The Amazing Pudding: How Pink Floyd's Raw Instrumental Jam Became 'Atom Heart Mother'

Before it was a sprawling 23-minute suite with a choir and brass band, “Atom Heart Mother” began life as a loose instrumental called “The Amazing Pudding.” The title was an in-joke among the band—David Gilmour later said it was just a placeholder because nobody could think of anything better. The pudding was recorded in early 1970 at Abbey Road as a backing track, and it’s basically the same chord progression and bass riff that made it into the final piece.

The big difference? No orchestra, no choir. The early version is just the four band members locking into a groove—Nick Mason’s drums roll under a simple organ melody from Rick Wright, while Gilmour and Roger Waters alternate between a bluesy slide part and a staccato bass line. It feels more like a stretched-out jam, missing the dramatic brass interjections and the choral passages that Ron Geesin would later layer on top. The structure is also less defined; there’s no distinct “Father’s Shout” or “Soup Song” section yet—the pudding just shifts between two or three ideas for ten minutes before fading out.

Geesin was brought in after the pudding was tracked, and he essentially built the orchestral and choral arrangement over the existing instrumental. The band gave him free rein, which explains why the final “Atom Heart Mother” feels so disjointed in places. The original pudding, stripped of all that grandeur, reveals how much the piece relied on the band’s raw interplay—something that gets buried under the wall of horns and voices. It’s not better or worse, just a completely different animal, and it’s a shame the tape has never been officially released.