressive " in the full sense of the term.

For my 1st Prog Archives review I have selected a real mother of an album! This is my favorite Pink Floyd album. Experimental, progressive, non-commercial. A far cry from The Wall, that's for sure. It's not an easy album to get into. It's layers take time to unravel. For a long time this was one of my least favorite Pink Floyd albums for the very reasons I like it now. For me it's revelation came rather casually. Just out driving around one Saturday morning when I decided to give this album one more try. Above me the sunshine was beginning to peak through the overcast sky just as the Atom Heart Mother Suite began to play. It's strange, hypnotic groove kept me heading down the highway towards some unknown destination. Away from the city I drove. Cows and cornfields replaced crowded streets and shopping malls. Why the hell had I gone out today? Wasn't there some errands I had to run for the wife? I tried to breakthrough the trance induced by Roger Waters and his bass. Errands could wait. This music demanded to be heard. Let it take me wherever it needed me to go. The Suite composed largely by Ron Geesin is a prog masterpiece. A true avant-garde epic. This Suite also heralded the early peak of the post-Syd Barrett era Floyd. The group had come into their own. The remainder of the album is also very strong. Some of the best songs the group had written up to that point. "If" by Roger Waters is a gentle, plaintive ballad. "Summer '68" is joyful and nostalgic. Richard Wright is wonderful singer, it's a shame he didn't sing lead more often. "Fat Old Sun" is one of the finest songs David Gilmour has ever written. A perfect song for a lazy afternoon in the park. The closing suite "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" has the feeling of someone not quite awake but alert enough to hear a man prepare and eat a breakfast. You are in the room with him, yet not really part of what's happening. This is not flower-power 60s psychedlia, but some kind of out of body experience instead. A real trip. Good headphone music. Overall the music has a rather pastoral feel about it, which is aptly made clear by the famous cow on the album cover. There is nothing here that really "rocks". That may be another reason some folks have a hard time getting into it. But believe me it is definitely worth the time. Take a drive in the country and play this album and see if doesn't reveal itself to you.

''Atom Heart Mother'' in my humble opinion is one of 2-3 most underrated albums of the entire P.F discography. At that time, they seemed to invest a growing amount of time and effort to the enrichment of their orchestrations and to the perfection of their sound. Alan Parson's production is excellent, allowing many new ideas and experimentations to rise on the surface. The quartet act collectively as equals (this wouldn't last...) and there's a wide variety of influences and new directions.

We have to divide ''A.H.M'' in two parts. The opening and the closing song are two epics of different artistic background: The ''A.H.M suite'' is a magnificent 23 minutes long beast that shows a band overflowing with inspiration and confidence. Here we find classical arrangements, exciting choir parts, Gilmour's guitars of genius and Water's definitive bass lines, in a perfect composition. ''Alan's psychedelic breakfast'' is, basically, what the title says. P.F flirts with psych and avant garde in a funny, yet innovative track.

The rest of the album is 5 shorter tracks that belong clearly to the folk/psych side of things. Nice tunes, lighter than air, far away from all intellectuality and much closer to the hippie mood of the time. Don't forget, this is 1970. I want to mention specially the song ''If''. While it's almost a Simon & Garfunkel kind of happy tune, one can sense for the first time the sarcasm of Water's performance and lyrics, like a distant connection between this and The Wall's desperate cynicism is established. One of the great, relatively unknown P.F tracks.

This should be regarded as a masterpiece but P.F was destined to reach such heights that four stars seem fair enough. 91/100

Atom Heart Mother is the 5th studio album of the progressive rock band, Pink Floyd. Written about a woman being fitted with a nuclear-powered pacemaker, Pink Floyd did not gain real relevance until this album hit the charts around the world. Shifting out of their Psychedelic/Space Rock era of musical expertise, Waters and Gilmour took their band to new heights with this album. Is it a perfect comeback by one of the most highly regarded prog-rock bands of all time? No, but it certainly does have it's jaw dropping wows. ---------------------------------------------------- 1. Atom Heart Mother (Suite) ------------------ The longest Pink Floyd to date, this 24 minute suite got the band on to new experimental heights. It is hard to juxtapose this with the other tracks on the album, due to it's musical nature to be much different then a normal track or an epic like "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast". Starting with the signature fading-in hum that starts many of Pink Floyd's great hits, the listener is greeted with fanfare, which is unusual for a Pink Floyd song. Gilmour, Waters, Mason, and Wright however come in to save the day with their extraordinary work of instrumentals. The suite stretches on, and starts hitting very psychedelic and odd bumps, which really throws off the suite's rhythm. Some better parts are fitted into the suite, however are slightly spoiled by the less appealing aspects of their predecessors. Admittedly, the suite was a masterpiece and a fine work of art until "Echoes" on Meddle came to claim the spot as one of the greatest rock suites of all time, and "Atom Heart Mother" was left to linger in it's over-looming shadow. ----------------------------- 2. If ------------------------- The first and unavoidable first primarily Waters-written track on the album, "If" takes the mic after the preceding suite has faded into silence. The song starts out relatively slow, and gives you the feeling that the song will turn to something great. It doesn't. The song retains the same chord progression and doesn't change musically until it picks up slightly with the lamely soft drum work of Mason. The lyrical work retains it's major heading all throughout the track, usually starting with Waters saying along the lines of: "If I were a ____, I'd ______". Then, after four and a half minutes of looping music, the song ends with no visible sign of stopping or musical climax to warn you of the song's sudden drop into silence. If I were the writer of this song, I'd really need to step up my game. ---------------------- 3. Summer '68 ------------------------ One of the only 16 Pink Floyd songs to have Wright singing, one of the 6 Pink Floyd songs to have Wright be the only singer, and one of the 8 songs to be written solely by Wright himself. Opening with a soothing piano piece coupled with Wright himself singing, the song gets you in the mood of a slow song. This is broken very soon by a barrage of guitar and drums coupling with the keyboard (which has become much more bouncy and jazzy) and the Abbey Road Session Pops Orchestra coming in with the brass. Wright's voice is very beautiful, and it gives me sadness that he didn't sing in many other songs after this one by himself. This is definitely one of the greater tracks on Atom Heart Mother. ----------------------- 4. Fat Old Sun ------------------------------ The only solely Gilmour written and sung song on the album, "Fat Old Sun" brings a god damn smile to my face every time I hear it. Starting with Gilmour's extraordinary guitar work, coupled with Mason's superb percussion mastery, this song rises to the stop on my list of best songs from the album. The song start's with the sound of distant ringing bells that thrusts you into the extraordinary work of Gilmour and his fellow band members. While the sweet song takes it's time, you are suddenly put into the astonishing rock solo that closes the song. As the rocking guitar solo ends, the opening bells come back to finish the job and close the doors on this masterpiece. This is DEFINITELY my favourite song from the album. ------------------------------- 5. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast ---------------------------------- Meant to be an ode to the past founder of the band, Syd Barret, this take the place as my least favourite of the tracks of the album. The title and composition was supposed to be a reference to the Floyd's mainly psychedelic influenced music from when they first started their first studio album. The song is obviously supposed to maintain their old school psychedelic feeling, and I think they did a pretty good job. The thing is, their trippy origins weren't favorable in my opinion either. So, by making this song, they successfully made the song just as good as their origins, so not very good at all. The song is obviously trying way to hard at being super-psychedelic with it's goofy over-the-top sound effects, and which therefore makes the song very unappealing in my opinion. The song can have some very moving pieces during it, however, which makes it at least standable. When I'm trying to enjoy a nice acoustic guitar piece, however, I would rather not having the noises of a man shoveling food down his throat with unbelievable gusto, and then just choking on it and taking me away from the atmosphere of the track. My least favorite on the album, but it does hold it's strong suits and it's special place in my heart.

It's interesting, I thought I'd despise this album considering at this point in time Floyd was still trying to transition out of their Syd Barrett psychedelic phase, but for some reason, I'm not appalled at all. I actually hear a progression to their more spacy side that the band would roll from here on out till The Wall.

