Chapter 4
ATOM HEART MOTHER
T
he experimentation of Ummagumma was soon recognised as a failure and the album was quickly disowned by the band. Ultimately the endeavour bore fruit with Atom Heart Mother. This was the album which gave the band its first UK No. 1. The title track was a bold, innovative piece with a very stylish arrangement for choir and orchestral elements by Ron Geesin. Sadly the group have come to dislike the piece intensely – it is without doubt a work of it’s time, but it still has the power to enchant the listener with its unexpected twists and turns. Side Two of the original vinyl disc is a simpler down to earth affair with the pastoral delights of If and Fat Old Sun providing 35
