COOK [AKA: LIVE IN THE USA]

It's amazing to me that after 3 decades, I am still hearing PFM played now on internet radio (radioio 70s channel to name one). It is certainly a testament to the staying power of progressive rock music. At the ripe old age of 15, I bought this album new (released on the Numero Uno label) while living in Rome. PFM was music my friends and I were listening to at the time. Even by today's standards, this music is still rich, complex and faithful to the genre. As someone else posted earlier, the band really tried hard to sing in english and this is really the only shortcoming for me. When I moved back to the states, I had my cousin buy the sister version of this album named Cook. Those fortunate enough to have Live in the U.S.A. on vinyl will have a photo of the Shaeffer Music Festival bandshell where the band performed in Central Park! While by the late 70s and into the 80s they pulled a "Genesis" and changed their music to better suit the italian market, all of their albums up through Passpartu are excellent recordings IMO of their progressive rock era with the 70-75 era representing the "golden age" of the progressive rock genre.