Atom Heart Mother

In 1970, with the release of Atom Heart Mother the Pink Floyd we would come to truly love was born. In fact it is one of my favorite albums of theirs. There are still a few musical elements from their earliest days such as "Summer of '68" and "Fat Old Sun" and I still have no idea what Nick Mason was thinking with "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" but the charm here is the opening 24 minute track, "Atom Heart Mother".

From the opening moments of the title track the listener is taken for a smooth, weird and engrossing ride through several musical elements that range funk rock to motion picture soundtrack material.  All of this is glued together by Ron Geeson. To give you an idea of just how complex this work was the band had tried several times to perform it live in 1970 and it always ended in disaster and they finally gave up. There are so many complexities in this 24 minute piece that it is difficult to hear it all. A headset and quiet room is a must for this one. Your imagination will run away with you as you try to take in all  that is offered.

"Atom Heart Mother" is broken into 6 suites and for the dedicated listener you can find it broken down in this order.

1. Father's Shout (5:25)
2. Breast Milky (4:48)
3. Mother Fore (5:17)
4. Funky Dung (2:19)
5. Mind Your Throats, Please (2:02)
6. Remergence (3:54)

The "Atom Heart Mother" suite takes up side one while Side 2 finds more conventional music. Although it is all Pink Floyd, here on Side 2 the band is still somewhat stuck between what they were, and what they were to become.

The best of Side 2 is Rick Wright's "Summer of '68" and David Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun". Also Roger Water's "If" is a sign of things to come in respect to his obvious self loathing issues. There is a line in this song, "If I go insane please don't put your wires in my brain" that still has a "WTF" moment for me.

This LP with a simple picture of a cow looking back at the owner of the record went to #1 in the UK and #55 in the US. This is very surprising due to it's content and it's unique musical style. This was a sign of things to come for Pink Floyd with the release of their next masterpiece.

Here is a gem. On November 28, 2011 David Gilmour performed the entire 24 minute "Atom Heart Mother" suite conducted by Ron Geesin . Enjoy and be mesmerized.