Atom Heart Mother
Released: October 1970
StevieG rating:
4.1/10
This will be interesting
They continued the theme a bit from Ummagumma in that each member has a song on this album. "Alan's psychedelic breakfast" is credited to all of them, but I think Nick Mason was responsible for a lot of it.
The album is comprised of one long track on the first side, followed by the band member songs on side 2.
Some band members expressed negative views on this album years later. Gimour called it "a load of rubbish. We were at a real down point ... I think we were scraping the barrel a bit at that period". Water said "If somebody said to me now - right - here's a million pounds, go out and play Atom Heart Mother, I'd say you must be fucking joking."
Personally if someone offered me that sort of money, I'd do it - but I guess he is richer than me.
Atom Heart Mother
Written by: Mason, Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Geesin
StevieG full song rating:
4.5/10
This could make or break this album! It's interesting that Ron Geesin had a writing credit on this one - apparently he did a lot of work on pulling together, including getting an orchestra involved.
This is a very orchestral song in 6 parts, which I'll rate separately. I can appreciate that they went hard on this one, I imagine it would have taken a huge amount of effort to put together. At nearly 24 minutes, it is truly an epic, and I think sets them further on the path towards better lengthy songs in the future. I think it's probably their longest song in one sitting - Shine On is probably longer if put together but I can't think of a longer composition.
Part 1 - Father's Shout (4/10): It starts with a tune up. Somewhere in there it reminds me of Star Wars. Then it introduces the main theme of the song, which is the make or break part IMO. I like the main theme. This part suffers from the in-between bits that are uninteresting.
Part 2 - Breast Milky (6/10): The bass and organ kick in, and a nice cello solo ensues. The song is still flowing well at this stage. When Dave comes in with some slide guitar and then a further guitar solo, it elevates the song a lot with a nice variation on the main theme.
Part 3 - Mother Fore (5/10): This is the choir section. The opening reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on right now. It builds tension, maybe for a bit too long, has a horror movie feel to it. Then the drums kick in and lift it a bit.
Part 4 - Funky Dung (6/10): I'm not unhappy they did this part. The bass line starts it off, and I'm reminded of "Any Colour You Like" for a bit. Once again, when Dave comes in he lifts this part with a great guitar solo - this bit has shades of Shine On to it. It does drag a bit, before the choir comes in with an unexpected crazy voice part which gives it a completely different feel, before circling back to the main theme. The song could easily end at this point. It probably should have.
Part 5 - Mind Your Throats Please (0/10): Probably the part that shouldn't have been. Unnecessary filler. This is where the song loses me and I detach from it.
Part 6 - Remergence (6/10): It makes up for the previous part to a degree. The start of it reminds me strongly of Echoes. They can't seem to get going to begin with, until it eventually winds its way toward the main theme again. But wait! It's not over yet as it quietens down a bit with a violin solo, followed by a guitar solo which lifts it again and moves toward the TRIUMPHANT finale with a BIG ending.
If
Written by: Roger Waters
StevieG rating:
6/10
This has a quiet, moody tone with a nice tune and dark lyrics. We have an explicit mention of insanity, which as we know is a prevalent theme moving forward. There's a decent guitar solo and piano input. There are also 2 big positives about this: no bird sounds, and no fade-out!
Summer '68
Written by: Richard Wright
StevieG rating:
4/10
It starts well, and the verse has a good melody. I'm not a fan of the lyrics. So it's about a one-night stand that he will have in the next location too. He seems to be bored with the whole charade and blaming the groupie. But I get the feeling there's some self-loathing in there too. The chorus, or "How do you feel?" part is where I think it's a bit weak. Then the orchestra kicks in - it must have been available while Atom Heart Mother was recorded. It's ok I guess.
Fat Old Sun
Written by: David Gilmour
StevieG rating:
4/10
It is apparently one of David's favourites, but I'm not such a fan. The guitar solo is pretty good, but the rest of the song - meh.
Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast
Written by: Mason, Gilmour, Waters, Wright
StevieG rating:
2/10
I have to preface this with a personal pet hate of mine - I can't stand it when people chew in your ear. And this "song" has Alan doing just that in a way that is almost un-listenable to me. It has 3 parts, and 3 sections of music.
Part 1 - Rise and Shine (1/10): It starts with a dripping tap, which I believe Roger was experimenting with as a musical option. Then bloody Alan comes in and destroys my ears with insipid talk and breakfast preparations. Finally the music arrives, such as it is, background elevator music that couldn't possibly motivate the most hard-core Floyd fan.
Part 2 - Sunny side up (2/10): Alan comes back and pours himself a tea or coffee, and some cereal (rice bubbles?) and proceeds to slurp and gulp the thing, driving me completely around the bend. Acoustic guitar fades in, followed by drifting ambient music. I give it a 2/10, only for the guitar part.
Part 3 - Morning Glory (3/10): And now he's cooking bacon, or eggs, whatever. Finally we get some potentially decent music, with the piano developing nicely until Alan comes back in and spoils it for everyone. When he disappears again, the music develops further, but not in any satisfying way. Then he's back again at the end, and we're left listening to that dripping tap until the end of time....