Another good reason is probably because I'm a big fan of long instrumentals, and this album is bookended by them, with the title track taking the lion's share of attention. It's weird because although it sounds like a Floyd song, you can't shake that "psychedelic" feel to it, even if you can't even describe it very well. Perhaps it' s the orchestral samples that sound ripped straight from The Beatles studio tapes. Or maybe it's the sound quality of the time? Either way, it's a blend of both worlds, and it works well actually, Gilmore's guitars continuing to soar and echo over a beautiful soundscape of keys, noise and stuff.

It's here, where you could probably say, that my favorite aspect of Floyd was finally mastered, the long jam, with Nick Mason keeping a slow steady groove, Wright on the keys setting the tone and the mood, Waters at the helm, and Gilmore just rockin' out. No matter the subject of which these guys played, if there are no instrumental jams, it's not Pink Floyd. Gilmore's guitar is just otherworldly, it's a sound so unique to him that you can't confuse his playing style at all. Much like you could pick out the sound of Hendrix or Petrucci or Malmsteen, even Van Halen or Paige, Gilmore's is a signature sound, one that pops up on either the radio or my iPod and my first reaction is "Ahhh, now I can relax". It's a sedative, and I just absolutely love it.

The same goes for the closer, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast". This definitely relates more to the psychedelic side, not merely because it has "psychedelic" in the track name, but because it has a quirkier, perkier aspect to the track. Gilmore's acoustic plucks keep the track moving and chugging along, whereas Mason's grooves held back the band in "Atom Heart Mother", and dictated the pace for Gilmore to start noodling.

It's the inner three tracks that are the intriguing bits. "If" seems to be a Waters showcase, which is weird because Waters and "soft" don't really mix, but that's exactly what happens here. "Summer '68" (not to be confused with Bryan Adams "Summer '69) is a Wright driven piece, with Gilmore taking the mic this time, definitely the more production heavy of the three inner pieces, while "Fat Old Sun" seems to soothe like "If" just a couple of tracks before. These three inner pieces definitely have a whiff of "Beatles" to them, not much, but just a bit of the more accessible side, considering this was released in the middle of the bands soundtrack escapades, where anything other than accessibility is not an option.

I personally find this to be an excellent album, even though I'm not the biggest psych fan, there's still enough of that classic Floyd sound that I just can't get away from, and luckily, it would only get better from here on out. A must in any Floyd fan's collection.

The case with so many negative thoughts about this album is that it has a very unique taste and sadly not appealing to everybody, especially those Pink Floyd fans, who enjoy albums from after "Dark Side of the Moon." For me - this piece of art totally does it. Pink Floyd were exploring their new sound, still lacking some amount of confidence in producing new material after Syd Barrett's departure from the band. He was considered the band's bee's knees, the engine of the group. "Atom Heart Mother" shows a very bold and brave step the band has taken.

The album cover presents a cow on a green field. Some say that a cow represents "a mother". However, this very animal found its place on the cover of the album simply because Pink Floyd thought it was the least psychedelic they could think of.

The album starts with "Atom Heart Mother", which is a nearly 24-minute, 6-movemental, intstrumental suite. A fairly heavy and a very catchy theme on symphonic horns presents a very strong Wagner influence, sounding like some sort of a 19th century German hunter anthem. This piece features beautiful, lush, smooth Hammond organ sounds from Richard Wright and a few solos from David Gilmour - one even being a slide guitar solo! All complimented by a very competent rhythm section from Nick Mason and Roger Waters.

"If" makes you picture yourself by the river just outside Cambridge, where band members used to spend a lot of time. An entertaining, sort of hippie-folk acoustic song with some washy, reverbrated guitar solos from David Gilmour and a little touch of Rick's organ. "Summer '68", with a fairly similar mood to the previous track starts out with beautiful piano playing, then suplimented by an acoustic guitar and very strong, creamy organ sounds. Overall, a very enjoyable piece. "Fat Old Sun" starts out with a silent acoustic guitar, than turning into a nostalgic, anthem with David Gilmour's kosher guitar solos. This brings a tear or two to eyes of those sensitive to true music. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is the most controversial piece on the album. Featuring recorded sounds of a breakfast being prepared and voices talking about everyday life and breakfast. This features rather light, musical passages in between the recorded parts. This is not a very enjoyable tune to many newcommers nor diehard Floyd fans. It does require quite a lot from the listener. A lot of patience, following to see the meaning of what's within the song. For me personally - this is a great closing to a very enjoyable experience.

Overall, I believe "Atom Heart Mother" to be a magnificent effort. A work of art, very underrated and misunderstood. This is one of my top 3 Pink Floyd albums and a very different experience. While some tracks like "Atom Heart Mother" are quite proggy, some still lie in in the band's unique psychedelic style. This album is not for everyone, but is surely an essential album in a historical sense.

Review N� 66

"Atom Heart Mother" is the fifth studio album of Pink Floyd and was released in 1970 by Harvest and EMI Records in the UK and Harvest and Capitol Records in USA. It was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London. This was the first Pink Floyd's album to be specially mixed for the quadraphonic sound as well as the conventional stereo sound. The quadraphonic mix was also released in a compatible format with the stereo record players.

The art cover of the album was designed by Hipgnosis and it was the first not to feature the band's name on the cover or contain any photographs of the group anywhere. It would be a trend mark for the group. The album's cover is one of the most enigmatic of all in the music history. The most famous bovine of the rock appears on the album's cover. The cow, named Lulubelle III was photographed in a rural farm in the English countryside by Storm Thorgerson, who is an English famous graphic designer known for his works for rock bands like Pink Floyd, 10cc, Dream Theatre, The Mars Volta and The Cranberries. He said that his work was inspired by Andy Warhol's famous "cow-wallpaper". Curiously, the record company paid to the property owner about a thousand pounds for the image rights of the animal. And even more curious, the property became a tourist attraction, and Lulubelle III a celebrity in the show business world.

"Atom Heart Mother" has five tracks. We can divide the album into two distinct musical parts. The first and the last tracks are the lengthiest and the collective musical workings of the group, and the third, fourth and fifth tracks are the individual workings by the band's members. "Atom Heart Mother" was the first recording of the band with a full orchestra in collaboration with the avant-garde composer Ron Geesin. The first track is the title track "Atom Heart Mother". It was written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason and Ron Geesin and it's the lengthiest track on the album that occupies the entire side A of the vinyl disc. It's a piece of music divided into six parts: "Father's Shout", "Breast Milky", "Mother Fore", "Funky Dung", "Mind Your Throats Please" and "Remergence", and is totally orchestrated. This is, for me, an excellent, very interesting and original instrumental piece of music where the connection of their music with the orchestra is very good. It's probably the lengthiest instrumental track made by them. The second track "If" written by Waters is a simply and beautiful ballad about self analysis. It's a very melodic, pleasant and relaxing song almost all played on acoustic guitar. The third track "Summer'68" written by Wright is about a one night stand and the return to his habitual life. It's also a beautiful song, and is, in my humble opinion, more complex and interesting than "If" is. On the song we have the contrast of the soft piano with the bombastic trumpet. It's the more energetic track on the album which makes practically impossible to listen to the song without singing it. The fourth track "Fat Old Sun" written by Gilmour is a typical Gilmour's song. It's a very peaceful and beautiful ballad that almost makes us fly due to the music and the voice of Gilmour. It's also a very relaxing song that makes us stop doing what we are doing and just do nothing while the song doesn't end. The fifth track "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" written by Gilmour, Waters, Wright and Mason is the other lengthiest instrumental piece of music on the album and is divided into three parts: "Rise And Shine", "Sunny Side Up" and "Morning Glory". The track has sound effects and dialogues between each part. The dialogue and the sound effects are made by the then roadie Alan Stiles, a Pink Floyd roadie who appeared on the back cover of "Ummagumma", preparing, discussing and eating his breakfast. Sincerely, this is a very funny piece of music with some good instrumental moments but, as the name suggests, it's very psychedelic and can't be compared to the rest of the album. However, to my taste, it's an excellent instrumental track.

