COME TI VA IN RIVA ALLA CITTÀ

I haven't been disappointed of Premiata Forneria Marconi, until now. I though "Suonare Suonare" was a fantastic album. Even if they had been more populistic, had they preserved a true spirit of their own music. PFM's eighth work "Come Ti Va in Riva alla Città" from 1981 though is quite bad. Much had happened just in one year and it is very clear when I hear the music. Just like Ange took a strange direction in the eighties, PFM seems to have done. On the cover can we see the coloured faces of the four members: Franz di Cioccio(drums, vocals), Lucio Fabbri(keyboards, violin), Jan Patrick Djivas(bass) and Franco Mussida(guitars and vocals). It is a boring cover, very white and non-proggy.

The music relating to past PFM is pale. Even is the violin exists, is it not very present and absolutely not in its former style. The symphonic keyboards/organs are gone and even if the guitar flaunts one time to another isn't it protruding in any way. So, my over all impression of this record is a distinct disappointment, or just misunderstanding. I do not music have to be advanced and I do not dislike pop music from the eighties, but who is a fan of PFM particularly for this?

"Come ti va" starts a a very ordinar rock song but it works(6/10) and "Rock in LA" is a dashing nice little thing(6/10). Otherwise do some of the tracks work such as "Quartiere Otto", "Indian" and "Poeta Mancato" (all 5/10) with at least good instrumentation. The rest: "Weekend", "Chi ha paura della notte" and "Meno male che ci sei" were rather boring in my opinion. Though is I still hopefull to hear next PFM record to see if I can find some delights. This can only get TWO stars.