PASSPARTÙ

After the quite jazzy but definitely good ''Jet lag'',1978 finds Premiata Forneria Marconi as a quintet for the first time,as violin player Greg Bloch quit after the recordings of the previous album.Hence,the band had already decidec to change direction,maintaining a strong jazzy feeling but adding also some heavier dose of Meditterenean taste.For their next release ''Passpartu'' the violin trademark of the band is totally absent and they would be helped by several session musicians such as Roberto Colombo.

The abscence of the fiery violin solos would hurt the band undoubtfully,but the opening tracks of the album will leave some hope for a good album.The two opening numbers ''Viene il Santo'' and ''Svita la vita'' follow a similar path,intense Acoustic Music based on the rhythm section and keys with a delicate Meditterenean vibe and strong musicianship.''Se fossi cosa'' is a good ballad with Lanzetti shining and a somewhat symphonic feeling.''Le traume blu'' is a happy track,characterized by cheap sounding synths and only the last minute indicates that this is Premiata Forneria Marconi perfmoring.The eponymous track is another attempt of the band to combine Jazz-Fusion with Ethnic Music,but the result is way too commercial.''I cavalieri del tavolo cubico'' is absolutely hillarious,an uneven mix of tropical Jazz,Funk and Rock,while ''Su una mosca e sui dolci'' is a decent ballad with good jazzy guitars but average vocals.''Fantalità'' is the worst way to close the album,a rhythmic funky/poppish track,which is hard to believe this band created.

It was more than obvious that Premiata Forneria Marconi were running towards commercial music at that point.The next few releases would proove this fact.''Suonare Suonare'' (1980),''Come Ti Va in Riva alla Città'' (1981),''PFM? PFM!'' (1984) and ''Miss Baker'' are all poppish black holes in the band's history,they would even suffer from several comes and goes,which shortened the band to a trio by the time of ''Miss Baker'' and we would have to wait until 1997 for some decent quality.Compared to the later material ''Passpartu'' is far more decent,but again it's nothing close to what this band could actually offer.Only for collectors.