L'ISOLA DI NIENTE

After two stunning albums, the Italian prog pioneering guys of Premiata Forneria Marconi managed to top themselves even further with their maximum masterpiece, 'L'Isola di Niente': basically, what they did here was, while preserving their own melodic leaning enriched with crytalline acoustic sensibility, expand their sonic boundaries by inserting some rough Crimsonian touches (specially on track 1), and more importantly, open up the gates to the influence of jazz fusion (new bassist Djivas was a crucial item on this), something they would pursue in a more focused manner in their following efforts... but let's not get too ahead of ourselves. As I've stated before, I consider this album as their top achievement. The opening title track starts with a sombre, mysterious choral arrangement that announces something like impending doom, and that's exactly what happens when the distorted guitar riffs, together with the furious complement of a fiery organ and a more fiery electric violin, display a powerful wall of sound solidly supported by DiCiccio and Djivas. It won't take long before a softer interlude appears in order to pave the way for the beautiful pastoral section that feautres classical guitar, piano, mellotron, and a flute duet that resembles the sound of birds singing at early morning; then, a jazzy electric section will set the stage for the re-entry of the first rocky section. The whole thing ends with a Frippian guitar solo displayed upon a sequence of classical guitar arpeggios. Stunning! Perhaps the weirdest thing in the whole PFM repertoire. Track 2 is pitifully sung in English, but still works effectively as a catchy, funny jazz oriented number - a special mention to the playful accordion solo at the end. 'La Luna Nuova' brings us back to the spirit of 'Per un Amico', but with the extra dose of energy exhibited all through this album, with Premoli's keyboards being specially featured here: I do consider this piece as archetypical PFM, the perfect individual sample for the newbie. 'Dolcissima Maria' is the most beautiful ballad written by the band, a romantic theme that serves as a proper oasis of emotional calm between the amazing colourfulness of the previous track, and the jazzy tour-de-force 'Via Lumiere'. The latter features a Pagani showing his maddest side alternately on electric violin and flute: Djivas' intro bass solo is quite effective, and DiCioccio's drumming is also a display of out-of-this-world precision and amazing energy. The grand finale is a church-like hymn, where the organ fills the leading role, complemented by dissonant touches on guitar and violin, as well as a choral ensemble performed by the PFM fivesome. In conclusion: an Italian masterpiece, moreover, a prog classic of all time.