Conclusion: "Atom Heart Mother" is the best studio album released by Pink Floyd until that date. However, I know this isn't a consensual opinion. Many prefer their debut. Despite the unfavourable opinions about the album of the two band's leaders Waters and Gilmour, I think this is a very important transitional album for the group. We can say that "Atom Heart Mother" is an album with many progressive features and that will be the turning point in the band's music. These clearly musical changes would culminate on their next studio album and first masterpiece "Meddle" released in 1971. "Atom Heart Mother" can be considered a true classic Pink Floyd's album. From its epics and calming tracks, to its memorable and original Thogerson's cover of Lulubelle III, it should be recognized as a great album, by any Pink Floyd fan and critic. However, as a transitional album, like "A Saucerfull Of Secrets" was, I wouldn't recommend it, to anyone looking to be introduced to the Pink Floyd's music. "The Dark Side Of The Moon" or "Wish You Were Here" are the right places to start, but "Atom Heart Mother" remains, definitely, a must for all Pink Floyd's musical collections.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

ATOM HEART MOTHER IS FLOYD'S UNDERVALUED GEM

Atom Heart Mother was the album that followed in the footsteps (and ultimately surpassed) the eclectic Ummagumma. The term "underrated" can't seriously be used for an album that went to #1, but "undervalued" is definitely a word that could describe this 1970 progressive classic. Floyd continued to experiment with "real music" (see: Rick Wright's comment in my Ummagumma review) going even further by adding an orchestra and choral piece to the mix to create a true rock suite. The AHM Suite may be frowned upon by members of Floyd and some critics, but it is a superb piece of progressive symphonic rock and the highlight of the entire album. The remainder of the AHM album featured another soft, poignant piece by Waters (If), a throwback to psychedelic pop (Summer '68), a classic Floydian track used to this day by David Gilmour in his solo shows (Fat Old Sun) and the penultimate collage of musique concrete created by the band (complete with theatrical performance in live shows), Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast.

Track by Track:

ATOM HEART MOTHER : Picking up where they left off with Ummagumma, Floyd kept on the unconventional path of art rock endeavors with this incredible symphonic rock suite. Bringing on board the progressive composer Ron Geesin, the Floyd's simple "Western theme" was given an otherworldly turbo boost by Geesin's orchestrated composition. Divided in movements (like classical music), the 23-plus minute epic begins with "Father's Shout" featuring Rick Wright's organ and a sweeping brass section that sounds remotely similar to an intro for a 1960s TV Western and is the main theme of the entire piece. The following sections all range from around 3-5 minutes in length with "Breast Milky" beginning with a cello solo and developing further with the full band (Floyd) coming in strong and ending with a choir that segues into "Mother Fore", a ghostly dramatic choir section that climaxes before softly giving way to classic Floydian funk-rock (which they would bring back on Echoes) called "Funky Dung". The next movement of the suite called "Mind Your Throats, Please" is itself sectioned into two parts: one that is mostly reminiscent of the middle section of "Interstellar Overdrive" with experimental sound collage and effects followed by a sort of reprise to the main theme from part 1 with "Remergence". This soundscape is pure adventure from beginning to end!

IF : Immediately following the "pomp and circumstance" of the Atom Heart Mother suite, this song takes the listener into a complete 180 u-turn with its extremely soft arpeggio guitar and Waters' reflective vocals. "If" could be described as a pastoral introspective song that is truly the genesis of Waters' lyrical genius. So much so, that Waters has even showcased the song on some solo tours.

SUMMER '68 : Ah, here Rick Wright takes it back a couple of years to the Summer of '68 (literally). This song is a piece of nostalgic pop psychedelia that brings to mind "Remember A Day" or "It Would Be So Nice" before Floyd took the progressive rock mantle and ran with it. Although it is indeed a bit of a throwback, it fits quite nicely with the morning quality of the second side of this album due to Wright's liberal use of the Hammond organ.

FAT OLD SUN : This may be David Gilmour's best song of the classic Floyd line up. "Fat Old Sun" is a sort of sequel to Waters' "Grantchester Meadows" and, in my opinion, is far superior to it. The lazy feel of the song with Gilmour's laid back guitar and smooth falsetto vocals creates an atmosphere much more relaxing than "Grantchester" or "If", and even when the rock guitar solo takes off it still carries that vibe while becoming one of Gilmour's pure rock n' roll showcases at the same time. Variety, tenderness, reflection giving way to the soaring guitar solo makes "Fat Old Sun" one the best tracks on the album, and in the Floyd canon. David Gilmour brought this song "out of retirement" on his 2001 Royal Albert Hall show and kept it in his solo repertoire ever since, and for good reason -- it is pure Floydian bliss.

ALAN'S PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST : My bias may show here, but I adore this innovative little sound collage of effects and noodling. This piece of musique concrete was showcased just a few times on the AHM tour, complete with the band cooking breakfast and enjoying a bit of theater performance onstage. The man featured in the song, Alan Styles, was a roadie of the Floyd's and his mumbling, while preparing breakfast, corresponds nicely with the morning music offered here by Roger, David, Nick and Rick. Like AHM, it is sectioned into parts. "Rise and Shine" (part one) is a jolly piano piece backed by organ, light percussion, bass and steel guitar that sounds almost faintly familiar to something by Francis Poulenc. The next movement, "Sunny Side Up" was strictly a Gilmour guitar piece creating an early misty morning atmosphere that segues nicely into the finale "Morning Glory" which brings back the entire band and is, by far, the best section of the track, with Waters' bass dominating and leading the charge into a new Floydian era.

Overall: This album is definitely undervalued. It is a clear work of progressive genius and it is really ashame that it doesn't receive the kudos it deserves for pioneering in the Prog Rock movement of the 1970s and taking Pink Floyd into the direction that would lead them to super stardom. I think in hindsight this album took its rightful place at the top of the charts in 1970, and it should now be regarded as not only a little appreciated effort, but an essential piece of progressive music. 5/5

REVIEW #4 - "Atom Heart Mother" by Pink Floyd

Having been recording music for movie soundtracks for the last year, Pink Floyd, after finishing work for the soundtrack to the film "Zabriskie Point", set off to recording a new album; their first conventional studio album since 1968's "A Saucerful of Secrets" - an example of space rock, psychedelia, and proto-prog. This new album, titled "Atom Heart Mother" after a newspaper headline the band saw, can be considered the first true prog rock album by the band, now devoid of the influence of ex-vocalist Syd Barrett. A very experimental album, its iconic cover of a cow in the middle of a field by Hipgnosis is the first Floyd album to not feature the band's name on the front or back (a feature present on every Floyd album up to their 1983 album "The Final Cut") but rather inside the gatefold.

The entire first side is a twenty-three minute long instrumental track - the "Atom Heart Mother Suite" (4/5). Certainly ambitious considering it's by far the band's longest song to date, and features a full orchestra (the band hired full orchestras to be present at live shows for the song) to add to the very strong sound of the track. Composed of various instrumental sessions that the band had experimented with up to that point and designed to sound like the soundtrack to a western, it is split into six parts of extended jam. It is key to note that the band absolutely resents this song, deeming it "absolute rubbish" in retrospect. Although I cannot bring myself to discard this track as terrible, it is certainly redundant in some parts. Fortunately the melody with the brass sounds epic with the haunting choir, and spares the song from being even more pointless drivel than the band already claim it has. Even more interestingly, film director Stanley Kubrick requested the band's permission to use the song on his now-critically acclaimed film "A Clockwork Orange", but was denied by the band. Certainly a great piece of Floyd trivia, but this song is blown out of the water by the group's other epics, and is more of an extended growing pain in the band's quest for stardom.

