01	River Of Life						07:01
	02	Celebration						03:53
	03	Photos Of Ghosts						05:23
	04	Old Rain						03:41
	05	Il Banchetto						08:36
	06	Mr. 9 'Till 5						04:11
	07	Promenade The Puzzle						07:30

Premiata Forneria Marconi

Discography
Storia di un Minuto (1972)
Per un Amico (1973)
Photos of Ghosts (1973)
L'Isola di Niente (1974)
The World Became the World (1974)
Cook (Live 1974)
Chocolate Kings (1975)
Jet Lag (1977)
Passpartu (1978)
Suonare Suonare (1980)
Come Ti Va in Riva al Citta (1981)
Premiata Forneria Marconi (1982)
PFM? PFM! (1984)
Miss Baker (1987)
Ulisse (1997)
www.pfmpfm.it (1998)
Serendipity (2000)


County Of Origin: Italy
Established: 1970
Styles: Symphonic



Storia di un Minuto (1972)

The first album from one of the most acclaimed and well known 70s Italian bands, Storia Di Un Minuto already shows a highly developed group with a mature focus, creating what might be their finest work. The next two albums, Per Un Amico and L'Isola D'Niente are also regarded as progressive classics. Storia: is a beautiful symphonic progressive album in the classic sense. The usual overtones of Yes, Genesis and early King Crimson are of course present, but PFM manages to define their own sound. The use of the pleasant, ethereal sounding Italian vocals against a layered background of mellotron, flute and acoustic guitar comes off as quite unique and inventive.

This album also rocks harder as a whole than the two subsequent albums, with great electric guitar and very prominent "heavy" sections. "Impressioni Di Settembre" features a rousing catchy keyboard chorus that would make Tony Banks envious, and "E Festa" has a nice solid hard-rock riff beneath all the complexity, being one of PFM's most aggressive sounding moments. This album sits right alongside any of the 70s English symphonic progressive albums. PFM are one of the truly adored Italian bands of the 70s, and this album is perhaps an ideal entry point into the mind-bogglingly rich Italian progressive rock scene. - Greg Northrup [2000]

1. Introduzione
2. Impressioni Di Settembre
3. E Festa
4. Dove...Quando... [Pt.1]
5. Dove...Quando... [Pt.2]
6. Carrozza Di Hans
7. Grazie Davvero

Franz DiCioccio - Drums, Vocals
Francone Mussida - Vocals, 12-string Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Guitar
Mauro Pagani - Vocals, Flute, Violin
Flavio Premoli - Vocals, Clavinet, Keyboards, Mellotron, Organ, Piano, Piano Strings
Giorgio Piazza - Bass

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Per Un Amico (1972)

Per Un Amico is the second album from these Italian progressive giants. It is perhaps softer in tone overall, and probably not quite as accessible as was their debut, but eventually reveals itself as yet another timeless progressive masterpiece. In fact, Per Un Amico is regarded by many as not only PFM's best album, but as the greatest single Italian prog album of all time. Though I wouldn't go that fair, this album is indeed 70s symphonic prog at its finest, and stands as one of the first albums an Italian prog newbie should go about acquiring.

The album definitely puts an emphasis on atmosphere and tends to lean toward softer, elegiac moments, making this into a very subtle and richly textured work that gradually reveals itself. More specifically, the album downplays the harder rocking moments of Storia:, though it still has its share, such as on the aggressive instrumental "Generale". The acoustic guitar, flute, mellotron and piano are all widely used, and the wonderful vocals still add a surreal and romantic texture. At first listen, the music here tends to just linger in the background, taking on a character which was once described to me as "wallpaper music". While I can sympathize with this grievance, I think really paying close attention to the detail and depth of arrangement on the album is essential to really getting something out of it.

Basically the reputation of this album is tremendous, and that in and of itself should lead any serious progressive rock collector into getting it. Still, as such, it has a lot of hype to live up to, which led me, along with many others I know of, to be disappointed with the album on first listen. Eventually however, I found the album extremely rewarding. You really can't go wrong with any of the first three PFM albums, which still stand as three of the absolute cornerstones of the massive 70s Italian progressive rock scene. This album has an English language counterpart entitled Photos of Ghosts, which is widely regarded as inferior to Per Un Amico, though I haven't heard it myself. The best bet is probably to stick to the original. - Greg Northrup [2000]

1. Appena Un Poco
2. Generale
3. Per Un Amico
4. Il Banchetto
5. Geranio

Flavio Premoli - Keyboards, Vocals
Giorgio Piazza - Bass, Vocals
Franz Di Cioccio - Drums, Vocals
Mauro Pagani - Flute, Violin, Vocals
Franco Mussida - Guitars, Vocals

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L'Isola di Niente (1974)

L'Isola di Niente is the third album in PFM's classic early 70s trilogy, though I tend to prefer the first two, this is still an very good album. All the trademarks of the first two albums are here; the pleasant, lilting folksiness, the enchanting vocals as well as the occasional aggressive rock passage.

