Pink Floyd ‘Atom Heart Mother’ Gets Expanded Edition

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Pink Floyd’s 1970 album, Atom Heart Mother, has been released as an expanded CD+Blu-ray package featuring concert footage performed at Japan’s Hakone Aphrodite Festival in August 1971. The release, packaged in a 7-inch gatefold sleeve, contains the studio album on CD and a Blu-ray disc – originally released as part of the band’s The Early Years box set. The film has been upgraded from a recently discovered original tape of the performance as well as a behind-the-scenes mini documentary. The title arrived via Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings on December 8, 2023. It’s available to order here.

Originally only released in Japan in 2021, the set contains some unique memorabilia: a special photo book containing many rare, never-seen-before photos, reproductions of the pamphlet, the poster, the concert ticket, and the flier distributed at the event.

From the original Oct. 26 announcement: The only Pink Floyd footage at Hakone Aphrodite that exists is that of the 16-minute-long suite “Atom Heart Mother.” The details including whereabouts of the master film and how it was shot had been a mystery for a long time. However, after fifty years, the original 16mm film of this video was discovered in a fan’s garage. The meticulous processes of digitizing, restoring and remastering was undertaken and finally this enhanced video will be released outside of Japan.

Over 50 years ago, Japan’s first international outdoor rock festival, Hakone Aphrodite, was held at a specially built venue beside Hakone Ashinoko Lake on August 6-7, 1971. Pink Floyd’s first ever concert in Japan was as headliner for the festival. Aspiring to be the Japanese Woodstock, Hakone Aphrodite invited many international artists and became the first rock festival experience for many Japanese fans.

The set contains not only the original live footage (with audio taken from the concert), but also behind-the-scenes footage of the band, traveling between the airport, the hotel, the press conference, the bullet train, the show set-up, and, of course, beautiful Japanese scenery.

Pink Floyd had released Atom Heart Mother in October 1970 and were yet to release the follow-up, Meddle, (issued in November 1971). The band appeared as the final act of the festival, and performed an additional five songs including “Careful With That Axe, Eugene”, “A Saucerful of Secrets” and “Echoes” from then-unreleased album Meddle. Sadly, official footage of these songs has not resurfaced. The band’s mystical show, enhanced by nature’s unwitting stage effects of fog emerging from the lake when they played, was talked about for years to come. For the show, Pink Floyd used huge PA systems not yet commonly used in Japan at the time, and it is widely believed that this show greatly influenced Japanese audio and stage production after that.

The complete track listing and details of the expanded edition of Atom Heart Mother appears below the Amazon links. When you buy something using one of the links on our site, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting Best Classic Bands.

Atom Heart Mother Expanded Edition Track List

CD: Atom Heart Mother
1. Atom Heart Mother:
a) Father’s Shout
b) Breast Milky
c) Mother Fore
d) Funky Dung
e) Mind Your Throats Please
f) Remergence
2. If
3. Summer ’68
4. Fat Old Sun
5. Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast:
a) Rise And Shine
b) Sunny Side Up
c) Morning Glory

Blu-ray
· Atom Heart Mother (Live: Hakone Aphrodite 1971) 16:08
· Scott & Watts (behind the scenes documentary clip) 3:11

Also includes:
• 60-page photo book with unreleased photos
• Replica of Hakone Aphrodite pamphlet
• Replica of venue map flyer
• Replica of Osaka show poster
• Replica of Hakone Aphrodite ticket