Progressive metal is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or quasi-classical compositions of the latter.
In the Court of the Crimson King is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969, by Island Records. The album is considered one of the earliest and most influential of the progressive rock genre, with the band combining musical influences that rock music was founded upon with elements of jazz, classical, and symphonic music.
Octopus is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1972. It was the band's last album which all the Shulman brothers involved together in the band, as the founding member Phil Shulman left the band after the release, and the first with new drummer John Weathers, who would remain with the band until their dissolution in 1980. Octopus remains a highly regarded example of the progressive rock genre and is generally considered to represent the start of the band's peak period.
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group recorded five albums with English lyrics between 1973 and 1977. During this period they entered both the British and American charts. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on The Midnight Special, a popular national television program in the United States.
Area – International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental group formed in 1972 by singer Demetrio Stratos and drummer Giulio Capiozzo. They are considered one of the most respected, innovative and important bands of the blooming 1970s Italian progressive rock scene.
Le Orme is an Italian progressive rock band formed in 1966 in Marghera, a frazione of Venice. The band was one of the major groups of the Italian progressive rock scene in the 1970s. They are one of few Italian rock bands to have success outside their own country, having played concerts across North America and Europe, and releasing an album in English at the height of their success.
Mauro Pagani is an Italian musician and singer.
La buona novella is the fourth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, released in 1970. Its plot revolves around the New Testament apocrypha.
Storia di un minuto is the first album of the Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi. It was recorded in Milan and released by the Numero Uno division of RCA Records in Italy. The album topped the Italian album charts after one week from the release – the first time occurrence in the Italian charts up until then.
L'isola di niente is the third studio album by Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi, released in 1974. Like the group's previous albums, it is sung in Italian and performed well in Italy. An English version of the album, The World Became the World, was recorded in the same session. It features the same track list along with an English version of the band's first single "Impressioni di Settembre". English lyrics were written by Peter Sinfield.
Photos of Ghosts is the third studio album and the first English language record by the Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi, also known as PFM. Released in the U.S. in October 1973, it was the first album by an Italian rock group to appear on the American charts. The album peaked at No. 180 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in November 1973.
Chocolate Kings is the sixth album by Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi. It was released in 1975 by Numero Uno, a division of RCA Records in Italy. It was also released with different cover art by Manticore Records in the UK and Asylum Records in the USA.
Una radura is the second album by Gianna Nannini. It was released in 1977, and it features many guest musicians, including the Premiata Forneria Marconi.
Jet Lag is the fifth album of the Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi, released in 1977 by Asylum Records in the US and Manticore Records in Europe. This album incorporates the use of fretless bass in the sound and has a jazzier feel in comparison to the band's previous efforts. Four of the five tracks with vocals are sung in English. "Cerco la Lingua" is the only one sung in Italian. The album is also the first one not featuring founding member Mauro Pagani, who left the band the year before to pursue solo projects.
Amore e non amore is a concept album by the Italian singer and songwriter Lucio Battisti, and the fourth studio album overall. It was released in July 1971 by Dischi Ricordi.
Le nuvole is an album by Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, released in 1990. The songs were written by Fabrizio De André and Mauro Pagani. As Pagani revealed in an interview within the 2011 DVD biographical documentary series Dentro Faber, he is responsible for the writing of most of the music, while De André wrote all of the lyrics – except for Don Raffaè, detailed below, whose lyric writing is shared between De André and singer-songwriter Massimo Bubola, and the lyrics to the two songs in Genoese on side B, "Mégu megún" and "'Â çímma", which De André co-wrote with fellow Genoan Ivano Fossati because, according to De André, his colleague's ability to play with the sounds and the inner melodies of the Genoese dialect was much better than his own. Pagani's collaboration with De André, always according to the Lombard musician, happened in an identical way for De André's previous album, Crêuza de mä, with Pagani setting to music De André's already fully written lyrics, on the basis of a few melodic ideas from the latter. His next songwriting collaboration with Fossati, on Anime salve, would be more equally balanced, with he and Fossati composing music by actually playing together.
Franco Mussida is an Italian guitarist, composer, and singer.
Fabrizio De André in Concerto - Arrangiamenti PFM ["In Concert—Arrangements by PFM"] is a 1979 live album by Fabrizio De André featuring Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi, also known as PFM, as his backing band, recorded during their successful 1979 tour of Italy and Europe. Built on powerful, complex and carefully crafted rock arrangements, either by single band members or by the band as a unit, the album marked a significant stylistic and musical departure for De André, whose output up to that point had always employed acoustic-based, folk arrangements, occasionally branching into pop but never overtly using rock structures and instrumentation. Upon release, the album became immediately very popular and paved the way for other Italian singer-songwriters for their own transition from a folk style into a more rock-oriented one. The album was followed by a Volume 2 the next year, recorded during the same shows.
De André canta De André - Cristiano De André Live ["DeA sings DeA"] is a live tribute album by Cristiano De André, consisting of updated covers and remakes of songs written and originally performed by his late father Fabrizio De André, recorded during Cristiano's 2009-2010 tour of Italy and released as a CD+DVD bundle. Similarly to De André Senior's 1979-1980 release In Concerto - Arrangiamenti PFM, it was followed by a Volume 2 in 2010, recorded during the same shows and released in the same 2-disc format.
The World Became the World is Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi's second international release, an English-language version of their third studio album L'isola di niente. It was released in June 1974 on Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore Records label in the US. Like the group's previous English-language album Photos of Ghosts (1973), the band recorded new English lyrics from King Crimson and ELP lyricist Peter Sinfield, not translations of the original Italian lyrics. It was recorded in the same session as L'isola de niente. It features the same tracks, plus "The World Became the World", an English-language version of the band's first single "Impressioni di Settembre", from the album Storia di un minuto (1972). These were the first recording sessions were the first to feature new bassist Patrick Djivas, who replaced founding member Giorgio Piazza, and remains with the band to this day.
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