The second side is a collection of light acoustic tracks with another experimental piece at the end. Leading off this side is a light Roger Waters-penned song called "If" (2/5) which, despite being a soothing tune, simply does not stand out to me and is rather a forgettable piece of folk. We do see here the future lyrical genius of the Floyd bassist, where he would eventually tackle dark imagery and psychology, effectively taking the band over for a period. Keyboardist Richard Wright pens the following track, "Summer '68" (3/5) that follows the tone of the previous song - this time featuring horns and a larger emphasis on the piano. With a more comfortable sound and a good melody, this is a slight improvement over Waters' track, but it does have a rather annoying middle part, and is still forgettable. A sequel would appear on the band's final album - dedicated to the now-late Wright; an obscure homage to the band's roots. The last of the three light songs is "Fat Old Sun" (5/5), an absolute gem by guitarist David Gilmour. With light-hearted lyrics pertaining to childhood happiness and play, and a very melodramatic tone, this song puts the listener in another dimension, especially the song's hauntingly beautiful ending guitar solo that fades the song out. This song has recently been implemented into Gilmour's live shows as a solo artist - once again a homage to the band's early material which is easily forgotten under their masterpiece albums that would come later and propel them into legendary status. The final track of the album is the thirteen-minute "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" (4/5); a very abstract song that is essentially Floyd roadie Alan Styles eating breakfast with some overdubbed music. One of the oddest songs out there, and a true example of how interesting music was at the start of the seventies, this song amuses me greatly, and it holds a spot on my prog playlist for the sole purpose of confusing people when it plays to my more pop-inclined friends. That being said, this piece is split into three parts, with random dialogue by Styles interspersing the song. At live shows, the band would even cook bacon on stage in order to replicate the sound on the album. I would give this song a five, but it is a perfect example of the band's lack of direction at the time - a criticism by the band later on.

Pink Floyd's music would continue to mature after this album was released. To me, this is a great example of a band that is still trying to find its sound. There are a few bright spots on this album - "Fat Old Sun" is worth listening to this album alone, but parts of the first song are epic, and the closing track is comically random. It is however, one of the less impressive pieces in the Floyd catalogue, and narrowly misses a 2-star rating thanks to the aforementioned Gilmour track. The band unfortunately does trash this album ravenously, claiming it's one of their worst, but many fans of the band see this album as a gem, which is reasonable. Definitely an interesting album if you are a fan of extended instrumental music, psychedelia, and lighter acoustic songs, or if you simply want to explore Pink Floyd's earlier stuff.

OVERALL: 3.6/5 (C-)

Unique, Special, Music.

One of my favourite Floyd epics, I have listened to (the song) Atom Heart Mother so many times I couldn't even begin to estimate a number. Not only the studio version, but the full with-brass-and-choir live BBC version found on the 'Libest Space Monitor' bootleg, and the many live versions from other bootlegs (one of which can be heard now on the "Cre/ation: The Early Years" set). So, one might say I like it. I have put it on more often than Dark Side, probably more than any other Floyd album. And despite so many listens, it is not a song that I have ever got tired of. Regardless of how much one might like it, everyone can agree that it is a very unique piece, with the western-style grandiose brass main theme, the weeping violin, the faux-Roman entrance-trumpets signalling coming tension, the tapes of fighting horses, and the choir singing a made-up language (well before the first Magma album!). Nothing like it, before or since. As you might guess, I personally find it beautiful too. While others came to Floyd because of their early psychedelic singles, or later on with Dark Side, for me it was Atom Heart Mother that sealed the deal. What a wonderful side of music. Of course, the second side is nice too. My favourite track on side b is Rick Wright's "Summer of 68". That has a particular feel and sonic quality that I have never heard repeated either. I think it was a shame that Wright didn't write/record more tunes back then, as his contribution to Ummagumma ("Sysyphus") is also my favourite on that album. The remainder of the tunes on side b are good, but not quite at the same level. Waters' "If" is a nice pensive track - was even better with Eric Clapton playing the guitar solo on it live. Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" is actually much better live than here, but is very nice and pleasant."Alan's psychedelic breakfast", meanwhile is (overly?) pleasant but on the weaker side, musically (but I think may have been the first to record someone frying eggs, making tea, etc?). The second side of the vinyl album keeps this down within the 4-star realm. I give this album 8.5 out of 10 on my 10-point scale. But that title track-epic is (for me) is among the best music around.

After reading many of the reviews posted here I feel compelled to add my own. I am no huge Floyd fan yet I've always felt the band created this difficult masterpiece for me alone, although expressionism such as this is open to wide interpretation. For example, upon receiving the Nobel prize for 'The Old Man and the Sea' Hemingway was asked about the many metaphors it contained and what they could have represented. His answer was words to the effect that it all depended upon what the reader brought to the sitting! With that we understand reviews are only opinions and are neither right nor wrong. That being said I must say a lot of our fellow enthusiasts disqualify themselves by publishing negative reviews on albums that they just don't understand. They don't 'get it' so it must be a turd. Atom Heart Mother is a fine example of this. As far as accessablilty, the 'AHM' suite can indeed become very difficult. I personally feel the theme is the seeming cruelty of nature and as we delve deeper into the piece one concedes that since humans themselves are 'natural' their cruelty is natural as well. The music translates this so very well. The heavy, lumbering 'Father's Shout', the nurturing 'Breast Milky' and alluring 'Mother Fore' all challenge the listener to their limits and then comes 'Funky Dung', a kick-in- the-head effort to associate food with fecal matter. That deserves some meditation. Pink Floyd is well known for their so-called 'FreakOut' sections and 'Mind Your Throats Please' should be recognized as their most formidable. Never has humanity been served up such beautiful dissonance. I will maintain at this point that most of this album side was a freak of nature, yes, only by accident could a music group convey something so difficult. I digress - the band themselves didn't 'get it'. Thank You God

Not the g-spot yet: 6/10

Don't get me wrong, ATOM HEART MOTHER is far from a bad album. But as far as I'm concerned about PINK FLOYD, expecting psychedelia and outwordly synth-driven grooviness, it's too tasteless. The psychedelic parts are weak and particularly immature as the band was musically directionless. As many before me pointed out, that statement is true; they really hadn't much of a clue on how to proceed with their career when they recorded and released ATOM HEART MOTHER. While Atom Heart Mother stands as a memorable orchestral piece with influences of rock music, the other tracks not only have absolutely NOTHING to do with it but are also shadowed by its grandiosity. In terms of size, as it's a twenty-minutes-long song, and in terms of quality, as their songwriting is lackluster, in counterpart to the maturity of the mammoth symphony. Summer '68 is mildly exceptional, as it retains somewhat the quality of the title track. In the end, that was a fair experiment to PINK FLOYD, as it would help them to choose their musical path. But that's ATOM HEART MOTHER's legacy: an album of transitory characteristics that I honestly believe only fans will really dig it. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is objectively bad, it's just that it's not good enough to be actively recommendable to non-lovers of PF. So forgive me, my beautiful twenty-fours-minutes-long suite, but I can't be really any more merciful than this.

"Atom Heart Mother" was the transitory album for Pink Floyd, bridging the gap between their experimental and more straight forward, progressive stages. Through the album, you still hear echoes of their past psychedelic and experimental music, but you also hear hints of where the band was going. To make it even more of a fitting bridge, Alan Parsons had a part in the making of this album and "Dark Side of the Moon". Being Pink Floyd, this album has been reviewed so many times, but it is probably the most misunderstood of the albums.

It starts off with the full sided title suite made up of 6 sections, each with individual names. The suite is credited to all members of the band and also Ron Geesen, who was responsible for orchestrating and putting the entire suite into one complete "rock symphony". Most of the themes and material in the suite were written and considered for inclusion in the "Zabriskie Point" soundtrack, but after the falling out between the band and the makers of the movie, the material not used for the movie was taken by the band to improve and expand on. The music was put together and handed over to Ron to turn into an epic production, adding orchestral instruments and choral arrangements. There are really no lyrics, and the vocals are all wordless. There has been plenty of people that have broken the suite down on this site and also elsewhere on the internet, so I'm not going to go into that now. But overall, it is quite a cinematic and stately composition. It is very progressive with returning themes, changing meters, moods and tones. It really does belong in PF's greatest achievements, even if it is a little more rough than later albums, that only adds to the charm.

