Let's begin with a conversation I had with someone in the car while listening to the Primiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) album Per Un Amico (1972):

Someone: So this sounds like King Crimson

Me : yea, I suppose it's got a lot of that discord and heavy weirdness

S: It's a lot like "20th Century Schizoid Man"

...

S: Wait, now it sounds like some sort of marching band or something,

M: This part, sure.

S: And now we've got like a dance at a wedding, or Princess Peach's castle.

M: It's all over the map with these guys.

It sure is.

This conversation describes just the shortest song on Per Un Amico (“For a Friend”). It's hard to pin this album down because of its rapid shifts in tone and style.

In fact, probably my favourite part of listening to Per Un Amico is hearing the lead instruments switch off so many times. The first track, "Appena Un Po," (“Just a Little Bit”) shifts its lead across harp, mellotron, acoustic guitar, flute, harpsichord, electric guitar, violin, flute, keyboard, and then some. At the same time, the backing instruments also change around often, meaning that the song never feels like just one thing. But it still remains coherent because its tone shifts are more like variations on a theme than new movements.

In this respect, Per Un Amico reminds me a lot of Genesis's Selling England by the Pound (1973), which similarly plays with concerto-like structures, or Yes's "Heart of the Sunrise."

A fine assortment

Those frequent and sudden sonic shifts are part and parcel with the heavy classical influence and the need to marry that with a variety of rock and classical instruments. Occasionally, a moment will stand out, such as the brief middle section of "Generale," an upbeat waltz crossed with military marching band drum work that is irresistible. More often, the album demands you play close attention to truly appreciate the bewildering variety of music packed into 34 minutes.

So, there's a flip side to the craftsmanship here: it's an album with so much going on so as to sound like almost nothing. Even after becoming somewhat familiar with the album, I still easily treat it as background music because it is so inconspicuously pleasant and scattered.

When I began listening, I was ready to chalk up Rolling Stone's inclusion of Per Un Amico on their list as an obvious case of tokenism. Like Can's Future Days (1973), this appeared an oddball choice included for the sake of broader geographic representation. An Italian band in the teens and a German band in the top 10 make for a nicely rounded list.

My first impressions seemed to confirm my suspicions. I had never heard of PFM at all, and I hadn't found anything here to draw me in. Yet, this was another album whose charms became more readily apparent with subsequent listens. While I maintain the belief that Future Days was ranked too high for the sake of showing off continental prog, I'm now firmly on Rolling Stone's side of ranking Per Un Amico this high. I've since read that PFM is the definitive Italian prog band, bringing the genre to that country, (though Banco seems to have more crossover appeal) and this album is a great introduction to a style that is at once familiar and all its own.

Per Un Amico has moments that would sound right at home on albums by Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, ELP, Gentle Giant, and probably a bunch of others. At times, the sounds are even suspiciously similar to specific tunes from those bands. But maybe it's the incorporation of so many branches of prog, as well as that classical influence front and centre, that makes PFM still sound unique.

One element almost lacking on this album is an obvious sense of fun. It's upbeat for the most part, and quite beautiful. But everything is very crisp, measured, highly structured. Again, you have to pay attention to find some underlying whimsy to this band. The juxtaposition of stylings and instruments is unusual and excessive, no matter how controlled. Everything about Per Un Amico, and PFM in general, I imagine, interplays subtlety with excess. The fun is hidden underneath stuffiness.

Premiata Forneria Marconi translates to “Marconi's Award-Winning Bakery,” and I think that bit of nominal nonsense is a clue to how to understand and appreciate the band's fanciful style.

Rolling Stone Rankings

1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

3. Rush - Moving Pictures

4. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

5. Yes – Close to the Edge

6. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

7. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

8. Can - Future Days

9. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

10. Yes - Fragile

11. Rush - Hemispheres

12. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

13. Pink Floyd - Animals

14. Genesis - Foxtrot

15. King Crimson - Red

16. Gentle Giant - Octopus

17. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

18. Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

19. Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

ASK Rankings

1. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

2. Genesis - Foxtrot

3. Yes – Close to the Edge

4. King Crimson - Red

5. Gentle Giant - Octopus

6. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

7. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

8. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

9. Rush - Moving Pictures

10. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

11. Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

12. Pink Floyd - Animals

13. Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

14. Yes - Fragile

15. Rush - Hemispheres

16. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

17. Can - Future Days

18. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

19. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here