STORIA DI UN MINUTO

I suppose it's always a bit artificial when you are coming to an album having listened to the later greater stuff. For a start you know the end, or at least the middle of the story before you hear the start. Therefore, you can sagely say (cut to pompous professors arguing over a brandy and cigar at the 'club'): Well, it's not per un amico: (response) Well obviously not (or no sh*t Sherlock), but I can hear the birth pangs of the classic Italian symphonic prog genre ...) yadda yadda yadda (or blah blah blah if you're from the UK).

So attempting (badly) to review the album without prejudice

The introduction is suitably mellow but then there's a sort of the Horslips meet some spaced out Italian folk proggers/Glam Rockers moment. Odd, but true: ask any Italian Irish glam-folk rockers if you don't believe me. The very short first side never really lifts me beyond that strange mediocre mix.

Flip the record and the second side opens with piano. This is a little bit more like it. Mmm overtones of Yes, we have the symphonic sound properly engaged. My question is: are they really trying to mix classical with prog? It's too brash and, for me, doesn't work. Having packed that in for a game of soldiers PFM move swiftly on to a full-on anything Tull can do we can do better track. And, hey, they pull it off! (Finbar Saunders would definitely put in a phnaar phnaar here). There's a pleasant acoustic guitar track. Maybe that's the defining characteristic about this album: dabbling with many different ideas and sounds but there does not seem to be defining band signature.

It's good but not essential to a prog collection. Maybe, if you have not listened to any PFM this is the best place to start provided that you listen to "Per un Amico" next. You will realise how good Per un Amico is and be very pleasantly surprised.