Atom Heart Mother

Atom Heart Mother

(Released on:- 10th October, 1970)

 Album's title cover

A studio album by Pink Floyd

Released - 10 October 1970

Recorded - March–August 1970 at Abbey Road Studios, London

Length - 52:44

Label - Harvest, EMI (UK), Harvest/Capitol, Capitol (U.S.)

Producer - Pink Floyd, Norman Smith (executive producer)

Introduction

Atom Heart Mother is a 1970 progressive rock album by Pink Floyd. It is named after its title track, which was originally titled "The Amazing Pudding". The song's name was changed after the band came across a newspaper article about a woman with an atomic pacemaker with the headline "Nuclear drive for woman's heart."  The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England. It reached number 1 in the UK and number 55 in the U.S. charts and went Gold in the U.S. in March of 1994. A re-mastered CD was released in 1994 in the UK and 1995 in the U.S.

The original album cover shows a very ordinary cow standing in a very ordinary pasture, with no text nor any other clue as to what might be on the record. This is, in fact, due to the psychedelic-"space rock" imagery associated with Pink Floyd at the time of the album's release; the band wanted to explore all sorts of music without being limited to a particular image or style of performance. They thus requested that their new album have "something plain" on the cover, which ended up being the image of the cow. Storm Thorgerson, inspired by Andy Warhol's famous "cow-wallpaper", has said that he simply drove out into a rural area near Potters Bar and photographed the first thing he saw. The cow's name is Lulubelle III.

The longest two tracks are a progression from Pink Floyd's earlier instrumental pieces such as "A Saucerful of Secrets"; the Atom Heart Mother suite is split into six parts and features a full orchestra while there are three distinct segments of "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" which are joined by dialogue and sound effects of then-roadie Alan Stiles preparing, discussing, and eating breakfast.

The original LP ends with the constant sound of a dripping tap in the inner groove. Also included are three five-minute songs: one by each of the band's three resident songwriters. Roger Waters contributes a folk ballad called "If" which he would play frequently at live shows in support of his Radio KAOS album. This is followed by Rick Wright's brass-heavy "Summer '68", a critique of the "rock 'n roll" lifestyle that would soon become characteristic of Pink Floyd. Finally, there is David Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun", which spent two years as a key part of the band's live set and is a staple of Gilmour's various solo tours.

Track listing

Side one

"Atom Heart Mother" (David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason, Ron Geesin) – 23:44

"Father's Shout"

"Breast Milky"

"Mother Fore"

"Funky Dung"

"Mind Your Throats, Please"

"Remergence"

Side two

"If" (Roger Waters) – 4:31

Lead vocals: Roger Waters

"Summer '68" (Rick Wright) – 5:29

Lead vocals: Rick Wright

"Fat Old Sun" (David Gilmour) – 5:24

Lead vocals: David Gilmour

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" (David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason) – 13:00

Instrumental

"Rise and Shine"

"Sunny Side Up"

"Morning Glory"

Personnel

David Gilmour – vocals, guitars, bass guitar on "Fat Old Sun", Drums on "Fat Old Sun"

Roger Waters – bass guitar, acoustic guitar on "If", tape effects, tape collage, vocals on "If"

Richard Wright – keyboards, piano, orchestration, vocals on "Summer '68"

Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape editing, tape collage, additional engineering on "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"

Additional personnel

John Aldiss Choir – vocals

Alan Parsons – engineer

Peter Bown – engineer

Ron Geesin – orchestration and co-composition on title track, cello

Alan Stiles – voice on "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble

Abbey Road Session Pops Orchestra – brass and orchestral sections

James Guthrie – 1994 remastering

Quotes

Atom Heart Mother is a good case, I think, for being thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again! [...] It was pretty kind of pompous, it wasn't really about anything.

- Roger Waters -

Rock Over London Radio Station - March 15, 1985, for broadcast April 7/April 14, 1985.

Some of it now, like Atom Heart Mother, strikes me as absolute crap, but I no longer want or have to play stuff I don't enjoy.

- David Gilmour - November 1994

"What do you think of your early records like Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma today?"

I think both are pretty horrible. Well, the live disc of Ummagumma might be all right, but even that isn't recorded well.

- David Gilmour - German news magazine "Der Spiegel" No. 23 - 5 June 1995

It's an averagely recorded album but a very interesting idea, working with Ron Geesin, an orchestra and the Roger Aldiss choir. Roger and I were quite friendly with Ron. I think I met him through Robert Wyatt. The thing that Ron taught us most about was recording techniques, and tricks done on the cheap. We learned how to get round the men-in-white-coats and do things at home, like editing. Ron taught us how to use two tape recorders to create an endless build up of echo. It was all very relevant to things we did later. Now I listen to it with acute embarrassment because the backing track was put down by Roger and me, beginning to end, in one pass. Consequently the tempo goes up and down. It was a 20-minute piece and we just staggered through it. On the other side, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast was another great idea -- gas fires popping, kettles boiling, that didn't really work on record but was great fun live. I've never heard Roger lay claim to it, which makes me think it must have been a group idea.

                                                                                                                                     

 - Nick Mason

At the time we felt Atom Heart Mother, like Ummagumma, was step towards something or other. Now I think they were both just a blundering about in the dark.

                                                                                                                                - David Gilmour

I didn't have anything, really, to do with the start of Atom Heart Mother, and when I asked them what it was about, they said they didn't know themselves. It's a conglomeration of pieces that weren't related, or didn't seem to be at the time. The picture isn't related either; in fact, it was an attempt to do a picture that was unrelated, consciously unrelated.

- Storm Thorgerson - Guitar World - February 1998

"I think Atom Heart Mother was a good thing to have attempted, but I don't really think the attempt comes off that well."

- David Gilmour -

Rolling Stone Magazine - November 2001.

     Chart 

         Year                       Chart               Position

   1970                   Billboard Pop         55

    1970              UK Albums Chart           1