Where the "Atom Heart Mother" Suite was written by the entire band, the next 3 tracks were written by individual members. "If" was written by Roger Waters and is a folksy and mostly acoustic song, pastoral in feel, and with great lyrics. "Rick Wright" contributed "Summer '68", which is a fuller production which includes a brass section at the end. David Gilmour contributed "Fat Old Sun" which is more psychedelic feeling with an organ and acoustic guitar with other treated sounds. Since he had less song writing experience, he was made to stay in the studio until he came up with a song. The song gets louder at the end as an electric guitar drowns out the vocals. Nick Mason's contribution was the final song, another suite. Even though this was credited to the band, Mason was the primary writer, but it was based on an idea by Waters. It is a three part composition and consists of a rather minimal recording of Alan Styles, a PF roadie, having breakfast. Each part starts and ends with sounds of Alan preparing and eating breakfast, while the middle sections are mostly acoustic improvisations. The overall song lasts 12 minutes. This track seems like a waste of time when you first listen to it, but the more you hear it, the more psychedelic it becomes and the more you appreciate it.

I don't want to go into much more detail that that since there is already a lot of information written about this album. Some people appreciate it and others do not. The thing to remember is that this was an important album in PF's growing stage and would signal the amazing pieces of work that band would produce later. Both this album and Meddle work to bridge the two major eras of PF's music. Personally, I like and appreciate the album, but I don't think it is quite deserving of 5 stars like a lot of their other albums even some that came before this one. I do agree that it is an excellent prog album however, and can easily give it 4 stars. Not my favorite, but great nonetheless. Others may think it's better than that, and others may not like it at all. It is one that the jury is always undecided on.

"Atom Heart Mother" is an epochal Lp in the discography of Pink Floyd because it enshrines the transition from psychedelia to progressive itself, with a formula studied at the table that includes a suite of an entire facade and a series of pop songs easy listening on the other, in so to get to the time with the emerging musical fashion, the progressive rock, and keeping in mind the commercial matter.

In fact, Pink Floyd will be by far the best-selling of the progressive era, and together with Genesis the only ones able to survive the era of punk and to know how to stay on the market even in the Eighties.

This compromise between progressive sound and commercial sound, with a legacy of psychedelia, remains evident in the songs of "Atom Heart Mother", creating a rarefied, liquid, narcoleptic atmosphere, typical of the suite on side 1. This great musical piece (almost 24 minutes, divided in 6 movements) is played in a classical-avant-garde style, and orchestrated by Ron Geesin with Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and John Alldis Choir. The beginning is very solemn, with the brass ensemble playing the main motif of the suite (comparable to the Promenade of Pictures At An Exibition by EL&P) amid various noises, then begins the first track, keyboards and cello, then bass guitar and drums, then brasses and bass, in a progression that reaches the climax towards the fifth minute and a half, when the choir arrives, predominantly female: melodically perhaps the best moment of the suite and the whole album (and anticipates the woman's voice of "The Great Gig In The Sky" , TDSOTM). This suite cannot be considered instrumental for the decisive contribution of choirs. Around 10'15' comes a clearly psychedelic piece, keyboards and guitar that evolves into a choral piece where again the vocal input with onomatopoietic sounds is fundamental, and that resolves to the fifteenth minute with the repetition of the main theme, which, as it has rightly pointed out the Italian-American historian of music Scaruffi, it is more sleepy than martial. The suite picks up with a decidedly psychedelic, hallucinatory piece, perhaps the moment that more than any other ties the LP to the past of the Sixties, then at the eighteenth minute the music has a pause where previous musical motifs come back, as at make a summary of what explored up to that point, but a cacophonous summary, until the main musical theme with brasses resurfaces, for the third time. At this point the suite could end (we are at 19'45'') instead Pink Floyd prefer to repeat themselves by returning to the initial theme with the cello and then to devote themselves in an instrumental progression and end in an orchestral manner with a sound orgasm at the time threatening and solemn. A masterpiece of contemporary music. Rating 9+.

SIDE B. "If" is a melodic folk song, which opens the second side continuing the sleepy tone of the suite. The melody and arrangement are tender, fluffy, as is Waters's singing, and the piece does not have a chourus, it repeats the same chords to the end, with a slight progression in the arrangement, which sees electric guitar, piano and percussion arrive, in so as to avoid getting bored, and in fact the piece closes just when an additional verse would have been too repetitive. The beauty of the song is all in the melody and arrangement. Rating 7.5/8.

Wright's piece is by far the gem of the second side and perhaps the entire album because it concentrates in 5 1/2 minutes the beauty of the 24-minute suite. This piano ballad with Sixties inflections and instrumental moments with sensational brass, reminiscent of the suite, is from a compositional point of view much more elaborate than the other pieces but at the same time is also the most spontaneous and flowing song. Also beautiful is the melancholy piece of voice and piano after the brass. Rating 9.5

Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" is languid and vaguely psychedelic, and again the tone of music and voice is soporific (the effect of drugs is felt). The song continues the tender melody of Waters, with the difference that here the music has more space to develop, after a very verbose beginning, sporting a beautiful solo on Gilmour's electric guitar. It also turns out that the melody is not as beautiful as If's. Rating 8.

And, in the end, here's to you the weakest point of the album, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (12:56)", in three movements, unfortunately, up to 13 minutes. It's Mason's turn, which he thinks to do avant- garde puts a piece of "concrete music" with the noises of Alan's breakfast, from the match to the stove to the burning eggs, to him that swallows you do not know what, with his voice that says amenity. In between there are three instrumental pieces, ballads largely piano and melodic (the first and the third, while the second is a track folk led by acoustic guitar), almost worthy of Wright and not at all ugly, indeed quite beautiful, especially the third. Only that the idea repeated three times is quite long, it should have made only two movements. Yesterday it was avant-garde, today it's a dated piece. Rating 7

After a first side that represents one of the avant-gardes of the 1970 progressive (rating 9,25), follows a second melodic side, inferior musically (and little prog) especially in the finale, which also suffers from the lack of a proper vocalist, but which nevertheless presents another masterpiece and that you listen to in a sliding way and with pleasure from start to finish and with an average quality of 8.13. Masterpiece of prog rock.

Rating album 9+. Five Stars.

1 Atom Heart Mother with the intro of a fast '2001', a bit of Summer for the psychedelic trumpets, the symphony orchestra and the original Grandiloquence; this dreamlike rise, this air coming from Olympus, these aerial choirs wandering on the musical limbo, incidentally entering your ears to delight in your earwax, drink it and get drunk dancing naked; in short before there was nothing, now we know that there is the Floydian standard value; the choirs are getting stronger, masculinized, no iel here, it's purity without distortion; it swells, well the recording is still as serious, it lacks treble, does anyone have a better quality recording? Wow wow ahh, ahhh, I'm spellbound. The organ with a melting blow that will launch into a jazz-rock variation with the airy, Floydian guitar, finally you see, one that tears. 12 minutes and we are already halfway through, think of a title of a single piece, 6 drawers; crazy noises then the orchestra that comes back with the big tuba; psychedelic break more than that you can't with a sound that will look at the TANGERINE DREAM at 17 minutes, surprising; a train yes that passes then the air of the departure that comes back through this slightly singular experiment; hey I understand why I immediately loved the SIGUR ROS; the organ, the Cello, the intoxicating, the condescension, the music raised to its pedestal for a pure atmospheric art-rock, majestic symphonic that will not have a sequel. One of the major symphonic pieces of musical time.

