This is kind of the first ‘real’ Pink Floyd albums. It tidies up some of the loose ends in the band’s sound and moves towards the cohesion of their later period. The album is kind of split into two halves, the first half is the Atom Heart Mother suite which is a rock/orchestral instrumental piece which stands as one of my favourite things the band has done. Apparently on a couple of live dates this one was expanded into a full hour performance. What’s interesting is it still sounds like a distinctive Pink Floyd record, even with the orchestra, as each musicians ‘voice’ is still an integral part of the piece.
The second side is reminiscent of the second LP of Ummagumma in that it’s built around solo compositions. If is the Waters tune, Fat Old Sun is Gilmour and Summer ’68 is Wright’s piece. The songwriting here is intentionally more polished than it was on Ummagumma (with the exception of Grantchester Meadows being better than If). Fat Old Sun became a concert staple and Summer ’68 is criminally overlooked. The piece which on paper should be my favourite thing is Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast. I just can’t get into it. And I’ve tried for years.
Overall this is a great album, even if contrary to most other Floyd records the whole is most definitely not greater than the sum of it’s parts.
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