Photos Of Ghosts

About

With PFM's third album, the Italian prog poster boys finally arrived on a global level. Signed to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore label, the band broke through not only in the U.K. but in the U.S., giving notice that Italian prog was more than a poor provincial cousin to its British counterpart. Clearly (and successfully) geared toward the Anglophone market, it marked PFM's first foray into English lyrics, provided by King Crimson/ELP wordsmith Pete Sinfield. <i>Photos of Ghosts</i> is ostensibly an English adaptation of the band's second album, <i>Per un amico</i>, but it's really an entirely different beast. The lyrics were written from scratch, not translated from Italian, and there are two additional cuts: a new recording of "E' festa" from PFM's debut, here dubbed "Celebration," and a brand-new tune, "Old Rain," a languid acoustic instrumental on which Mauro Pagani's jazzy flute and violin come to the fore. The rich tapestry here—with synthesizers, electric and acoustic guitars, and Pagani's aforementioned axes—is as simultaneously sophisticated and sensuous as ever. It's no surprise that this put PFM on the world stage.

via Apple Music