A.D. 2010 - LA BUONA NOVELLA

Legendary RPI band from early 70-s released new album in 2010. What do we can find there?

Nice Italian traditional pop-rock with some prog elements, Baroque touches and even few folk motives. Or let say with plenty of small reminders they were progressive band few decades ago. Very melodic, nostalgic, melancholic music. Plenty of vocal, poetic balladry atmosphere crossing all album.

Music is not too complex to be accepted as serious progressivo, but very competent and professional for vintage Italian prog-rock. Some instrumental moments even show echoes from long ago years glory.

Don't think this album is for progressive music (of any kind) lovers. But for lovers of Italian vintage pop-rock and for fans of melodic and melancholic balladry this album could be quite nice work. For PFM collectors as well.

My rating 2+.

It was with great anticipation that I waited to hear the new album from PFM, having thoroughly enjoyed the all instrumental Stati Di Immaginazione released four years ago. Was it worth the wait? Well, while not entirely disappointing, in fact La Buonna Novella is certainly a good album; it does fail to reach the heights of their previous masterpiece.

La Buonna Novella is not an entirely original piece of work from PFM. It was released forty years ago by Fabrizio De Andre. Having not heard the original I could not say how faithful if at all it remains. What I do know is that the songs have at the very least been re-arranged and new music added. The lyrics apparently remain faithful to the original.

No doubt disappointing to most PA members, on La Buonna Novella you wont much in the way of progressive rock. Where you do is on the instrumental sections which when they happen are sometimes stunning, often with a similar sound and feel to Stati Di Immaginazione. Unfortunately there aren't enough of these moments, the songs in the main taking a light rock approach. At the back of my mind the feel of this album was reminding me of something that annoyingly I couldn't lay my finger on. Then it came to me, this cd has a vibe not dissimilar to Mark Knopfler's (Dire Straits) solo album Shangri-La. In fact a Dire Straits comparison is also valid. Listen to Il Sogno Di Maria for a perfect example of this. It's all beautifully played of course, if a little sterile and safe, but some strong melodies make up for this. There are the occasional folk influences, prog touches here and there but in the main it's that light rock stuff. The vocals are adequate though certainly not spectacular, it's at its best on the instrumental work with some excellent guitar playing in particular. Violin adds a nice touch along with some pleasing keyboard work and the impressive rhythm section.

Overall then, La Buonna Novella has to be a slight disappointment but it had a lot to live up to. Nevertheless despite its weak prog credentials it's still an enjoyable listen but I think that today's PFM are better when sticking to the instrumental material, which they are masters at. 3 ½ stars.

Strong candidate for the best album of 2010

A few months ago I found about the release of "2010 AD - La Buona Novella", a Prog Opera by PFM based in the conceptual album composed by Fabrizio de Andre in 1970 and performed by him and PFM. "La Buona Novella" a musical version of an apocryphal Gospel which confers the same importance to the divine and human nature of Christ, reason why it was not well received in a Catholic country as Italy.

In 2010, Premiata Forneri­a Marconi hasn't only resurrected the album to play a cover or a remake, but to create a a new release, modifying all the arrangements and adding complete songs plus new sections to the tracks, for this reason is a new album completely different to the original.

As we know, PFM had to face two problems, the legendary keyboardist "Flavio Premoli" had to leave the band due to health reasons that go back to 2005, but his place is covered by "Gianluca Tagliavini" (who has been playing with the band since 2006), and does an excellent job.

The second problem I find relies in the vocals, "Franz di Cioccio" takes the lead and strangely not "Franco Mussida" (who was the lead vocalist in songs as Dulcisima Maria) sings too much, so being that Franz range is very raspy, becomes an acquired taste, but after a few minutes the listener gets used being that "Di Cioccio" puts the soul in all his performances.

"2010 AD" begins with "Universo e Terra" (Universe and Earth), a very elaborate prelude written by PFM not only to introduce the listener into the concept, but also to recreate the sound of 1970 (The Hammond organ is delightful), with Franco Mussida making an amazing work in the guitars.

"L'infanzia di Maria" (The Childhood of Mary) is an incredibly beautiful song where "Lucio Fabbri gives a delicate violin performance that blends perfectly with the nostalgic lyrics sung by "Di Cioccio", a strong beginning with an extra section added by PFM called "La Tentazioni" (The Temptation),

"Il Ritorno di Giuseppe" (Joseph's Return) is much more dramatic than the previous song, even when they don't loose their fascination for a strong melody, again PFM adds a new section called "Il Respiro del Deserto (The Breath of the Desert) to the already excellent original work.

"Il Sogno di Maria" (Mary's Dream) surprised me, because I expected a more oneiric and dreamy song, but instead the band presents a folksy tune based in "Di Cioccio's" vocals plus the acoustic guitars by "Mussida" and apparently "Fabbri".

"Ave Maria" is a chance for "Franco Mussida" to demonstrate his skills with the electric guitar, well supported by "Di Cioccio" and Patrick Djivas" in the drums and bass. Again PFM gives priority to the melody rather than to complexity, but this doesn't affect the Prog nature of the album and track. PFM adds a new section called "Aria per Maria" (Aria for Mary).

"Maria Nella Bottega di un Falegname" (Mary in a Carpenter's Workshop) is simply fantastic, the instrumental sections with flute, violin percussion and synthesizers are simply breathtaking, the most elaborate track of the album at this point. Again "Mussida, Djivas and Di Cioccio" ad a new section to "De Andre's" work called "Rumori di Bottega" (Rumours from a Workshop).

"Via de la Croce" (The Route of the Cross) starts with a narration supposedly made by Pontius Pilate and when the singing section starts seems that at last "Franco Mussida" has taken the lead vocals (not sure though) and of course we can expect an absolutely dramatic song due to the nature of the lyrics. Again PFM added a new section called " Scintille di Pena" (Sparks of Sadness).

"Tre Madri" (Three Mothers) is a very sad song that reflects the pain of the mother of a crucified son, the arrangements are just perfect mixing Blues based Rock with some Classical and Italian ethnic influences, the touch of the crying violin by "Fabbri" are heartbreaking. As usual PFM added a new section called "Canto delle Madri" (Chant of the Mother), amazingly beautiful and radical changes around the fourth minute with a killer drumming and violin.

"Il Testamento di Tito" (Tito's Testament) is the most respectful tribute to Fabrizio de Andre, retaking his "troubadouresque" vocal style blended with an impressive keyboard performance, a musical time travel to 1970.

"Laudate Hominem" (Praise to the Man) is a song that Fabrizio de Andre made from his perspective of Christ as the first revolutionary, to honour his human essence. PFM decided to close the album with an incredibly complex and elaborate song and added a new section called "Oda all'Uomo" (Ode to the Man) with specially radical arrangements.

After reading the previous reviews I can't do anything else but respectfully disagree with them, in my opinion 2010 AD - La Buona Novella (Opera apocrifa da La Buona Novella di Fabrizio De Andre¨) " is a perfect masterpiece, well composed and with even better arrangements than the original album by "Fabrizio", I would be dishonest with myself if I didn't rated this magnificent album with less than five solid stars.