ATOM HEART MOTHER

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.