Atom Heart Mother

Realmente es mi album favorito de Pink Floyd, perfecto para escuchar en la mañana y antes de dormir.el vinilo llegó intacto y el sonido es espectacular, muy recomendado estos nuevos relanzamientos .

This album was the spark of brilliance that would lead the band to success! While they might not have written the entire titular suite, the performance on it was a sign of the proficiency for which they play and the greatness which was to come. Side 2 has 3 amazing shorter songs which show how Ummagumma could have been if the concept had been more fleshed out then. The only thing really holding this album back is Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. The piece may have moments of amazing musicianship, but the spoken word sections are simply too long and break it up too much.

Atom Heart Mother is one of those special Pink Floyd albums that comes between the early Barrett and Dark Side. That is to say it’s like neither. Largely instrumental, and spanning genres, it’s a hard album to easily sum up. ‘If’, ‘Summer 68’, and ‘Fat Old Sun’ are the only vocal tracks and they are as brilliant as they are beautiful. In my estimation Atom Heart Mother shares a greater affinity to British folk and perhaps even more British indie from the 90’s on. It surely is not the psychedelic rock anthem laden Dark Side. In other words, the recommendation that if one likes Pink Floyd generally or their later 70’s material specifically then get AHM does not stand. That said, the reverse may be true. The same could be said of the Barrett era Floyd.So yes, this is a great album of dreamy instrumentals, lovely pastoral English folk, and, as I believe, proto-English indie.

Roger Waters and David Gilmour were never happy with Atom Heart Mother, but it's a project that led to Meddle. Here one can hear the progress and creativity live. There is a much too short film of a few concert songs. The film shows the respect between the artists and their concentration on the live performance. The camera catches a few smiles of these all too serious young men.

What exactly made the rock and roll of the mid 1960's to the late 1970's so exciting, experimental and sometimes monumental in scope, with masterpieces like "Pet Sounds", "Abbey Road", "Dark Side of the Moon", "Physical Graffiti", etc.? It's actually not a big mystery although one might think so. The secret was simple: the record executives of the big labels of the day were older, came from a different musical generation and to them all of these bands were over their heads, so they measured their worth by word of mouth, live gigs or just plain chance. Now, music is broken down, analyzed, categorized and beaten to death before it ever gets out. Bands are thrown into certain genres, never to stray. Hence, many fans have been suckered into this trap too, and have become ridiculously intolerant of their favorite outfits stretching creative boundaries, trying new looks or anything else. It's stupid, but society is oversimplified and demands strict regimentation while all the while deluding itself into thinking it's free thinking and lives on the "edge".Which is why we'll never repeat the days of music taking chances like Pink Floyd's storied career, going from pure insane psychedelia with Syd Barrett to proto-industrial and jazzy on "Dark Side of the Moon" to paranoid and conceptual on "The Wall". Were Floyd to start today, they would not be allowed to move past their debut album's sound, or would do so at their own risk. "Atom Heart Mother" is not one of their stronger albums, and does not get mentioned as one of their essentials, but it is nonetheless an important developing stage for Pink Floyd.Other bands, most notably Deep Purple, the Moody Blues and Frank Zappa had been toying with classical influences and to some that led to the bloated progressive music of Yes and ELP. However, while recognizing that classical music is the most influential form of Western music, it can be very dull and equally pretentious. Pink Floyd managed on "Atom Heart Mother" to avoid the dull stuff, and utilized orchestral instruments to a more psychedelic direction. The album thus contains some orchestration but also has plenty of what is becoming the more recognized Floyd sound, with Rick Wright's organ and David Gilmour stepping in more confidently as the master guitarist he is. A few quiet pieces separate the two larger movements, and the album ends with "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", which is more sedate than the title might suggest, but still interesting in its merging of the musical instruments of the past with the sonic experimentation that defined the trippy music of 1970.Hard core fans are advised to check "Atom Heart Mother" out, and new fans need to be cautioned that this is not what they may expect, as is the case with anything pre-"Meddle" era Pink Floyd. This CD falls just shy of where "Meddle" takes off. It's a good CD on its own, and very much shows the progress of one of the world's greatest bands of all time.

At the time "Atom Heart Mother" was released in the very early 70's, all had known the band "Pink Floyd" as creators of Avante-Guarde music. There were some bands you listened to for boogie, like the Stones, and some bands for comraderie and fun, like Crosby, Stills, and Nash. But for thrills and introspection,we listened to bands like Pink Floyd. Every Pink Floyd album was a curiosity, and when Atom Heart was released there was certainly no let down. An extremely strange record with dreamy cow graphics that somehow made the bovines look airy and dignified. The cover somehow inexplicably went along with the orchestrated piece on the first side. In this first suite there are perhaps three heart-wrenching lead guitar solos by, I assume David Gilmore.Towards the ending of the suite, is one of the best "noise salads" I have ever heard. All coming together at the very end with a triumphant finale.Three of the four remaining tracks are restrained, simple and beautiful. And then there is "Alan's psychedelic breakfast". This is a humorous and interesting piece that requires concentrated listening.The fact that the Band memebers now regard this album with disdain is a curiosity. Most likely, they are suffering from some middle-aged angst which has blind-sided their rememberances of creative genius. As an outside observer, I still listen to the album with a twinge of awe and respect. Would it not be cool if a modern composer did a work-over of the first suite? Say Philip Glass with Yo-Yo Ma on cello?