Poll: How do you rate Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" album?

Just to be clear. The last true Pink Floyd album, was Animals...the last band collective.

On the recording for The Wall, Rick Wright was in a mess, and he was treated really badly as well.

Roger Waters and David Gilmour, were at each others throats, and Waters decided to stage a coup.

The Wall, and The Final Cut, were Waters conceits.

A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, The Division Bell, and The Endless River, was David Gilmour playing fantasy football.

The real Pink Floyd, ended at Animals.

 

Real PF? Is there such a thing? To some PF ended after Syd's departure...


Right, MKII phase 2 ended at Animals.

The phase 3 (Roger takes over years) started at the Wall and ended at Final Cut. Never RW was able to reach the same level of creativity via his solo career, same with DG. PF was the catalyst for such beautiful music.

 

One of my desert-island discs. Second to Animals in my Floyd rankings, but they both have no dull moments for me. People need to realize that "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" isn't a dude eating for 13 minutes, it's three delightful and fun little instrumentals interspersed with a dude eating. This is one of those albums where every track has at one point been my favorite; I have to give the nod to "Summer '68" but "Alan" just makes me happy every time I hear it.

 

First Floyd album I heard was DSOTM, to me, its ok, a few years later I borrowed AHM from the library and loved the first track immediately and eventually got into the other tracks, I love this album so much, and I still not fussed on other Floyd albums, although I have bought a few others hoping to hear something like AHM. IMO this is an epic album.

 

I absolutely adore Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast: quintessential Pink Floyd.

Three great jams, linked by, Mamalade, I like Marmalade.

Unfortunately, I don't like Marmalade...but I do like Jam.

 

All Pink Floyd is good but this is my favorite,especially Alans Psychedelic Breakfast.

 

You're asking me how much more right could he be? And the answer is none. None more right.

 

I voted for "pretty solid effort" because this is mainly of interest to hardcore Floyd heads who can look past the off-putting elements of the album, which Waters/Gilmore now resent. Those moments have not aged particularly well. It's a question of how much they get in the way for any individual. I rate more highly More, Obscured, Meddle, DSotM and WYWH, but AHM is not without its charms that are unique in the Floyd cannon.

 

Masterful. Only the last track spoils the flow slighrly.

 

The first I bought, think I will play it now.

 

Nice post, and that's the thing: no AHM, then no Meddle, no Dark Side Of The Moon.

 

It's surprising for me to see that apparently there isn't much love for Morning Glory. A highly evocative, powerful piece of work and a great way to end the album.

I have the album in rotation lately and think this is the album where Gilmour comes to the (mother) fore. At moments he really steps out of the shadow and his role will only grow bigger on the next few releases.

 

Some like some don't. It took me some years before liking APB. As I was writing this, I remembered that I didn't spin Roger's Music from the body for about 2 decades now. Will spin it next month.

 

I voted pretty solid effort-worth recomending. It is a "patchy" album with sone inspired moments but meanders too much at times. Rick's "Summer of 68" however just makes me feel good. I still miss him a lot...

 

One of their very best! Love the orchestrated 24-minute title suite, the highly atmospheric "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", and the other songs, too. I've enjoyed listening to it many times.

 

That is funny! But rather understandable. Actually the cover IS him, in a cow suite, I mean cow suit

I like this live version

it used to be the only one, but now there seem to be a LOT, some with Gilmour and even the whole Floyd.

It's not my top Floyd pick, but I like this album for the experimental and different feel.

 

So were Pink Floyd fans of the Beach Boys? I've occasionally sensed a Wilson influence, particularly with Rick's stuff like "Summer '68".

I will add that it did take me a while to warm up to this album and the recent box set really did a lot to enhance my opinion of the material, particularly the epic title suite: the more lean and mean live in Montreux version, the BBC orchestral version, and best of all, the mind bending quad mix!

 

Atom Heart Mother is interesting and consolidates the next chapter in their musical evolution, but it still has a searching quality about itself. The side long suite is daring and broad, and while I do like the offerings from Waters, Wright and Gilmour on the second half, the record overall feels uneven, sorta like Ummagumma. I'm sure I'll get flack for that one...but anyways, Atom Heart gets play from time to time, but I'd go to Meddle before Atom.

 

And spellbinding it was, too.

I often wonder if 'It Would Be So Nice' is some reply to 'Wouldn't It Be Nice'.

From memory, the only contemporaries I've ever heard any Floyd talk about as being fans of their music is Waters saying he likes Neil Young and early Stone Roses.

 

I don't know, specifically, except that like you, I thought "Summer '68" had some Beach Boys feel to it in spots. I believe Rick might've mentioned them in an interview, but I may be imagining that.

 

Except the last song perfect album

 

I've heard Dave mention Neil as well.

But ... the Stone Roses!! Interesting; I'd love to know more about that. Roger is well-known for liking John Lennon's solo stuff, particularly Plastic Ono Band. One of the tracks on the new album, "The Last Refugee", reminds me of "Mother" (Lennon's, not the one from The Wall), with its spare structure and sustained piano chords.

 

It's in John Robb's Stone Roses biog. There's some bit where he mentions Waters praising them, and that they reminded him of early Floyd in their gang mentality, which he really liked.

At the other end of the scale, there's also that time Waters went backstage at a R.E.M. concert, and Michael Stipe pointedly ignored him, and performed Syd's 'Dark Globe' in the encore (Waters took this to be R.E.M.'s way of pointing out they thought Syd was the real talent in PF).

 

Listened to today, the shorter cuts are nice - melodically and instrumentally strong, and evocative of a different time. But I have a hard time hearing the longer tracks as anything other than ambitious failures in the sense that they fail to hold the attention or, at the end of the day, leave much of an impact (although they both have very pleasant sections).

I had to give it a "lower tier" rating. I think it "sounds" better than it really is because it retains an element of freshness (which much of the rest of their catalogue, having been massively overplayed over the years, might lack).

 

Great discussion here! Tomorrow we'll move on though... No matter how delicate it may be, you just can't have thunder without lightning.