THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD

Having only know a crappy used pressing of this album for many years it was such a delight to get a hold of a CD copy. This English version of L' Isola Di Niente doesn't have all the same tracks and has some that aren't there. I consider both essential though. I have a bias towards the English version, being an American, but the original Italian versions of PFM tunes are just as enjoyable, despite knowing almost no Italian. Kudos to all the reviewers here who don't know English as their primary language. Their reviews can be a little painful to read at times, but hey, you all write English better than I can do yours.

Two of the tunes here I became familiar with on the Cook aka Live in the USA album. That was my first one and endeared me to the band despite my being another bad LP pressing. It was more oval than circular, so I'd get this horrible wow effect towards the end of each side.

Back to this one, the choral opening to The Mountain is a bit weird, but it kicks into high gear progressive after they've had their "say". The Sinfield lyrics are particularly interesting. Sometimes they seem to and probably do bear no relation to the original Italian. To add to the strange internationalistic aspect of this album, my CD copy is a Japanese remaster (the lyrics are about an apparently fictitious mountain called Yam- Tsu-Mi). One of the things I most appreciate about PFM's music is the blending of hard and soft music. The Mountain has a great mix of it. Just Look Away is a really beautiful piece about bitter old men in a park The World Became the World was originally Impressioni Di Settembre (Impressions Of September), this has to be a total reworking of the lyrics. Another really beautiful piece that works as well in Italian as English giving testament to music being the international language. Four Holes In The Ground, well what can you say, "Give yourself a well, well, well, well, that's life". Celebration, certainly like this much better than Kool and the Gangs Celebrate "good times come on", heard that one enough for a lifetime, they slip us in a little Italian in the vocals. Is My Face On Straight, is a bit of a social commentary on racism and classism, still a good song to boot. The album wraps up with a jazzy jamming improvish piece called Have Your Cake and Eat It.

I'd probably recommend you try the live album first but this is hardly a bad place to start if you want to explore this band.