L'ISOLA DI NIENTE

I must admit that I question whether "Rock Progressivo Italiano" is a bona fide subgenere of progressive-rock music. To me, it's a historically important regional variation of art and progressive rock along the lines of "Krautrock" and the "Canterbury Scene."* But whether RPI is a distinct style or just a useful category, L'Isola di Niente is one of its best albums.

Like Premiata Forneria Marconi's first two LPs, this one contains a series of twists and surprises, which begin immediately with the title song. "L'Isola di Niente" opens with an unaccompanied choir singing wordlessly. At one minute into the track, there's a pause where the listener may anticipate a rock break-in, but in a daring move (in my opinion, anyway), the chorus goes on, with another pause around 1:30. Once two minutes have elapsed, it's fair to wonder whether "L'Isola di Niente" will feature any hint, vocal or instrumental, or popular music. Finally, at 2:07, the voices converge on a chordal resolution and a few seconds later, the symphonic rock begins.

But the musical shifts here are unlike those on the group's earlier albums, where some of the changes seemed to be non-sequiturs. Now the changes - - which are just as unorthodox and unanticipated as before - - are somehow cleverer. And once again, the band's confidence has increased since their last album - - or, more correctly, since their last album of new material - - Photos of Ghosts (1973) was comprised primarily of English-language versions of songs from their first two Italian LPs. L'Isola di Niente contains PFM's first from-scratch English-language song, "Is My Face on Straight," with lyrics by Peter Sinfield. Even forty-five years later, it's a song I'd call humorous, though others might find it annoyingly liberal: "we have ways to make you cheer / as long as you're not sick or poor, a Negro or a queer." Interestingly, it predates by more than four years Supertramp's classic "The Logical Song," with which it shares a similar theme and approach.

Constituted by "L'Isola di Niente" and "Is My Face on Straight," Side One is by far the stronger; the remaining three tracks represent a return to the group's 1972 albums. "La Luna Nuova" echoes the usual suspects like Yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - - and even the Beatles (the "mai mai mai fine" (never, never, never end") section). In "La Luna" PFM also manages to include a healthy dose of the progressive folk they're evidently fond of, but whereas their debut album included three soft, folk-tinged pieces, L'Isola di Niente includes only one: "Dolcissima Maria," the shortest song here by several minutes. The first part of "Via Lumiere," the album-closer, is a mediocre medley of ambient, Crimsonian, and fast- paced jazz segments, but the soaring denouement - - beginning at 4:33 - - is the strongest passage on the album.

Perhaps owing to the group's experiences on the road and in the studio since their prior album, L'Isola di Niente represents a substantial refinement of the PFM sound. I'd recommend it it without reservation to fans of prog-rock, especially those who, like me, enjoy the genre's mainstream 1970s "classics."

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*However, I'll admit that RPI would be more significant than a hypothetical "Midwest Scene" of early-1970s US symphonic rock (Kansas, Starcastle, and Styx - - maybe Pavlov's Dog or Frijid Pink as well). And for what it's worth, Allmusic.com identifies twenty-one genres, from Classical to Comedy/Spoken to Holiday to Electronic. Pop/Rock is one of the twenty- one, with fifteen subgenres, including British Invasion and "Europop." So maybe I'm wrong that geography can't constitute a subgenre.