STORIA DI UN MINUTO

As so many of Prog Archives' seasoned reviewers have pointed out, this album offers proof (if proof were needed) that classic symphonic prog didn't develop in England alone. If you like early King Crimson, classic Yes and Genesis, STORIA DI UN MINUTO will be a real must. On the other hand, I don't believe this album is the masterpiece some people make it out to be.

I came to this music without preconceptions. Although I've enjoyed prog since the mid-seventies, I didn't discover PFM until this year (2007), thanks to Prog Archives recommendations, and I really believe the band now seem a little dated. Those lazy vocals on "La Carozza di Hans", for example (most probably influenced by the Beatles' WHITE ALBUM and ABBEY ROAD) sound sleep-inducing, although the band give this track an absolutely astonishing instrumental ending. "Grazie Davvero", on the other hand, sounds like an Italian take on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", complete with over-insistent brass section. (I well recognise the genre! In the late 1960s, Boudewijn de Groot, the Dutch version of Bob Dylan, tried similar things.) So at certain moments, you might say, PFM are very much a product of their time, or of the times that came right before them.

Other tracks, though, feature solos, sudden tempo-changes and adventurous group playing that will knock you out flat. PFM fans will know that I'm thinking especially of "Dove...Quando...(Parte 2)", which features the most exquisite playing on (among other things) piano, violin (or is it really a viola?) and flute. If anything, such music (recorded in 1971, as far as I can tell) sounds more varied and sophisticated than anything Yes or Genesis were trying to do at the time; it also runs more smoothly and remains highly enjoyable.

Overall verdict: three and a half stars.