L'ISOLA DI NIENTE

No doubt about it: this a stunning album. Not to everyone's taste, definitely not. It's really an acquired taste, but if you are into adventurous 70's prog, this may be an album for you. Fair enough, the music may be influenced in some ways by King Crimson and Yes, to name but a few, but you may forget about that: PFM is really one of a kind, and this album and the one before, Per Un Amico, show a band in an absolute peak form. The opening track, with the distant choir, is very original, and the contrast with the Steve Howe - like metal guitar that follows is fantastic. Sounds are very important in the music of PFM, and sometimes I wonder if the sounds are really deliberately made original, or that it's just because of the circumstances. For instance: I've read somewhere that PFM in those days didn't have a good leadsinger. The singing parts on the album are fantastic, though, solo as well as harmonies, and they sound very original too, and maybe it's just because they found some sort of way of dealing with the lack of a good lead singer. Lovely sounds, great instrumental interplays, magnificent production. I love the sound of the acoustic guitar on the opening track, the accordion (or is it?) on Is My Face On Straight and the organ on Via Lumiere. It all sounds like stepping into some other world, very dreamlike. The album reaches incredible heights on the tracks I just mentioned, and is overall very good. Laboured with love, no doubt. My favourite Italian progressive rock record of all times (though Per Un Amico, from the same band, comes close behind) and one of my favourite albums of all time.