Pink Floyd
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three of their recordings, in addition to material from the Grateful Dead, The Youngbloods, Patti Page, and the Rolling Stones. One of the pieces turned down by Antonioni, called "The Violent Sequence", later became "Us and Them", included on Pink Floyd's 1973 The Dark Side of the Moon. The band also worked on the soundtrack for a proposed cartoon series called Rollo, but a lack of funds meant that it was never produced. Waters also scored the soundtrack to the 1970 film The Body, with Ron Geesin. Pink Floyd's next album was something of a departure from their previous work. Released as a double-LP on EMI's Harvest label, Ummagumma contained barely any new compositions. The first two sides contained live performances, recorded at Manchester College of Commerce and at Mother's Club in Birmingham. The second LP contained a single experimental
contribution from each band member. Ummagumma was released to positive reviews, in October 1969. Ummagumma was quickly followed by 1970's Atom Heart Mother. The band's previous LPs were recorded using a four-track system, but Atom Heart Mother was their first eight-track album. An early version was premièred in France in January, but disagreements over its direction prompted the arrival of Ron Geesin. Geesin worked for about a month to improve the score, but with little creative input from the band production was troublesome; it was eventually completed with the aid of John Aldiss. Norman Smith was credited as an executive producer, and the album marked his final contribution to the band's discography. Gilmour is generally dismissive of Atom Heart Mother, once describing it as "a load of rubbish", although in 2001 he said it "was a good thing to have attempted, but I don't really think the attempt comes off that well". Waters was similarly critical, once claiming that he would not mind if it were "thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again." Atom Heart Mother was hugely successful in the UK, and was premièred at the Bath Festival on 27 June 1970. In 1971 they took second place in a poll of readers by Melody Maker (behind Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and for the first time were making a profit. The theft in New Orleans of equipment worth about $40,000 almost crippled the band's finances, but although the local police were unhelpful, hours after the band notified the FBI the equipment was returned. Mason and Wright became fathers and bought homes in London while Gilmour, still