L'ISOLA DI NIENTE

Rather than recording a third album in the pastoral style of their first two releases, PFM chose to experiment a bit more on L'Isola di Niente. The album very much seems like a transitional one, in which the band dabble in a range of different approaches perfected by other bands of the day whilst still remaining PFM-ish enough to retain their identity. The opening title track shows the heavy keyboard attack of ELP, whilst closing track Via Lumiere begins with discordant noodling before breaking out into a wild avant-garde attack reminiscent of Larks' Tongues-era King Crimson, spending the rest of the track shifting between that and a fusion mould influenced by Mahavishnu Orchestra, until reaching a conclusion worthy of Genesis themselves.

There's pastoral joy here too, so if you like your RPI bands dripping with Trespass-era Genesis worship then you'll like some of the middle tracks. And one track is sung in English (Is My Face On Straight), though to be honest that's probably the weakest track on the album - singing in a language which isn't your native one is always a challenge, but even then the vocals seem substantially weaker in terms of their performance than PFM's usual standard. So, not a wonderful classic on the level of the first two PFM albums, partly because of Is My Face On Straight and partly because of the watering-down of the band's distinctive identity and the transitional nature of the album. But it's still a very enjoyable listen and should be your next step after sampling the classic Storia di un Minuto and Per Un Amico.