PINK FLOYD

Atom Heart Mother (Special Edition) PINK FLOYD RECORDS

Desirable two-disc Japanese package gets worldwide release.

On its release in October 1970, Atom Heart Mother became Pink Floyd’s first UK No.1 album. It was a strong indication of their growing mainstream popularity, but the band would later regard it – and particularly its side-long orchestral rock title track – as a failed experiment. Yet at the time, they obviously had more faith in it, with a group version of the Atom Heart Mother suite becoming a mainstay of their live set for a couple of years.

And it’s footage of one such performance that provides the inspiration for this latest special edition.

In August 1971, Floyd travelled to Japan for the first time to headline the Hakone Aphrodite Festival, the country’s first international outdoor rock event. Their appearance was filmed, and footage of them playing Atom Heart Mother first featured on The Early Years 1965-1972 box set in 2016. Sometime after this, the original 16mm film master was discovered in a fan’s garage, and subsequently restored to a much higher quality. This led, in 2021, to a special edition of

Atom Heart Mother, initially only released in Japan – now it’s being made available worldwide, and it’s quite an item. Not only does it include a Blu-ray of the restored footage (plus a shorter film of the band’s crew setting up their gear in the mud and rain), but also a plethora of related memorabilia, including reproductions of the festival programme, flyer and ticket, and a live poster. Neatly packaged as a seven-inch square, it also includes a booklet of previously unseen photos from their visit.

The concert footage is wonderfully evocative, and is interspersed with shots of the band arriving at the airport, doing a press conference, taking the bullet train etc. However, while the 16-minute film is soundtracked by the band’s (excellent) version of Atom Heart Mother from the show, the shots are taken from throughout their set, which means that images and music are rarely in sync. Still, it works fine, and when the mist starts rolling in from the nearby lake, the spotlit stage against a backdrop of wooded hills, it’s all rather

Apocalypse Now.

As for the album itself, the 2011 remaster is used, though the CD bag with a poly inner is a nice touch. Listening again,

Atom Heart Mother itself sounds much more cogent than the band gave it credit for – in fact, this is arguably peak progressive Floyd. Rick Wright’s Summer ’68 is a great deep cut, and even Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast has an oddly meditative charm.

A release for hardcore fans only perhaps, but a fascinating artefact, nonetheless.

FOR HARDCORE FANS PERHAPS, BUT A FASCINATING ARTEFACT.