There had been times when the artists don’t like certain pieces that they had created. If you think that’s not possible, let us remind you that it happens more often than you can imagine.
Even the legendary rock band, Pink Floyd member, David Gilmour had one whole album which he just found, in his own words,” dreadful.” The album in question was none other than Atom Heart Mother.
The “Dreadful” Album
Atom Heart Mother was the fifth studio album by Pink Floyd and was released by Harvest on 2nd October 1970. Recorded at the EMI Studios, in London, England, the album was the band’s first album to reach number 1 in the UK and even went gold in the US.
Despite the album being commercially a success, the band, notably David Gilmour and Roger Waters weren’t pleased with it. In more recent years they had expressed several negative opinions of the album.
Known for his unusual creations, composer, and writer, Ron Geesin was one of the people who had worked on the album. He had previously worked with Roger Waters and was brought into the group camp by his friend to assist them.
He contributed to the title track and even received a songwriting credit on the record, which was very unusual in 1970. Remembering the terrifying scenario, Geesin later said, “When we did Atom Heart Mother, they were at their lowest point of creativity.”
He added, “They were pretty exhausted, and they didn’t really know where to go. It just happened that I was on the spot around that time.”
The album was well-praised by fans and critics but Pink Floyd was collectively furious with the final product, which Gilmour later criticize as “dreadful”. At that time because they felt as though they were treading water and despite having bright ideas, the band didn’t execute them as they predicted.
Talking about the dreadful album, Gilmour even talked about yet another album that wasn’t his favorite either. It was their fourth album, Ummagumma, released almost a year before the Atom Heart Mother.
He said, “Well, we’d decided to make the damn album, and each of us to do a piece of music on our own. It was just desperation really, trying to think of something to do, to write by myself. I’d never written anything before, I just went into a studio and started waffling about, taking bits and pieces together. I haven’t heard it in years. I’ve no idea what it’s like.”
His words didn’t get any kinder when it came to Atom Heart Mother. In an interview with Mojo Magazine back in 2001, he went, “Atom Heart Mother was a good idea but it was dreadful. I listened to that album recently: God, it’s shit, possibly our lowest point artistically. It sounds like we didn’t have any idea between us, but we became much more prolific after it.”
While the whole band was not able to come to terms with these two albums, it was David, who strongly expressed his dissatisfaction. Not only was he unhappy with the final result, but even the creative process of the album was something he found very difficult.
The album wasn’t a completely bad idea as it had managed to put together a wild central suite, folk songs that were mostly just sounds of their roadie cooking himself breakfast.
Despite it being a success, the members didn’t like it at all to the point that in an interview with BBC Radio in 1984, when Waters was asked if he’d re-record the album, he replied,” You must be fucking joking.”
