THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother will be released as a special two-disc package in a 7” gatefold sleeve, with the album on CD and a Blu-ray featuring footage of Atom Heart Mother (Suite) performed at Hakone Aphrodite Festival, Japan in August 1971. Originally released in The Early Years box, the film has been upgraded from a recently discovered original tape of the time. It also includes a behind-the-scenes mini-documentary. It is due Dec. 8.
First released in Japan in 2021, the set also contains some unique memorabilia — a special photo book containing rare, never-seen-before photos, reproductions of the pamphlet, the poster, the concert ticket, and the flier distributed at the event.
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 50 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.
Hakone Aphrodite, Japan’s first international outdoor rock festival, was held at a specially built venue beside Hakone Ashinoko Lake on Aug. 6 and 7, 1971. Pink Floyd’s headline set at the festival was their first concert in Japan. Aspiring to be the Japanese Woodstock, the festival featured 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 gig), but also behind-the-scenes footage of the band travelling between the airport, the hotel, the press conference, the bullet train, the show setup and, of course, beautiful Japanese scenery.
At the time of the historic concert, Pink Floyd had just released Atom Heart Mother in October 1970, and were yet to release Meddle in November 1971. They appeared as the final act of the festival, and alongside Atom Heart Mother, they performed another five songs including Careful With That Axe, Eugene, A Saucerful Of Secrets and Echoes from Meddle. Sadly, official footage of these has not resurfaced. The band’s mystical and fantastic show, enhanced by fog emerging from the lake as they played, was talked about for years to come. For the show, Pink Floyd used a huge PA system not yet commonly used in Japan back then, and it is widely believed that this show greatly influenced Japanese audio and stage production after that.
Atom Heart Mother Special Edition Track List:
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
Scott & Watts Behind The Scenes Documentary Clip
Also includes:
60-page photo book with unreleased photos
Replica of Hakone Aphrodite pamphlet
Replica of Hakone Aphrodite ticket
Replica of venue map flyer
Replica of Osaka show poster
