ATOM HEART MOTHER

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.

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