The title track opens the album with a bang, highlighted by a massive guitar riff and powerful effects-laden vocals, making this one of my favorite PFM tunes. The next song, the English language "Is My Face on Straight" (with lyrics penned by Pete Sinfield) is decent, but probably the weakest track on the album. "La Luna Nuova" and "Dolcissima Maria" are classic, gorgeously pastoral PFM with all the hallmarks, while the finale "Via Lumiere" showcases the band's instrumental virtuosity. Like its predecessors, L'Isola: is rich with depth and ranks as a prime example of great symphonic progressive rock, though I would place it slightly below the band's first two albums, Storia Di Un Minuto and Per Un Amico. - Greg Northrup [2000]

1. L'Isola di Niente
2. Is My Face On Straight
3. La Luna Nuova
4. Dolcissima Maria
5. Via Lumiere

Flavio Premoli - Keyboards, Vocals
Giorgio Piazza - Bass, Vocals
Franz Di Cioccio - Drums, Vocals
Mauro Pagani - Flute, Violin, Vocals
Franco Mussida - Guitars, Vocals








PFM, Boss Band Of Italian Rock


from Rolling Stone, December 1?, 1973, p. 22

ANCONA, ITALY-"You may find it hard to believe, but we are the number one group in this country."
Mauro Pagani's modesty was unnecessary in view of his group's performance, but understandable considering its nationality. The members of Premiata Forneria Marconi know that it will be difficult to convince Americans and Britons to give serious consideration to a progressive rock group from a country best known musically for Giuseppe Verdi and Domenico Modugno.
Named after a bakery in Northern Italy, the five-man band showcases instrumental as well as vocal passages, the spotlight falling on Pagani's violin and woodwind solos and Flavio Premoli's dashing about between synthesizer and keyboards. These trademarks haven't changed much during the group's two-year life, but a new ingredient has been added: vocals in English.
Singing in the foreign tongue was considered a requisite for breaking beyond the Italian market, which in volume equals New York City at best, so the group's manager journeyed to London bearing the Per Un Amico album. Pete Sinfield and Greg Lake were impressed, and Lake signed them to Emerson Lake & Plamer's Manticore label, and Sinfield agreed to produce and write English lyrics. The quintet was christened PFM for Britain and America.
"We had admired King Crimson and Pete Sinfield so much," Pagani marveled, "and then one year later he agreed to help us. Well, you can imagine!"
What was difficult to envisage was the two weeks the group spent learning to pronounce Sinfield's words. Pagani had picked up English from talking to tourists and reading album notes, but for the remaining four the experience was a phonetic ordeal. Premoli is now also bilingual, but everyone else still requires an interpreter.
The group's strongest concert number, "Celebration," contains only four lines, focusing on the band's instrumental prowess. It was issued as a single in Europe and England with a full-color illustrated sleeve.
"Did you see the picture on the single, the one with the woman without dress?" Premoli asked. "For Spain we had to paint on a bikini before they let it into the country!" He erupted in laughter, but Pagani was more serious on the subject. "The movement here is very close because there are many problems with the government," he explained, "but it's not as bad as in Spain."
His use of the term "the movement" was not gratuitous, because he takes his politics seriously, relating stories of alleged corruption within the government, the Vatican and the record industry. He is one of the occasional residents of a castle-cum-commune in Sicily and follows whatever alternative reading matter is available.
"It's too bad Oz had to stop," he non-sequitured at one point. "I was just reading the issue with the full page picture of the girl (the School Kids issue for which Oz was busted). I'm reading Jerry Rubin's book, the title translates to We Are Many People."
Pagani's rock influences are non-Italian as well, and it was he who changed PFM's orientation. Before he joined the group it was known as Quelli. It had more success as a session band than an act, playing on over three-fourths of Italian pop hits. Now PFM's favorite bands include Jethro Tull, Yes, Colosseum, King Crimson and Gentle Giant. When it was pointed out to one member of the band that he was wearing a Tempest sweatshirt, he laughed at the seeming incongruity.
But the sweatshirt was a symbol of PFM's determination to break the English market. 'If we make it, we have a great opportunity to introduce our country's groups to the world," Pagani stated with conviction. "You see, although you've never heard of them, there are other good groups in Italy too."

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Thanks to Sergio E. Risios Bath from the PFM mailing list for decoding "Domenico Modugno."
(And Eduardo Mota for trying.)
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This article is posted here without permission. However, Rolling Stone has nothing to lose financially and I have nothing to gain. This article is posted here simply in the interest of fans of PFM, a band Rolling Stone probably doesn't even remember. The article will be deleted when/if Rolling Stone requests it to be so.
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