JET LAG

After ''Chocolate kings'' and their USA tour,PFM had to deal with several important issues.Firstly came the shocking departure of Mauro Pagani,one of the band's original members.The rest of the band did not give up,they actually decided to move on as a quintet and repeat the success they had in the USA.During their stop in the States,they met violinist Greg Bloch (ex-It's A Beautiful Day,Mark Almon's Band) and his talent was great enough for PFM to call him to join the band.With him in the line-up they recorded and released their 7th studio album,''Jet lag'',in 1977.

The suspicious jazzy influences on ''Chocolate kings'' were know the basic idea of PFM's musicianship and anyone deep into the symphonic/folk side of PFM should simply forget it.But you should'nt forget about how great and talented this band is.The USA stop was actually a very useful lesson for the band,which came in touch with the jazzy side of rock.And ''Jet lag'' is exactly that.Furious and intricate Jazzy/Fusion-esque Progressive Rock with obvious MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and THE DIXIE DREGS hints.The violin seems now the basic instrument of the new style (with the short exception of the opening Italian-flavored acoustic intro) and Bloch does really a fantastic job,playing both aggressivilly and smoothly.The nice interplays are also not absent.Rich sound with light battles between the rhythm section,keyboards,piano and Bloch's violin.Some Mellotron parts pop out here and there and the style then recalls something of the glorious past.Even Lanzetti's voice sounds differently and somewhat far from the previous Gabriel-esque plagiarism.Bad thing is PFM have lost some points regarding their personality and originality,they remind a lot of the afore-mentioned USA jazz rock legends.

''Jet lag'' is a rather undestimated pearl in the band's discography and I am sure that everyone would have rated this album higher,if we were not talking about PFM.Trying strongly to stay away from the band's sensational past works and the grand emotions they created to me,I find ''Jet lag'' more than a decent Jazz/Prog effort and strongly recommend this album to all fans of the fusion side of prog...3.5 stars.