2 If side B and the beginning of the stereo with the musicians playing it, a fact from yesteryear; guitar arpeggio on the left, vocal on the right with the bass, central solo in the back or the beginning of the Hi-Fi chains; in short the BEATLES tried it, the FLOYD with their psychedelic period also got into it; the piano ties it all together on this consensual kitsch piece that wouldn't pass today even for PINK FLOYD 3 Summer '68 which starts on the right with the piano this time; a substitute for a bucolic nursery rhyme from yesteryear, again, with a beautiful organ; the explosive catchy chorus on the BEATLES with the rhythm that goes into grandiloquence, trumpet and drums of Albion brigands; for the one who was in mono it must have been hard not to appreciate this binary effect, for the others it's great; the Olympian orchestral finale is dantesque all the same 4 Fat Old Sun go bells in the distance, a Beatlesian title at full blast and the serenade encore, with the drums well to the left, Nick on one side, David on the other 5 Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast and the piece in 3 parts, the cinematic well before its time, perhaps one of the most famous sound breakfasts with the match; later, we will have the real breakfast 'made in America' without matches but with eggs and bacon; let's go back to this piano, ah cut, let's go back to the progressive avant-garde, walk... there you are right in it; the slow acoustic decline before cooking the eggs and bacon; well we clean our dishes, think about the tap that runs, that drips, in short you have passed the test, you are one of those who understood that music was not just Kleenex.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦

From the pompous Cow Suite to Alan's marmalade toast, this might be the boys' trippiest output. This was in my mind the first of Pink Floyd's run of seven essential classic albums, ending with The Wall. This is a group effort for sure.

𝐀𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 - 23:51 The instrumentation on Atom Heart Mother Suite is top notch. The main theme draws you in from the beginning and after some amazing guitar playing by DAVE GILMOUR, a choir comes in and enhances the atmosphere. After 10 minutes, RICK WRIGHT shows GILMOUR back to the song and they battle it out while still keeping it professional. They are supported by the amazing rhythm section created by NICK MASON and ROGER WATERS. The choir comes back, this time with some goofy vocals to lighten up the atmosphere. After another blast of spectacular bombast, we are invited to listen to the precursor to the noise section of Echoes. I don't really understand the point of this section, it's kind of unpleasant. Maybe they wanted to build some tension before release (main theme)? Luckily, we get some fantastic violin playing afterwards, followed by some fantastic note bending by GILMOUR. This leads into the final burst of main theme-oriented bombast to wrap up the epic epic (yes, I meant to write "epic" twice). 𝟗,𝟓/𝟏𝟎 - absolutely essential prog epic, but was the noise section really necessary?

𝐈𝐟 - 4:24 Philosophical lyrics inspired by Rudyard Kipling, classical guitar and decent singing by WATERS. Slide guitar by GILMOUR. Nice melody. Good stuff. 𝟕/𝟏𝟎 - pleasant song, but not progressive.

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 '𝟔𝟖 - 5:26 The cheerful melody in this song does a pretty good job disguising WRIGHT's quite sad lyrics. His vocals are also very good. The instrumentation is top notch as usual and the song shifts between mellow and bombastic � la Suite. This is a good representation of what this album is all about. 𝟕,𝟓/𝟏𝟎 - mellow - bombastic - mellow - bombastic.

𝐅𝐚𝐭 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐧 - 5:17 Harmless, mellow melody, lyrics, vocals and great electric guitar bit by GILMOUR. Rhythm section supports him. Funnily enough, this song reminds me more of the summer than the previous song. 𝟖/𝟏𝟎 - relaxing song.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 - 12:56 I would pay good money to have some breakfast with Alan. Maybe spend a day with him. It seems like he doesn't have a single worry in the world. A cheerful chap he is. Well, maybe that's because of the acid. Probably. Anyway, I doubt the band was on acid recording this because this song is actually really well constructed and executed. The song is actually really calming. 𝟖,𝟓/𝟏𝟎 - a guy eating breakfast with some harmonious guitar in the background.

𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟖/𝟏𝟎

Review #7

After "A saucerful of secrets" and "Ummagumma" came "Atom heart mother" and it clearly made a huge difference in the sound and the course of the band's career.

The album starts with a 23 minutes instrumental opus with orchestral arrangements by Ron Geesin, this was something new, something notably different from their earlier recordings; for starts, "Atom heart mother" became Pink Floyd's longest song (approximately 20 seconds longer than "Echoes", which was released next year) and the orchestral arrangements were something that hadn't appeared before in any of their albums (it was not new in general music since several bands would have already made songs with that kind of arrangements but it was an innovation to their own discography). The song is beautiful and says that the B-side of the album is going to be filled with amazing music too.

The B-side of the album has four more songs, three really sweet short rock ballads and the last one is a 13 minutes experimental/instrumental song. The first of these four songs is "If", which is a short acoustic and very soft melody composed by Roger Waters; then comes "Summer '68", composed by Richard Wright, which starts with a soft piano melody and then it has trumpets changing the melody into something rockier.

The fourth song of the album is "Fat old sun", composed by David Gilmour which starts with slide acoustic guitar and finishes with an epic electric guitar solo; finally comes "Alan's psychedelic breakfast", the 13 minutes instrumental epic which has sounds of a guy named Alan having breakfast, it is awesome to hear the cutlery, the box of cereal, the bacon in the pan, etc. This music would give the first steps into Pink Floyd's iconic real-life samplers that would give their following albums the amazing touch that they have.

SONG RATING: Atom heart mother, 5 If, 4 Summer 68, 4 Fat old Sun, 4 Alan's psychedelic breakfast, 4

AVERAGE: 4.2

PERCENTAGE: 84

ALBUM RATING: 4 stars

I can't see Side 1 of this album as anything except a giant snorefest. The "Father's Shout" theme that shows up a couple of times may be impressive, but all of the endless noodling surrounding it just puts me to sleep: it's not intelligently written, it's not particularly well played, it doesn't set a mood at all, it just has no use existing as far as I'm concerned.

Side 2 is built around the same principle as disc 2 of Ummagumma, with each band member contributing their own song, but all except Richard Wright (whose "Summer 68" rocks a memorable chorus and some typical cute Wright vocals, and ranks as my favourite track on the album) lazied out on here as well. "If" and "Fat Old Sun" are both pretty unremarkable folk rock songs, and Nick Mason's "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is just a total disgrace. It sure looks bombastic with its 12-minute running time and three-part structure but this is all pretension: the 'suite' consists of nothing but a roadie reciting some mundane and barely audible monologue while the band plays some incoherent and dreadfully primitive jams in the background. As a progressive rock fan, I usually resent accusations of "grandiosity for grandiosity's sake", but... here it is! The 'epic' nature of it all just hides the lack of real musical essence throughout the entire album.

It's all just rather awkward. The band doesn't really know how to make the experimental music of old anymore, and they no longer really want to make it either, but they're also not sure about what to do instead. I hesitate to call it a bad album since even the worst parts of it are at most just boring, but I'll never understand why it's so highly regarded.

"Atom Heart Mother"

My favorite Pink Floyd album ever. Two reasons here :

1 ? Musically, the suite "Atom Heart Mother" is the only fusion between progressive rock and orchestra that I really appreciate. To explain this position and to make myself clear, it is the same reason I prefer more a Renaissance album like "Prologue" than the profoundly orchestrated "Scheherazade". The way David Gilmour guitar dives in a sea of strings (what a poor poet I am?), is not less than? wonderful !

On the vinil side 2 we have a beautiful Roger Water ballad (for me one of his best); we have an even nicer ballad from David and? a masterpiece from Rick Wright. "Summer 68" is for me one of the best songs ever composed; and I only have after that to deeply respect Mr. Wright as a musician. Finally, we have the strange "Alan�s Psychedelic Breakfast". l never skip this song, I hear it until the end by means of being respectful to my favourite Pink Floy album?

