PFM: The Manticore Studio Albums 1973-1977: 4CD Clamshell Boxset
Prog-rock may have bloomed in Britain, but the genre reached a pinnacle of romanticism and elegance in Italy, where the country’s most adventurous players treated each violin cadenza and Moog synth solo like a sip of expertly aged pinot grigio. Premiata Forneria Marconi, later known as PFM, developed into the country’s own Genesis—their most famous prog export, with easily the widest stylistic breadth. The band came closest to international fame in the early-to mid-‘70s, after signing to Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Manticore record label. The four English-language albums they issued with the company—1973’s Photos of Ghosts , 1974’s The World Became the World , 1975’s Chocolate Kings and 1977’s Jet Lag —never earned them their coveted breakthrough. And, luckily, you couldn’t tell that they were even trying for one. Photos of Ghosts and The World Became the World , which featured tweaked lyrics from King Crimson/ ELP wordsmith Peter Sinfield, mark an apex of the entire symphonic-prog genre—weaving keyboards, flute and violin into complex tapestries that shift between pastoral folkiness, anthemic hard-rock riffs and avantgarde ambience. The band lost some grit and singularity on their next two Manticore albums, both recorded with former Acqua Fragile vocalist (and undeniable Peter Gabriel soundalike) Bernardo Lanzetti— Jet Lag , in particular, suffered from a lapse into soupy jazz-fusion noodling and glossy production. But all four LPs remain essential listening, rounding out the trajectory of prog’s classiest crew.