PFM? PFM!

DON'T PURCHASE this album! This is NOT PFM. I think the album title should not be "PFM? PFM!" but .."PFM? NO!!! THIS IS NOT PFM!". Why? You would not believe this great Italian band finally compromised themselves with the wave of pop trends in early 1980. Uugghh .. that was very dark years of prog rock. The most popular bands were THE POLICE, OMD, DURAN-DURAN, MEN AT WORK, ULTRAVOX, B 52's, ROBERT PALMER's "Looking for Clues", HUMAN LEAGUE, what else hah? I really forget. The matters even worse where the pioneers of 70's prog rock went pop also. YES with "90125" and GENESIS with "abacab". Uuugghhh . I could not believe it man! Lucky that in 1983 there was a band that yelled "So here I am once more. In a playground of a brokenheart ..". Yeaaaah it's MARILLION man! They stood-out from the crowd and dare to challenge the new wave / punk era with prog rock!!! MARILLION was the hero that has saved the legacy of progressive rock.

Back to this album. If you have not heard PFM yet, don't try this album first. You should try JET LAG or CHOCOLATE KINGS or PHOTOS of GHOST first. You would then have a full picture of how great the band was. But, don't ever touch this album! By any standard, either rock or pop, this album is highly NOT recommended. Gatot Widayanto, Indonesia.

unfortunately......i've heard this album after i've bought it.......this is not a PFM album, this is a bad pop album with songs lacking in quality and absolutely conceited. Did they really think they could play this music, losing all their roots? well...it's not important for me the answer..I hate this one..and I think Pfm, in the 80's, was a piontless band! don't make my same mistake....leave this on shelf!

This album, in my opinion, is heavily underrated. The reasons are very simple: it doesn't sound like orthodox "PFM", it's not meant as a serious work (the title itself suggest that, and seeing people complaining about it instead of enjoying the trick is really funny), and - finally - most of the lyrics not only don't make any sense at all but seem to have been written with the exact purpose of annoying the listener.

So what? The music IS of outstanding quality AND well played - PFm doesn't betray on that - and as a result I happen to like this album quite a lot. The first time I heard "Pfm? Pfm!" I was puzzled. They clearly had chosen to get a "bad-taste-80s- sound" on the first track. From the second track onwards, the sound keeps the same, but the overall atmosphere changes a lot. Actually, with the exception of that first track, which has been a commercial hit for a very short time, the rest of the songs are very good. The sound is sparkling and plastic, and as such it seems to point to a reassuring effect. But the song structure and the lyrics deny that. The development of choruses, illuminating acoustic guitars solos by Mussida (hear "Sentimentalmente") and the choice of words which refuse to go anywhere conjure up to a sense of frustration- in-a-friendly-environment which is just great.

It's no point arguing how much of this was on purpose. The final effect is fascinating, and every accusation of "loosing roots" on this album is just silly.

If you want to get into Premiata Forneria Marconi,as any prog fan worth their salt should,do absolutely not start here.Haltung.You will need to start with their earlier albums.By this album and the 3 or 4 previous,PFM had given up on trying to conquer the world.

From Passpartu in 1978 they dropped prog and played what I would consider Italo pop/rock,but good music at that.Shorter catchier songs ,sung in Italian with the usual excellent musicianship. I rather have this kind of PFM music than none at all.Yes it is rather light fare,but I love all of their albums for what they are and not for what they are not.Of their 4 pop albums,before moving into a different genre with Miss Baker,this one and Come Ti Va are the weakest.To me Passpartu and Suonara Suonara are the best of the 4,and are both 3 very big stars,and this one plus Come ti va are 3 small stars.

But rest assured,this one is hard to come by,so picking it up by a mistake is probably next to impossible.