Pink Floyd Announce Expanded Atom Heart Mother Reissue

Bruce Henne | 10-30-2023

(hennemusic) Pink Floyd will release an updated and expanded special edition of their 1970 album, "Atom Heart Mother", on December 8. The band's fifth album will be available as a special 2-disc package in a 7-inch gatefold sleeve, containing the "Atom Heart Mother" album on CD and a Blu-ray disc featuring footage of "Atom Heart Mother (Suite)" performed at Hakone Aphrodite Festival, Japan in August 1971 - originally released as part of The Early Years box set.

The film has been upgraded from a recently discovered original tape of the time; it also includes a mini-documentary that features behind-the-scenes footage of the band and the event.

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.

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 6th and 7th, 1971. Pink Floyd's first-ever concert in Japan was as headliner for the festival.

Fans can preview a sample of the newly-discovered, upgraded video footage from the event here.