2 ? The second reason is the amount of beauty and emotion present in this album, beauty that can be found in Rick�s and David�s singing; and in the guitar and strings layers on the first side also. I did not find that emotion in no other Pink Floyd album, "Wish You Were Here" is in a distant second place. Another musician that I appreciate too much because the beauty and capacity of transmitting emotions through his songs is Vangelis; but this is subject for others reviews?

Sometimes artists create something they grow to hate later. This is the case for Atom Heart Mother. Both Waters and Gilmour consider it to be very bad.

I don't agree. I think this album is great. It is a fantastic album in itself. Both sides are awesome. And it is a major stepping stone to the Pink Floyd we all know so well.

My journey with Pink Floyd started in the early eighties, I was about 14 years old. Atom Heart Mother quickly became one of my favourites. It started with the Atom Heart Mother suite. It was so overwhelming. I never had heard something like this before. This was so great, so creative. So fantastic.

I learned to love the tracks on the B-side later. It's such a contrast to the A-side. Simple songs, but oh so beautiful. The only thing I never understood was Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast.

Atom Heart Mother Suite - A masterful track. I can only love it very much 10/10

If - A simple Roger Waters song. The quiet after the storm 7/10

Summer '68 - Perhaps the best track from the B-side. I love the trumpet part, the bombast 9/10

Fat Old Sun - Gilmour's part on the B-side is the simplest of blues ballads. Elevated by a fantastic guitar solo at the end. Gilmour gives us a glimpse of what is to come here. 9/10

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast - Too weird for my taste. 5/10

Is this a 5-star album? Is it comparable with Wish You Were Here? With In the Court? With Close to the Edge? I don't think so. It deserves 4 stars, just like Fragile.

Review #12!

While early Pink Floyd is often shunned for being too experimental and/or 'not Pink Floyd', the 1970 LP 'Atom Heart Mother' is when the band finally found their balance. Being their first studio album (not counting 'Ummagumma') entirely without Barrett, they were still finding themselves as a band who lost their guitarist. But, continuing to follow their wildly experimental ways, they had inserted an eponymic, six-part twenty-four-minute instrumental epic into the first side. Fusing progressive and classical elements, the first side of Atom Heart Mother was and still is a strong track in Floyd's discography. The second half holds four relatively shorter songs, starting with the folky 'If', the very unlike Pink Floyd 'Summer '68' (the majority, at least), and the mostly acoustic 'Fat Old Sun'. The closing track, 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast', is a three-part twelve-minute song with interludes of a Pink Floyd crew-member eating his breakfast. In its vast obscurity and abstract genius, Atom Heart Mother is what you could easily call a rock masterpiece.

Ron Geesin would also go on to work with the full band on their 1970 album, Atom Heart Mother. Featuring the iconic Holstein cow album cover, this record bears structural similarities to Ummagumma. Atom Heart Mother opens and closes on full-band suites, while Waters, Wright, and Gilmour each have one solo song in the middle (with the full band's backing).

Atom Heart Mother is also the first album where Pink Floyd unambiguously stepped into the emerging field of progressive rock. Prior to this point, they were primarily a psychedelic band with some experimental and space rock leanings. However, they didn't fully abandon their psychedelic past, and they would remain somewhat semi-prog up until the mid-70s. It wouldn't be until Wish You Were Here that I would say they released an unquestionably prog album, with all interceding records having significant psychedelic and space rock substrates.

The song "Atom Heart Mother" is the longest studio recording Pink Floyd ever made, clocking in at 13 seconds longer than "Echoes". (That is assuming you don't count the two pieces of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" as one song.) It's also one of the rare Pink Floyd songs to credit a non-band member, as writing is attributed to the band's four members, plus Ron Geesin who arranged the strings, brass, and choir.

Roger Waters and Nick Mason recorded the rhythm section part in one massive take, resulting in an inconsistent tempo throughout, but that doesn't hamper the song. Geesin's brass arrangements add a spooky, circus-like feel to this song. Upon hearing this song for the first time, my wife referred to it as "haunted carnival music."

Though some bandmembers have expressed distaste for this song since its release, I think it's one of their seminal pieces. Nick Mason's drumming is especially noteworthy for the power he gives to the song's more bombastic moments. The choir arrangements add a haunting quality, and Gilmour's soloing is shockingly un-Gilmour-like. The vocal arrangements feel like an earthier counterpart to Magma's celestial chants.

Stanley Kubrick asked to use "Atom Heart Mother" in A Clockwork Orange, but the band refused permission. As much as I love this song, I'm glad they didn't allow Kubrick to use it; I would not want this piece associated with that stupid, boring, nigh-unwatchable film. (I'll save the rest of my anti-Kubrick sentiments for another essay.)

Side 2 of Atom Heart Mother sees Waters, Wright, and Gilmour contribute one song apiece. This experiment turns out stronger than Ummagumma's solo-writing experiment, as the members of the band weren't required to play all the instruments.

The Waters-penned "If" begins side 2 and is the weakest of the tracks. It's a slow, acoustic piece that features some languid soloing from Gilmour. Wright's "Summer '68" follows. It's reminiscent of the songs he contributed to A Saucerful of Secrets?relatively light, piano-led psychedelia. The chorus has a great punchiness to it, and the inclusion of a brass section was a smart move. David Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" is the strongest of these three songs. It's slow-moving, gentle, and sweet. The closing guitar solo is among the best he ever recorded. In live settings, this song would get stretched out to nearly 15 minutes and feature some truly dramatic interplay between Gilmour and Wright.

Atom Heart Mother closes on the weird, three-part instrumental "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", another group effort (though primarily written by Nick Mason). The three segments are intercut with audio of Pink Floyd roadie Alan Styles making breakfast for himself. The first section is centered primarily around piano and organ, and the second is a folky acoustic guitar fugue. Part three features the full band and acts as a strong closer. Piano is the lead instrument here, and a relaxed but purposeful feel drives this piece along.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2021/03/01/deep-dive-pink-floyd/

Being 1970 this album is right in between the awkward experimental phase. And being before Meddle where the band would find direction they were happier with that would help shape the future. This album is where the band starts to really display a much higher level of greatness and showing much greater potential but missing the mark they were hoping for.

The result is an often misunderstood album but also original sounding album that has moments of brilliance, originality, obscurity, and very well liked Pink Floyd albums by diehards that many people have never had the chance to hear. Mirroring of the band arrangements with orchestral arrangements. Plenty of Jazz and Classical elements and influences. Perhaps it was the collaboration efforts and not doing enough on their own that made them feel insecure about this album. Even crazier that critics actually really liked this album.

The suite Atom Heart Mother is interesting to listen to. I have heard some people call it pretentious but I fully disagree. This is 1970 we are talking about. Symphonic Metal bands often use the arrangements of band with choir and orchestra. And we are talking decades later. This is once again Pink Floyd projecting the future without even knowing about it. Alan Parsons used this formula in multiple albums. This is also the first album he was involved in with Pink Floyd.

If a humorous song about a relationship that didn't work which would go into the next song. Weakest track on the album. I do like Richard Wrights piano solos towards the end.

Summer of '68is avery Jazz influenced piece from Richard Wright. And of course Jazz influences would continue to intensify throughout Pink Floyd's music throughout most of the 70's. Both Cool Jazz and Fusion influences.

Fat Old Sun is considered a classic and a very beautiful and well liked song. David Gilmour would make it more of a staple for his live shows going into the 2000's.

Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is really bizarre due to the background noises. When the music gets good it gets really good. Some really cool Jazz moments I really enjoy.

An obscure overlooked gem overall. It might not make my top 5 but I feel it's a very monumental album that really shows a step in the right direction and a huge breakthrough for the band that would continue all throughout the 70's. The perfect way to start the decade and something completely different formula that would never be used again that only adds to this album being more interesting.

While everything and everyone had to get better after the standards set by In the Court of the Crimson King, Pink Floyd would try something entirely different and made something unique.

