STORIA DI UN MINUTO

This album is meaningful to me because it was the first I bought without having prior listened to it (and I paid mere 13 dollars!). Until then, I had little contact with PFM other than their long and eccentric name - as the band members say, ''the more difficult to remember a band's name, the more difficult to forget it" - and the high rating of their first two albums. Assuming this is a debut, the acclaim is at the very least suspicious, "how can a new band start right off the bat so strongly?". Well, thing is that by the time PFM released their first album in Jan, 1972, the band members had experience on jamming various genres in their earlier band I Quelli ("Them [Weirdos]"), including prog rock. It is no surprise that their first release would be as strong as a veteran band's at their prime, mostly because they were so.

The first thing that called my attention on STORIA DI UN MINUTO is its eclectism, far broader than other contemporaneous Italian bands such as BANCO or MUSEO. They, as usual, syncretizes symphonic classical and traditional Italian music to the rock context of the 70s, except that they take a step further and also pour in healthy doses of blues and folk, the latter taking the limelight on most occasions. Also, their vocalist isn't the strongest point, differently from the aforementioned bands. That brings in a vacancy of prominence, solidly taken by the instruments, which range from heavy synthesizers (an innovation for Italian music) to pastoral flutes and further beyond. Long, varied instrumental parts are the norm.

While most songs aren't inherently complex, at least on a technical level, the intricate melody and its metamorphic nature confer a continuous flow of varied influences and sections, all unique to their own, almost in an incoherent fashion. Such as on È Festa, bringing the hardest rock La Premiata offers that, after dissolving into a jazzy interlude, changes yet again to a folksy recap of the intro. Things of this nature are common in STORIA and that makes me think the musicians forgot about the quality of bonding (musical) concepts together, opting instead to just jam whatever they felt like. Another point that diverges PFM from their contemporaneous counterparts. They're far more dynamic.

Perhaps the first distinguished RPI record, both home and abroad, something that probably has to do with their mildly solid fan base prior to its release. Nonetheless, PFM's success was a moral victory to all aspiring prog Italians, as they observed a fellow of theirs triumphantly roaring. I can only imagine what wonders must it have been to finally see prog penetrating in their peninsular homeland as they played PFM's record once and twice and thrice and so on to capture every nuance and absorb every song at its fullest. To this day, PFM remains as a legend, rightfully so, because this stuff is, plain and simple, legendary.

Share this PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM) review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Luqueasaur
• Report this review (#1769308)
• Buy PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM) music online with PA partners
• Show all PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM) MP3/Stream
• Go to PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM) page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Storia Di Un Minuto page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM) related discussions