And If I Go Insane, Please Don't Put Your Wires In My Brain

I have recently reentered the dark and winding wonka tunnel of Pink Floyd, after several months of a playlist almost entirely devoid...of Floyd.

And in the process I figured I'd regurgitate an impromptu review,
become a hypocrite and give critiquing a go.

I selected at random Atom Heart Mother,
or the "cow album"
as some chic and ignorant shoegazing mom & pop record shop hop zombies call it.

An album originally and quite
interestingly titled "The Amazing Pudding."
An album that featured a full orchestra, the John Aldiss choir,
and ran for an impressive 52 minutes and 44 seconds
despite the fact that it only contained 5 songs.
An album that received mostly unfavorable reviews
and was ultimately disowned by the band that gave it life.

Roger Waters had this to say in 1985,
"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."

and

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

Was this album really a convoluted, disorganized hodgepodge of melody and prog goo
or a delicately assembled rock suite and masterful sound collage showcasing the strange although genius qualities of the band?

I feel the answer is a bit of both, but the good far outweighs the bad.
If at very least this album showcases a great band in the process of becoming greater;
a necessary step on the ladder to later works such as Wish You Were Here and Animals.

Song-by-Song Analysis of ATOM HEART MOTHER

1. Atom Heart Mother
A. Fathers Shout
B. Breast Milky
C. Mother Fore
D. Funky Dung
E. Mind Your Throats, Please
F. Remergence

The title track, epic in its 23 minutes.
Motor cycle exhaust pipes, muddy bass, lots of effects.
Vocals sounds like the surrogate choir at the
Somerton masquerade in Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle.
Some of the guitar work is very similar to sections of Echoes from the album Meddle.
The song breaks down into ambient noise and eerie endless tape recorder loops before reintroducing the primary melody for a climactic ending.
Nothing is spared, an example of true unrestrained experimentation and creativity.

2. If
Lovely little folky ballad, lyrics are tender but acerbic.
"If I were a swan, I'd be gone. If I were a train, I'd be late. And if I were a good man, I'd talk with you more often than I do. If I were to sleep, I could dream. If I were afraid, I could hide.
If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain."
I Read Waters played this a lot during his solo tour for Radio K.A.O.S.

3. Summer 68'
Starts with ivory,
moves along like something from piper and reminds me of the days of Mr. Barrett.
Good grooves.

4. Fat Old Sun
I've heard many bootlegs and live versions of this track all of which include long and expansive jam sections and bluesy finagling,
unfortunately none of them were lucky enough to make the cut.
Instead we get a chopped shortened version without all the great guitar work that made the live version so awesome. All bitching aside, its still a good listen.

5. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast
A. Rise and Shine
B. Sunny Side Up
C. Morning Glory

The band playing behind the audio recordings of Pink Floyd Roadie Alan Stiles as he fries bacon, heats hot water for tea, and makes a bowl of cereal. This is is either pushing the envelope or burning it. As strange as the concept is for a song, it works out some how. The sound effects evoke powerful imagery and its difficult to deny the displacement. You'll either jive with Alan as he eats (and end up hungry as I did) or you'll dismiss this as strange shit wasting recording space and your time.

Neat fact: On the vinyl, the sound of a dripping tap at the end of the psychedelic breakfast is cut into the run-off grove, so it plays infinitely until you pull up the stylus.
Something cool that we've lost with compact disks and mp3's.

Summary:
The album is worth buying for the title track alone, the other songs serve as the bread of this tasty sandwich...but the meats where all the fun is at.

Boy, that metaphor was lame huh?

I would recommend the album to individuals interested in musical experimentation and long rock suites.

Anyone who enjoys Pink Floyd should at least give it a chance and a listen...
and for science's sake stop calling it the fucking cow album.