Ok, so I know it's not from Atom Heart Mother - but for me, the Great Gig in the Sky - is probably one of the most moving pieces I've ever heard. To this day it's sounds as fresh as it ever did. When I listen to the live version (that made the cut into the Pulse album of the mid 90s) featuring vocalists Sam Brown, Durga McBroom and Claudia Fontaine - I still get shivers from head-to-toe. Truly a magical track.
N

Certainly think 7 is too high. "If" is quite weak. Title track is good but overblown. The whole thing actually sounds a little underdone and unfinished in my opinion.

Still a good album. I'd give it a low 6

I really dig the elongated pink floyd songs, there are a couple on this but the best has to be echoes

I recommend getting a hold of Alan Parson's quadraphonic mix. It really increased my enjoyment of the title track and Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. Hopefully it becomes part of the current Pink Floyd reissue series. I think Summer '68 and Fat Old Sun. Summer '68 is my favorite song Rick Wright wrote for Pink Floyd.

Good review, but Fat old sun is a great gem as well!

Atom heart Mother is one of my favorites. Summer '68 and Fat Old Sun are me and my girlfriend's favorites to listen to together.

Atom Heart Mother itself however, is just amazing for me to listen to.

And Alan's breakfast is great fun as well.

How they members ended up hating it, I'll never know.

^ This is actually one of my favourite Floyd tracks. Alan Parsons did a good job of blending sound effects and music; the way the striking of a match leads into one instrumental section is like a trial run for Money, while the inconsequential conversational snippets set a relaxed mood and highlight the rhythms of natural speech. The band`s playing, Rick Wright`s especially, is low-key but exquisite in each of the little sections, which work rather like etudes in classical music. For me this is a song that kind of washes over you - you barely notice it, but you always fell better after hearing it.

In comparison Summer`68 may be layered, as RMR mentions, but for me it all comes crashing in at once in a clumsy fashion, making this a very strident, disjointed song. And on an album that is otherwise very innovative, the "ba-ba-ba" Beach Boys vocals seem old-fashioned and out of place to me. While RMR was skipping Breakfast, this is the track that I routinely skipped ! :laughing:

^ Yes, wiggums, I love Fat Old Sun too and don`t understand why Waters and Gilmour now trash this album. To me this remains one of their creative peaks. With the title track and elsewhere, they were breaking new ground, taking risks and striding way ahead; not only of other bands but of their own previous albums. When they moved on to things like Meddle and Dark Side they started back-peddling and playing it safe instead.