The Floyd-Hole: Every Pink Floyd Album - Part 5

 ATOM HEART MOTHER - REVIEW

 The first track in Atom Heart Mother is titular, and comprised of six different sub-tracks making up a 21-minute song, beginning with Father's Shout - a trumpet-laden affair that sounds like it would fit over the opening credits of some '60s spy TV show. It gently transitions into Breast Milky, a softer organ and violin piece that still keeps the general tones of the piece that preceded it. Mother Fore, the third part of the track, brings the tempo way down and layers in some generic non-lyrical singing over the organ for a more "church choir" sound. There's definitely a consistent morose, almost religious style that links the first three pieces together thematically. After comes Funky Dung, another down-tempo organ-laden song that cuts the choir in favor of a more bass-heavy "funk" vibe (as named) - the vocals return near the end, but this time they sing a bombastic, almost tribal gibberish instead of wordless church chanting. This moves into Mind Your Throats in an abrupt way, with jarring and incongruent sci-fi sound effects (typical of PF's work) layered over the same two organ keys pressed in rhythmic alternation. Then some guitars fade in and out, and the typical PF random piano mashing shows up along with a clash of trumpets; it all noodles around for a while before transforming back into something gently coherent with violins. Lastly, the whole track wraps up with Remergence - a softer, almost-bluegrass sounding piece with a mournful guitar that echoes a lot of the tone from early in the song. Some more non-lyrical choir chanting at the tail end feels triumphant rather than morose, which is a nice evolution for the whole song.

The next full track on the album is simply called If. It has a sickly sweet twee vibe with hippy lyrics and some dulcet acoustic guitar that has become a hallmark of the softer side of PF's work at this point (a duality alternating between hippy twee and experimental mashing). Definitely a more relaxing song than its predecessors; possibly the most relaxing PF song I've heard so far.

Summer '68 comes next, lead in by piano and echo-y lyrics. It still keeps the relaxed tempo of the previous song at first, but then ramps up into something way more upbeat and jaunty. Big trumpet stings give the song some fanfare, while the melodic piano bits brings the track back down to earth.

Fat Old Sun definitely falls onto the twee side of PF's work, characterized by more acoustic guitar and sickly-sweet singing. This one sounds like a typical 1960s ballad, with no part of it feeling especially special or particularly memorable. The electric guitar at the end salvages things somewhat.

The final track is another multi-part song called Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast - it kicks off with Rise and Shine to the sounds of dripping water and people milling about. Peppy piano work begins the "actual music" part of the piece, which is upbeat and really sells the "morning vibe" of the song. It transitions into Sunny Side Up, which begins with what I presume is breakfast-consuming noises (cereal being poured, coffee being drunk, etc.). A mix of acoustic and steel guitars give the actual music part of this piece a sweet, countrified sound. Still plenty of conversation and breakfast-making sounds throughout. It wraps with Morning Glory, a more traditional-sounding piece with hefty organ and piano playing over a steady drum rhythm. It fades off to the sounds of someone leaving and dripping water, which seems entirely fitting.

Overall: Not a bad album, but not a particularly good one either... the whole thing is very middle-of-the-road. It definitely leans more on the twee side of PF's style than the experimental side, but it does have bits of typified wailings, mashing, and random sound effects. I think PF played this one a bit safer, and as a result, made it all feel watered down. There's not much psychedelia to be found here; this album feels slightly more mainstream than the others.  At least I can say it's one of the most relaxing albums I've heard so far, even if "relaxing" often bleeds over into "boring" territory.