Pink Floyd
Atom Heart Mother

I struggled a lot to find the genre to "assign" to this album. I couldn't choose between orchestral, rock, psychedelic... it's an extremely varied album, Atom Heart Mother, the fourth album in chronological order by Pink Floyd, capable of moving from the orgasmic explosion of sounds mixing brass and electric guitars in the fourth part of the title track to the bare and raw acoustic guitar of "If". From the surreal atmospheres of "Summer '68" to the melancholy of "Fat Old Sun", and finally to the "homemade" sounds of "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast".

Atom was officially recorded in 1970 at the famous Abbey Road Studios, after the band had played it in several concerts of that period. The first live performance of the long suite was held under the provisional name of "The Amazing Pudding" (appreciable in the famous video "Pink Floyd Live at Kqed"), while "Alan Psychedelic Breakfast," which closes the album, had long been improvised within the suite "The Man". The cover of the masterpiece stems from the curiosity of Hipgnosis designer towards Andy Warhol's cow wallpaper, with which the famous pop-art artist had adorned his house. The idea of the cow also arose from the fact that the band wanted something, anything, that was in stark opposition to the rest of the album, something totally "non-psychedelic": Thorgerson succeeded as evident, in his intent by photographing a cow in the pasture (named Lullabelle II). He then said: it's the definitive image of a cow: it is Totally, Immensely, Indescribably Cowish. The album is structured on two long suites, placed at the beginning and the end of the album, "Atom Heart Mother" and the already mentioned "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" around which the other short and sweet compositions revolve. The impressive Title track is more comparable to symphonic-orchestral music than rock, interspersed at times by the powerful return of the main theme and immense and delirious choruses. Very peculiar is also Richard Wright's organ solo (perhaps more appreciable in the live version of "Mind Your Throats, Please") and Mr. Gilmour's guitar solo. The part that stands out the most to me of the four that make up the long suite is the last one, of purely psychedelic style with some returns to "I am The Walrus" or "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Fab 4 from Liverpool. On these sounds chaotically glued on a score like a grotesque collage you can hear, tired and out of breath, the first melody. On a crescendo of back and forth sounds, train paths from one earphone to the other, and mysterious voices, a battle between these two themes emerges, from which the rock melody of the beginning emerges victorious, which immediately subsides, giving way to the return of the strings that carry the orchestral composition towards the conclusion, in the most classic way possible, with a burst of strings and brass that closes the work in a major key. And immediately the light fades, becoming dim: the splendors of the first track still lead some beams of sound when it begins, simple, determined, and of immediate impact, the Watersian creature of the album, the sweet "If". This is without a shadow of a doubt the most "clear" song of the London group, whose concepts are expressed immediately and without too many ceremonies

"And if I were a good man
I'd talk with you more often than I do
If I were asleep I could dream
If I were afraid I could hide
If I go insane
Please don't put your wires in my brain"

The song ends exactly as it began, with only a few chords of an organ, and a sweet yet transporting acoustic guitar playing in E major. I think the main purpose of "If" was to bring us back to reality after the orgasmic sound experience of "Atom Heart Mother". Here begins the composition by Rick Wright, with an unmistakable style, with a prevalent piano and some hints of brass and orchestral music. This beautiful song in my opinion is structured with a raw and melancholy dialogue of a famous rockman with a groupie, a girl ready to enliven singers' nights after concerts. "Not a single word was said,
The night still hid our fears

"Occasionally you showed a smile but what was the need
I felt the cold far too soon in a room of ninety-five
My friends are lying in the sun,
I wish that I was there
Tomorrow brings another town, another girl like you
Have you time before you leave to greet another man
Just you let me know how do you feel."

The penultimate track of the album is another acoustic ballad by Mr. Gilmour, presenting us a recurring element in Uncle Dave's songs, the growth of the individual, maturity, the farewell to childhood. The latter is the fat old sun setting in the sky. The author recalls for a few moments the "laughter of children" while the last ray of childhood sun disappears and floods him while it resonates "The silvery sound of such a mysterious tongue." The song ends in the purest Gilmour style with an fitting and serene guitar solo that fades leaving space for Alan's peculiar breakfast. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is about, as easily deducible, a simple breakfast, with this man's (Alan's) voice asking his wife to bring him cereals and scrambled eggs.

"Oh... uh... my flakes... Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, coffeeMarmalade... I like marmalade... Porridge... any cereal, I like all cereals... oh god..."

Thus, in a diminuendo of shocking atmospheres and absurd sounds, of tear-jerking melancholy and reflective dialogues, this fourth (read: fourth masterpiece) Floydian album closes, another piece before reaching the decisive turning point of "Dark Side Of The Moon".