THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD

This is the second anglicised album from PFM (the first being "Photos Of Ghosts"). "The World Became The World" is comprised of all five tracks from the album "L'Isola Di Niente" - one of which already had English lyrics written by Peter Sinfield - plus the track 'Impressione Di Settembre' (renamed 'The World Became The World') from the band's first album "Storia Di Un Minuto", with Sinfield's lyrics replacing the original Italian lyrics on all the tracks.

The title track from the album "L'Isola Di Niente" became 'The Mountain', 'La Luna Nova' became 'Four Holes In The Ground', 'Dolcissima Maria' became 'Just Look Away', 'Via Lumiére' became 'Have Your Cake And Eat It', and 'Is My Face On Straight' is, of course, the same track.

Although I like what Sinfield did on "Photos Of Ghosts", I am less keen on his lyrics on "The World Became The World", and the original tracks on "L'Isola Di Niente" are, in my opinion, more pleasing. The music is basically the same (and excellent), but the singing and the lyrics themselves sound better on the original album. 'Dolcissima Maria', in particular, is much better than 'Just Look Away' in my opinion. However I do like Sinfield's lyrics on the track 'The World Became The World' and that track is very pleasant, as is the original ('Impressione Di Settembre') on "Storia Di Un Minuto".

If you have neither "L'Isola Di Niente" nor "The World Became The World" then my advice would be to get the former (plus the first two PFM albums, which are essential symphonic Progressive Rock in my opinion). However, as with "Photos Of Ghosts", if you do see "The World Became The World" and feel the impulse then by all means go ahead and buy it, it's no dud. To get a feel for the music itself on "The World Became The World", read my reviews of "Storia Di Un Minuto" and "L'Isola Di Niente".

In my review of "L'Isola Di Niente" I said I would have liked to award that album 4.5 stars if such a thing were possible. For "The World Became The World" I'm comfortable going with 4 stars (Excellent addition to any progressive music collection).