New PFM album will be... opera rock !

http://digilander.libero.it/catafalco/news.htm

Just one example of many articles that can be found here and there on the net about PFM's new studio album to be released probably in September, which will be called  Dracula Opera Rock.

As odd and unexpected as it may sound, this music will be that of a theater incarnation of Dracula, to be presented in Italy in February of 2006.

I am absolutely clueless as to how this is going to sound like.

In order to know more, make a search on Google using PFM and Dracula Opera Rock as key words. For those who can't read Italian (me including), you can always use the Altavista translator or any other one, since most articles found will be in Italian.

To be perfectly honest, I'm dreading it....

They haven't really 'written' anything good for years, and the "Dracula Spectacula" concept sounds like...well...like a school musical! I'd love to be proved wrong, and am willing a return to former glories, but I have long been of the belief that their halcyon era of creation and inspiration is well behind them.  What is of more concern is that as far as I can tell, the Italian public seem to fully endorse such new PFM projects, giving Franz 'the helmsman' di Cioccio the impression that its actually 'quite good'.  No disrepect meant to the discerning Italian devotees on this site, but most of it isn't. 

Franz, if you ever do read this - GET BACK on that drum stool, stop singing and parading like a drunken grandad at a wedding, get Mauro and Bernardo back, and start back from where you left off in 1977. 

OK. I just got a reply back from my guy in Italy regarding PFM's next studio album, and it says this :

I have the DVD of the Piazza del Campo show that you are refering to (being located in England and not having the region code issue that we have here in N.A. with DVD¸players, you probably just might have it as well), and I was really moved to see Pagani back with PFM for the time of a show. I for one have always maintained that the band's chemistry and works have never been on par with what they were when he was there, after the departure of Pagani.

It is also pretty exciting to see both Pagani and Fabbri improvising together, and at some point I almost felt like man are these guys competing against each other or what (in a friendly way of course).

I certainly was disappointed when I learned that Premoli would not be of the trip, but honestly I must say that the guy who replaced him did a great job, especially in Quebec City where his improvisations were more elaborated;  one could see, at some point, Mussida and Di Cioccio watching and listening carefully to the guy's improvised solo, and it was really good, and both Mussida and Di Cioccio had an amused expression to their face that looked like man, this guy can play !

Actually, the show in Quebec City was better than that in Montreal, with the guys more energetic, and with more improvisations as well. The crowd in Quebec City was hotter too, it was quite something to see all these now grey-haired (hey, like the PFM guys themselves) guys standing up and cheering and singing and always asking for more. After the encore, the band has showed up a last time, they didn't play but they wanted to thank everyone, and one could tell by looking at them that they were completely drained, they really had given their best.

One guy (could have been me, but it wasn't) asked for Alta Loma 5 till 9 at some point, to what Mussida replied that they would have something in that vein later on. Since I had attended the show the evening before, I knew what he meant, and couldn't wait to hear that super incredibly fantastic guitar impro again, with its long and progressive development, and almost paroxystic end.. Believe me, when the thing was over, the crowd was hysteric. Will we ever hear that thing again ? 

Really, a great show, and people have stayed outside the building recalling the great moments of the evening, long after the show was over. Great, great memories.

Wrath_of_Ninian wrote:   Franz, if you ever do read this - GET BACK on that drum stool, stop singing and parading like a drunken grandad at a wedding, get Mauro and Bernardo back, and start back from where you left off in 1977.

Believe me, without Franz as frontman, singer and not talking about drummer, PFM is dead...I disagree with you...he is an underestimate drummer and is a great entertainer.

gio! wrote: The 2 members that PFM could not survive without in my (humble) opinion, are Mussida and Di Cioccio. Just like Queen without May or Mercury. Led Zep without Page or Plant.

But is that with di Cioccio as singer???

You wouldn't have Robert Plant or Freddie Mercury on the drums...

PFM suffered badly when Mauro and Bernardo left - principally because Mauro was such a brilliant musician and composer (he wrote alot of PFM's Italian lyrics), and Bernardo was such a brilliant singer - something which PFM had lacked up until that point.  You cannot underestimate the power of a good frontman.  Banco DMS could never touch PFM musically, but they had that magic ingredient - a charismatic frontman - and it made them.  It turned average music into extremely good music.  When PFM finally took the plunge and got someone in with a bit of personality and distinction (Lanzetti), they soared musically and creatively.  They should have had more success than they did, but perhaps the timing was wrong in both the US and UK, but I still CANNOT believe what followed.

By 1979, with the departures of Premoli, Pagani, and Lanzetti, coupled with the shift of di Cioccio to lead singer, the band became truly awful - a shadow of their former selves - writing torrid pop music with cheesy synthesisers and dreadful lyrics.  Di Cioccio can dance around with drumsticks falling out of his pockets, but he's still not a very good singer, and he CERTAINLY isn't good enough to sing for PFM.  Both Flavio and Franco have better, more pastoral, voices that fit the music.  Franz is a brilliant drummer, a showman, and a leader, but he is much more effective from the back, conducting events from his throne.  It may be an ego problem - he's clearly very musical and may be frustrated by the limitations of drumming.

As for Franco, yes he is a genius - definitely one of the most underrated guitarists in rock history.  Again, I dont know how he put up with the 80s nightmare, churning out simple 4/4 with As and Ds, and with rigid 16-bar solos.  Clearly a diverse player, but utterly wasted in that line-up.  Thankfully, his legacy was not wiped out by such folly!

PFM for me was the 6-star line-up of Chocolate Kings, when minds worked together, creativity and inspiration were at their peak, and most importantly, the music was just beautiful.  It was of course the only recording made with this line-up, and that for me says it all.  Without any ONE of those six (Lanzetti, Djivas, Di Cioccio, Mussida, Premoli & Pagani) something is missing, and whilst the build-ups were excellent, the follow-ups were largely poor.  

If those six ever got on stage again, I would sell my house to see it.... 

Well,

Franz is not the best singer for PFM stuff: could be but I have my doubt....see

The 2 members that PFM could not survive without in my (humble) opinion, are Mussida and Di Cioccio: maybe, although I believe Franz is more important than Franco - one of the best classic/acoustic guitarist I ever saw on stage.

Lanzetti? Hmmm, I disagree 101%. Especially live, Bernardo is not my cup of tea...

Flavio? I saw them many times and I have to tell that, unfortunately, Flavio seems to be very lazy....he is not singing any more ( maybe some parts on 1 or 2 songs... ) and he is not doing anymore improvisations: it seems to me he is just doing his homeworks on stage meanwhile Patrick, Franz and Franco have great fun

I believe that PFM today is a great band as it is  and that PFM is something more complicated than just a "prog rock band": they need Franz singing and drumming