Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother (1970)

I would think that for most people, the first Pink Floyd album they encounter is Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall, or Maybe Wish You Were Here or Animals. To me, however, it was Atom Heart Mother. The reason for this is that my father was a huge fan of the album that he called just 'the cow album'. He was playing the vinyl quite a lot when I was a kid and later on when my father decided not to replace his broken record player with a new one, I got his vinyl albums, including this one. Atom Heart Mother can be seen as something of a transition album from 60's psychedelia to the 70's space age Pink Floyd. The grandiloquent sounds are already here, but then again, there are lots of psychedelia sounds on the album as well. This album definitely does not have any hit singles. It's therefore a perfect example of an album that is more important than the individual songs on it.



The album starts with a 23 minute long epic Atom Heart Mother Suite. This song, to me, is what this album is all about. It has great space sounds from a synthesised. The sound must've been quite groundbreaking back in the day. There are also quite amazing choral vocals in this song. I also have to give credit to Roger Waters' bass lines that sound very melodic in the background. Towards the end there are some outright experimental noise sequences. This song fills the whole first half of the album. The other side starts with a quiet ballad If that reminds me of a much later song Goodbye Cruel World on The Wall. Summer '68 sounds exactly like the song title. There are lots of elements in this song that could've come from some of the hit bands of 1968, like The Zombies or Beach Boys. Fat Old Sun is a psychedelia folk song. I think there were lots of songs like this around the same time released by bands like The Moody Blues. The last song on the album is aptly titled Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. This must be among the most experimental Pink Floyd tracks. The 13 minute long song is just a collection of strange sound sequences, including sounds from striking matches, inaudible conversations, falling water etc. This song sounds like the band would've just wanted to improvise strange sounds on record.

I find it a bit strange why this was my father's favourite Pink Floyd album. It could've been just a fact that this sounded so strange and new when it was released. I mean, this really is a good album, but I just think my father has normally a bit more conservative taste in music. I also find it completely bonkers that the band has actually played the title track live. This kind of music sounds like it was only meant for studio, but they really make a good job playing it live as well.

Every time I write about a Pink Floyd album, I have to talk a little bit about the album cover. This album only has a cow in the cover. There's no mention of the band or the album title anywhere, except the spine of the album. I guess Pink Floyd was one of the first bands to do something like this. It's great use of graphic design, because with such a picture you will be sure that people who have seen the cover will also remember it. I guess it comes down to the fact that Pink Floyd was formed of art students.

I personally wouldn't say that Atom Heart Mother is among the best Pink Floyd albums, but I do like the fact that it brought something completely unique to the world by it's experimental sounds and non-commercial production.

Listen to the album on Spotify.