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"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is the fifth and final track from the 1970
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
album '' Atom Heart Mother'', credited to the whole group. It is a three-part instrumental.


Recording and sounds

The track features Pink Floyd playing in the background as Pink Floyd roadie Alan Styles (1936–2012) speaks about the breakfast he is preparing and eating, as well as breakfasts he has had in the past ("''Breakfast in Los Angeles. Microbiotic stuff...''"). There are significant breaks before the first and in between all three instrumental parts where only Alan's muttering and movements, with occasional exterior background noise, are heard. Much of Alan's speech is overdubbed throughout the piece in gradually fading echoes. For example, "Microbiotic stuff" is repeated every couple of seconds, more quietly each time. It was performed live three times in the United Kingdom during the winter of 1970. In addition to the talking, the sounds of Alan making breakfast—such as lighting the stove, cooking bacon, pouring milk and cereal (which makes a popping sound associated with Kellogg's
Rice Krispies Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand) is a breakfast cereal produced by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and by Kellanova for the rest of the world. Rice Krispies are made of ...
), loudly gulping and drinking, and loudly and vigorously eating cereal—are clearly audible in the background, which adds a conceptual feel to the track. Alan can be heard entering the kitchen and gathering supplies at the start of the track, and washing up and exiting the kitchen at the end; a dripping tap can be heard during both of these instances. On some copies of the vinyl version, the dripping tap at the end of the song is cut into the run-off groove, so it plays on infinitely until the listener removes the stylus from the album. On the CD and digital release, the dripping continues for approximately 17 seconds after all other sounds have ceased.


Sections


Rise and Shine (0:00-3:33)

This piece consists of two pianos, bass, Hammond organ, a steel guitar fed through a
Leslie speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...
and hi-hats. During the opening of this section, Alan can be heard muttering to himself, deciding what to have as he begins to prepare his breakfast. He can be heard saying the following: "Oh... Er... Me flakes... Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, toast, coffee... Marmalade, I like marmalade... Yes, porridge is nice, any cereal... I like all cereals... Oh, God. Kickoff is 10am." At the end of this section, the sound of a whistling kettle can be heard as the music stops.


Sunny Side Up (3:33-7:45)

This piece takes the form of a modified
fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
, and was written and performed entirely by David Gilmour on two acoustic guitars and a steel guitar.


Morning Glory (7:45-13:00)

This piece was performed by the entire band. The main instrument is Richard Wright's piano, which was overdubbed three different times (one in the left channel, one in the centre, and one in the right channel). The piece also features very prominent bass, electric guitar, ADTed drums, and
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
. At the end, after saying "All my head's a blank", Alan picks up his car keys and leaves via the door. Faintly, a car can be heard starting and driving away.


Reception

In a review for the ''Atom Heart Mother'' album, Alec Dubro of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' described "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" as "the only redeeming feature on ide 2 of ''Atom Heart Mother'' but only partially so." Dubro found "the integrated Arising and Breakfast sounds" as the redeeming factor, not the music in the track itself. In his 1997 ''History of Progressive Rock'', Paul Stump assessed the morning sounds as "nothing more than a reportage of events" with no meaningful integration into the piece's musical language. He also remarked that as an experiment into the use of noise as music, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" does nothing that composers such as
Morton Subotnick Morton Subotnick (born April 14, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his 1967 composition '' Silver Apples of the Moon'', the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch. He was one of the fo ...
,
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...
, and
Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
had not done before. In a less-than-enthusiastic review, Stephen Deusner of '' Paste'' described "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" as "a cut-and-paste assemblage of sounds that never coalesces into much of anything." Because Deusner enjoyed " If" and " Fat Old Sun", he was disappointed Pink Floyd ended ''Atom Heart Mother'' with this track. In another review for the ''Atom Heart Mother'' album, Irving Tan of ''Sputnikmusic'' described the track as an 'incredibly effective form of "wallpaper music'". However, Tan also described the track as not so much a "song", but rather an ambient psychedelic sketch. In 2018, '' Ultimate Classic Rock'' contributor Bryan Wawzenek ranked the piece among Pink Floyd's worst songs, deeming it to be a "13-minute slab of ''
musique concrete Musique is the French word for music. Musique may also refer to: Music *Musique (disco band), a 1970s studio band produced by Patrick Adams *Musique, a British dance act consisting of Moussa Clarke and Nick Hanson best known for their 2001 song ...
'' fulfills a request that (probably) no Floyd fan ever made: 'What does roadie Alan Styles like for breakfast, can we hear him making it and could the guys in the band noodle around (in a very non-psychedelic manner) as he fries bacon, muses about marmalade and pours a bowl of
Rice Krispies Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand) is a breakfast cereal produced by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and by Kellanova for the rest of the world. Rice Krispies are made of ...
?'. ''
Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...
'' writer Bill Wyman deemed the suite to be another from the band's "dreariest period", but said: "The argument for this junk, I suppose, is that the band, despite its space-rock leanings, was much more down to earth and organic, as opposed to the flights of high electronic fantasy offered by your
King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...
s and the other, more energetic progressive-rock outfits of the time." However, he still criticised the anonymity of the musicians, saying: "If this is supposed to be organic, there’s no personality to the music." The song's experimentation with everyday sounds (''musique concrète'' influence) inadvertently created an ASMR-like experience. As a 2024 review on ''Cult Following'' notes, Pink Floyd’s "swift experimentation" led to sounds that later resonated with ASMR audiences.


Personnel

*
David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
, acoustic and
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
s *
Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...
– tape effects, tape collage, bass guitar * Richard Wright – piano,
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
*
Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member since the band's formation in 1965, and the only member to appear on every ...
– drums, percussion, tape edits, tape collage, additional engineering with: * Alan Styles – voice, sound effects


Cultural references

* The album '' The Dark Side of the Moog V'' (1996) by
Klaus Schulze Klaus Schulze (4 August 1947 – 26 April 2022) was a German electronic music pioneer, composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried and was a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and the Cosmic Jokers ...
and Pete Namlook is subtitled "Psychedelic Brunch". * Jam band ''The Breakfast'' (founded as ''Psychedelic Breakfast'' in 1998) have taken their name from the song.


References

{{authority control 1970 songs Pink Floyd songs Rock instrumentals 1970s instrumentals Songs written by Nick Mason Songs written by David Gilmour Songs written by Roger Waters Songs written by Richard Wright (musician) Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by Richard Wright (musician) Song recordings produced by Nick Mason Musique concrète Ambient songs Psychedelic songs