The 'Atom Heart Mother Suite' is a side-long instrumental split into six different, named parts. Most of the divisions are marked by a return of the main theme of the piece, played by everybody (group and orchestra).

Beyond this, there is some controversy over where each section starts and ends. The EMI and MFSL versions of the disc have index markers; they are essentially the same on both discs (give or take a few seconds), and are given below. Many echoesians, however, are somewhat unsatisfied with these divisions, and so have developed an alternative indexing scheme. This is also given below, along with an explanation...

• The first part, naturally, is 'Father's Shout,' with all the weird sounds, horses, and ends with the motorcycle.

• The second part, 'Breast Milky,' starts off as a duet for organ and violin; and gradually includes drums, guitar, and the rest of the orchestra. (2:59)

• Then 'Mother Fore' begins. This section is a quiet choral section, with mostly chorus and organ. (5:22)

• 'Funky Dung' has a lot of guitar, strong bass, and that weird choir singing things that sound vaguely like "toast....coffee...yeah...." or "saa saa saa saa saaa.....brrrrrrrrrroooooooooonnnn." (10:11)

• 'Mind Your Throats Please' is the strange (like it's not all strange?) part that begins with alternating organ notes. After the slower beginning with organ and such, a section that echoes has been calling the 'Overload' section begins, with lots of out-of-sync voices and sounds; sounding a bit like the Beatles' 'Revolution 9.' This is either part of 'Mind Your Throats' or 'Remergence,' depending on whose opinion you ask. (15:25)

• 'Remergence,' then, is the climactic final section, where the main theme gradually re-emerges." (17:44)

As you can see, the main argument lies in the question of the lengths of 'Father's Shout' versus 'Remergence.' I guess this just goes to show how subjective some of these things can be.

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