Pfm - Photos of Ghosts
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.99 You Save: $6.99 (41%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Photos of Ghosts
Free Music Review: Photos of Ghosts/Excellant Album/Hard and Soft.
Hit: 5 Stars
PFM-Such a great album(Photos of Ghosts). Il Banchetto,such a master piece(premoli-keyboards)rock and classic with movement. Photos of Ghosts(mussida-premoli-sinfield)rock n roll. PFM band members play as one! I've seen Jethro Tull,ELP and UK at their prime and height(70s) and PFM is a unique group and class. Anyone who cares about solid rock and classic mixture, you won't be disappointed. Sincere rock n roll fan!Free Music Review: The Italian King Crimson
Hit: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this album. I found it evoked the early efforts of King Crimson, especially the quieter moments of Lizard and Islands. Also elements of Gentle Giant and ELP. Nice work for sure. The only other PFM I have is World Became the World, which I thought was good but less consistent than this one, which I just picked up on vinyl. Good album. I'll have to find Chocolate Kings now.Free Music Review: Classic Italian Progressive
Hit: 5 Stars
PFM along with Banco epitomize the Italian Progressive movement of the seventies. This album as well as Jet Lag, Chocolate Kings, and Passpartu are PFM's finest works.Free Music Review: Very good.
Hit: 5 Stars
This has the english vocals it is a good cd but the Italian version is better, I had the record when it came out, it sounds great through a good hi fi unit.Free Music Review: Go for Per un Amico first, then here
Hit: 4 Stars
For ages, I've been a bit hard on Photos of Ghosts, since hearing the original Italian lyrics to Per Un Amico, it shows that the band functioned best singing in their native language. But they still did a good job at breaking the international market singing in English, although their stab at English was no more worse than many of the German bands (like Eloy, Amon Duul II, or Grobschnitt). But for many not living in Italy back in 1973, Photos of Ghosts was most everyone's first exposure to PFM, and it even gave them some recognition here in America. I was born in 1972, so I obviously wasn't there the first time around, but rather my discovery of progressive rock beginning in the late '80s and early '90s while still in my teens (I first heard of PFM in 1992). Per un Amico is simply one of the greatest of Italian prog rock albums ever, it's on a regular top ten Italian prog poll, and is often included in the top ten of prog in general, and for good reason.
Well, the band realized they'd alienate an international audience (and especially the British and American audience) if they didn't record in English. So they got Pete Sinfield to write the lyrics, and had Sinfield's friend (dating back to his King Crimson days) Greg Lake to have it released on Manticore. Well, I have to say the English lyrics seem a bit clumsy for the band, but musically, it's still quite good. I am rather bewildered why they removed the Mellotron and harp intro on "River of Life"? What made the original, "Appena un Po'" so great was that intro which was removed in this new version. Of course the rest keeps all the same great themes and passages. They redo "E Festa" (from Storia di un Minuto, their fantastic debut from earlier in 1972) as "Celebration", it's shorter this time. It was also released as a single, and the flip side was "Old Rain", an instrumental that on LP, you can only find here. It's a mellow piece with violin from Mauro Pagani. "Generale" is now "Mr. Nine Till Five", with vocals added, but all the themes and passages are recognizable. "Il Banchetto" is preserved in its exact same form as on Per un Amico, including the Italian lyrics, so even American listeners get to hear what they sound like in their own language. "Genario" is now "Promenade the Puzzle". Once again, completely recognizable, except for the lyrics, of course. "Per un Amico" is "Photos of Ghosts" (referring to the song), as you guess, much the same, except for the lyrics. Also it needs to be reminded that Pete Sinfield's lyrics are not direct translations, so if you're looking for the actual translations of the lyrics to Per Un Amico, you've come to the wrong place.
The original vinyl (at least the American version) was not of very good quality, you really had to crank it up to hear the quieter passages, like the title track and "Promenade the Puzzle", but at least with the CD you don't have to worry about crackles and other such disturbances.
For years, I was a bit hard on this album, but looking back on it, it gave Americans and the rest of the world a sample of what this great band could offer. Though I prefer the original, this is still worth having.