Nice to see this thread getting a lotta love! I am a super huge Floyd fan, my favorite period being '68-'72. Right after Syd;Right before Dark Side.
However I must disagree with the review of Atom Heart Mother. This entire album is a masterpiece! Especially the title track. Even Stanley Kubrick thought so. He wanted to use it as the theme to A Clockwork Orange, but since he wanted to cut it up and only use pieces of it, Roger Waters said No.
Not sure if that was good thing though, cuz it might have given the Floyd better exposure but then we wouldn't have Wendy Carlos' haunting electronica, now would we?
The guitar solo in Fat Old Sun is just a harbinger of what was to come from David Gilmour. He hadn't really broken out the epic solos until this one.
Summer '68 is Ricks finest achievement, aside from the "ping" that we all know became "Echoes".
If is another foreshadowing of the lyricist that Roger Waters was becoming. More introspective than previous songs
As for Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, what a beautiful pastoral feeling to this song, especially the first two parts. I dare you to listen to this song and not get the feeling that it's a lazy Sunday morning, newspaper out, bacon sizzling, coffee, toast, eggs, Marmalade(i like marmalade). It's a very relaxing song.
Atom Heart Mother happens to be my favorite PF album. It took a few listens to grow on me. It was the last Floyd album I got into. I can see why people aren't as psyched about AHM as they are about DSOTM.
AHM and Ummagumma are kind of "Rites of Passage" with Floyd nuts cuz I guess if you really like and can get into these albums then you really are a true Floyd fan!
Definitley NOT a "missed opportunity" for the Floyd, nor a "failure" as our reviewer put it. More like a springboard for Darkside.