In the early 1970s, to be precise on October 1 1970, EMI released the new Pink Floyd album "Atom Heart Mother". This record meant a great deal to both the band and the fans because the LP with the cow on the cover marked the beginning of a true change in direction. Although the band members individually had already experimented with the latest toy from Abbey Road Studio, the eight-track recorder, for the successful "Ummagumma" album in 1969, the recordings for "Atom Heart Mother" were the first for the group using that new device. It must have opened up a whole new world for David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason. Nowadays, we laugh about it, but for the creative minds of Pink Floyd, it represented a significant enrichment at the time. From then on, the band started producing increasingly complex and epic prog while gradually moving away from psychedelia.

The Pink Floyd guys, the pioneers, had a knack for it, especially Roger Waters, who had become quite skilled in manipulating the tape. To this day, their experimentation continues to leave a huge impression. The album is filled with various environmental sounds and stereo effects. Waters and Mason cleverly incorporated neighing horses, explosions and revving engines into the instrumental suite Atom Heart Mother, which occupies the entire A-side of the LP. These sounds are skillfully woven into the music, providing a rhythmic cadence. The closing track of the album, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, is also full of environmental sounds. In fact, for 13 minutes, the listener is a guest at the breakfast table of a certain Alan Stiles. You can hear him frying eggs and so on. All of this is interrupted several times by some fantastic musical passages. In my opinion, the balance tilts a bit too much towards the sounds, but it's acceptable towards the end of the album. Nowadays, one could call it a hidden track, although it's not really hidden.

In addition to the added sound effects, it is primarily the enhancement of the long title track with choir and orchestral arrangements that has made the album so memorable. The orchestra in question is called The Abbey Road Session Pops Orchestra. Pink Floyd collaborated with Ron Geesin, an experimental composer and friend of Nick Mason, for the parts. Geesin spent months working on the scores and the result is impressive. Euphoric and bombastic horns, tubas and trombones find their way through the song, holding its six parts together. This is achieved through a powerful theme, as presented in the opening section, Father's Shout.

When the father's outburst subsides and the mother takes over, the music becomes gentle with flowing organ and evocative violin. Then Gilmour comes in with his now-infamous guitar antics, skillfully sliding his bottleneck over the strings of his Stratocaster. In the third part, Mother Fore, the atmosphere becomes more solemn. The choir, conducted by John Aldiss, sounds somewhat ethereal with its high female voices. It may be a bit drawn-out, but just in time, the magnificent Funky Dung arrives. You can hear the driving organ play merging into a section where an impressive choir seems to be practicing an Asian martial art. After a repetition of the bombastic opening of the long track, there's a moment to catch one's breath during the vague Mind Your Throats Please. This is typical Pink Floyd and while the backward-sounding Mellotron parts may have raised a few eyebrows, the band still occasionally showcases their love for psychedelia. For example, at the beginning of the final part, Remergence, various fragments from the song pass by in a somewhat cacophonic manner. The chord progressions are so skillful; it's a display of expert craftsmanship. The Suite ends as grandly as it began.

The long track weighs heavily on the listener and by heavily, I don't mean it's heavy or overwhelming. It's because the music sounds so bombastic and experiencing the nearly 24-minute listening session requires a lot of energy. As a result, the B-side is lighter and less complex. Acoustic guitar and piano play a significant role and apart from Gilmour's beautiful lap steel guitar in If, which is sung and plucked by Waters, the electric six-string only comes out of the case for a solo in the middle of Fat Old Sun, the third track on the B-side. This song, written by Gilmour, quickly became a huge live favorite. It's primarily that solo, derived from a few riffs, that truly makes the cows dance on ice. It's extraordinary how the Floyd guys can create such a tremendous atmosphere with relatively simple musical patterns. Give them a few chords to tinker with and you get magnificent songs like If and the melancholic Fat Old Sun.

Summer '68 is another example. The brass section from the Suite makes a reappearance. The trumpet cheerfully blares through this Beach Boys-like song and it's evident that assistant sound engineer Alan Parsons had a great influence. With its brass section, this song somewhat serves as a link between both sides of the album, allowing "Atom Heart Mother" to be experienced as a cohesive whole, even on CD. Despite the black-and-white cow on the cover.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

Going into this, I am a level 1. I've heard some tracks, but never the whole album. I've definitely heard Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast before. I am mainly (but not entirely) post- Meddle when it comes to PF knowledge. I am looking forward to this, though, I'm sure it's going to be quite a ride!

Track 1 - Atom Heart Mother

We jump right in with a side-long, should be good! A low drone starts things off, and gradually brass instruments join in. It eventually sounds like a fanfare, then the band joins in at around 1:30 with a moderate rhythm. The brass takes back over with battle sounds and explosions before the band re-joins. A cello comes in next with a keyboard ostinato underneath. Gilmour slide takes the reins next with a smooth Mason & Waters rhythm underneath. Now we have a choir. So far, I am enjoying this! Apparently, this album went #1 in the UK, I don't think it was as well known in its day in the US. The choir is not singing lyrics, just "Aahhs" and such, but I like it. At around 10:45 we get a proper Gilmour solo over a nice rhythm and organ from Wright. Too bad Waters has become such an egomaniacal jerk, as he is a hell of a bass player. More nonsensical vocals come in next. I'm calling this "weird, but in an interesting way." The brass section returns again followed by sound effects. It's very "experimental." This is essentially an instrumental piece, as the vocals that ARE there are effectively acting as instruments. I enjoyed it.

Track 2 - If

This would have been the beginning of side 2, with Waters, Wright, and Gilmour each composing and singing a track. "If" is Waters' contribution. It begins with nylon-string acoustic and simple vocals. The tune reminds me of what would become "Goodbye, Cruel World," from The Wall nearly a decade later. A soft organ and slide guitar have an interlude before the vocals resume. On the next verse, some subtle hi-hat joins the rhythm. It gives way to another instrumental break with a gentle drumbeat (Possibly played with brushed), piano and harmonized lead guitars. The final verse is sung in harmony. Not bad, not great.

Track 3 - Summer '68

This is Wright's contribution. It begins with piano and mellow bass & drums. Wright gets forgotten as a vocalist later in Floyd's discography, but he is a good singer as well, even if not as powerful as Gilmour and Waters. On the second verse, we have organ. Following that verse, things take off with louder instrumentation and more rhythm and stronger vocals. There is a trumpet-sounding solo, but I believe it is Wright's keyboards producing the sound. I really like this track. We get some Ba-Ba vocals. It does seem that the brass section returns later in the song though.

Track 4 - Fat Old Sun

Here is Gilmour's contribution. Acoustic guitar, vocals and slide guitar in the distance. Bass joins in along with subtle organ. Apparently, Gilmour is playing everything but the organ, which is Wright, even the drums! Not bad David! I also understand that this is one of the first songs he wrote. It's a good track but his vocals are too far in the background. It sounds a bit like a demo, maybe a little more polish was in order? Still, I like it!

Track 5 - Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast

This track is essentially PF Roadie Alan Styles, making breakfast and rambling about breakfasts he's had around the world while the band rehearses in the background. This seems like it belongs to the experimentation of the preceding album Ummagumma, rather than this more song-based album. It's more musical than that description sounds. There is some wonderful piano and organ playing from Wright. Following some talk of macrobiotic breakfasts in Los Angeles, there is excellent acoustic guitar playing, even though we hear Alan eating his food while it's playing. The guitar parts remind me a bit of the Beatles' Dear Prudence. Now we get bacon frying with Alan's mutterings. In the final segment, the full band plays. It is clearly a classic PF sound. I kind of wish they'd have developed the instrumental sections more and left out Alan's breakfast noises. But it was 1970, and it was still essentially the 60s spirit of experimentation. I still enjoy the track, despite the early ASMR sounds that accompany it.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

Very enjoyable album. You can tell they are on the path that would be refined more on Meddle and perfected on DSOTM and WYWH. There are a few "what were they thinking" moments, but overall, I like it. 4 out of 5 Stars.