"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is the fifth and final track from the 1970 Pink Floyd 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. 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 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, 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. 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 described "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" as "the only redeeming feature on [side 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, John Cage, and Karlheinz Stockhausen 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.
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 – steel, acoustic and electric guitars
- Roger Waters – tape effects, tape collage, bass guitar
- Richard Wright – piano, Hammond organ
- Nick Mason – 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 and Pete Namlook is subtitled "Psychedelic Brunch".
- Jam band The Breakfast (founded as Psychedelic Breakfast in 1998) have taken their name from the song.