Atom Heart Mother
Pink Floyd
Harvest/EMI
Guitarist David Gilmour called it 'horrible' and bassist Roger Waters later told BBC Radio 1's Richard Skinner that 'If somebody said to me now: 'Right, here's a million pounds, go out and play Atom Heart Mother, I'd say: 'You must be f***ing joking. I'm not playing that rubbish.''
But back in 1970, three years before The Dark Side of the Moon was to define their sound, the Britain-based quartet (Syd Barrett was already gone by then) known as Pink Floyd were still ironing the kinks out on their fifth album.
Final track Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast actually boasts the sounds of roadie Alan Stiles preparing and eating what could be cereal. Keyboardist Richard Wright also got a turn to go psychedelic in a laid-back English sort of way with Summer 68.
Released today by, say, a Brooklyn-based art collective, the songs would most likely be hailed as a 'brave retro masterpiece'.
There are also hints of the music that will eventually come to define Pink Floyd, particularly when Waters drones his way through If as Gilmour lets loose with a few spiraling, drawn-out guitar licks. But they really let their freak flag fly on the title track, all 23 minutes and 44 seconds of it.
