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Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) - A.D. 2010 - La Buona Novella CD (album) cover

A.D. 2010 - LA BUONA NOVELLA

Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM)

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

3.47 | 127 ratings

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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars 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.

Nightfly | 3/5 |

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