November/December Tour [30th September 1997]
- According to Vinyl Magic, PFM will tour Italy very soon, probably late November/ early December. Although concert dates are not fixed yet, five venues are confirmed by now: Milano, Torino, Bologna, Roma and Napoli.
A major "Ulisse" Tour is now beeing prepared by "Cose di Musica", a promoter from Milan, for starting in January 1998.
One More TV Appearance [by Gianfranco Rosati, 11th June 1997]
- PFM will appear on Italian TV this coming Sunday June 15, between 12:15 and 13:00 on "Canale 5" tv channel. The band is going to be featured in a weekly "Hit Parade"-type studio program named "Super: la classifica dei dischi della settimana" (which I never cared to watch before).
Reportedly, they will play "Il cavallo di legno" from Ulisse.
I won't be surprised if the song's videoclip is shown on this occasion.
Another Italian TV Appearance [ 9th June 1997]
- PFM is going to appear on Italian TV this coming Thursday night June 12, between 20:45 and 23:15 on "Italia 1" tv channel. The band is scheduled to appear among many other artists (such as Zucchero, Pino Daniele, Franco Battiato, and more) in a live broadcast from Mantova, the second one of a series of live shows named "Festivalbar'97" which started last week and will last all summer.
TV Appearance [by Gianfranco Rosati, 1st June 1997]
- Last saturday, May, 24 PFM appeared in a special-event concert which took place in Ancona and was broadcasted live by "RAIDUE".
They opened a program which turned in a two-hour showcase of live appearances by many of Italy's currently popular artists/bands. Each artist was given a limited amount of time, and PFM was chosen as the "apening act" (I don't know whether we should feel proud or disappointed at this choice) with an eight-minute live appearance. The announcers introduced the band as follows:
"Se esiste in rock in Italia è stato anche grazie a loro. Dopo anni, finalmente sono tornati per ricordarci cos'è il rock, quello vero, e sono questa sera insieme ad un compagno di viaggio veramente prezioso: Ricky Tognazzi.... CON LA PFM !!!"
[translation: "If rock exists (at all) in Italy it is also because of them. After years, they are finally back to remind us what rock, the real one, is all about, and tonight they are together with a very precious travelling friend: Ricky Tognazzi..... WITH PFM !!!"]
They played "Ieri", the short opening track of Ulisse which features Ricky Tognazzi's solemn narrating voice, and then they segued into "Il cavallo di legno", which seems to be their new battle-horse (no pun intended about horses).
Di Cioccio sang and Mussida played acoustic guitar, and they were both backed by session-men on drums and electric guitar. Premoli and Djivas played keyboards and bass as expected.
They looked and sounded very determined, and I'm sure many people in the audience were surprised to hear these middle-aged men who are virtually unknown to any Italian under 25 years of age. I'm also sure that many would have liked PFM to go on with more live music, but it just wasn't possible within such a live show format.
Personally, I was a bit disappointed by the choice of song, as I don't like "Il cavallo di legno" that much. It has a very catchy keyboard riff which I find almost irritating, and it is built within a typical and totally expectable song structure which concentrates on the vocals and leaves little room to soloing. I'd rather hear many other songs from Ulisse than this one, but it looks like this is the one they rely on in terms of commercial appeal.
PFM in Forthcoming TV Shows [18th May 1997]
- Here's a tip for those of you who can watch Italian tv channels with a satellite dish (...Europeans only, I am afraid). PFM is going to appear on Italian tv:
1) this coming Thursday May 22 at 2:25 p.m. (Italian time) in a short music program called "Free pass free" broadcasted daily on "Italia 1" tv channel.
2) this coming Saturday May 24 at 10:30 p.m. (Italian time), along with several other Italian artists in a special-event concert to take place in Ancona which will be broadcasted live by "RAIDUE" (RAI's 2nd channel).
I believe both channels can be watched from other European countries with appropriate equipment.
They will probably feature pretty short appearances by PFM - I expect them to play one song off the new album in each tv appearance.
Live PFM on Italian Radio [16th May 1997]
- PFM was broadcasted live yesterday from RAI2 national radio studios in Roma!!! They finished their set by playing "Celebration" into "Impressioni di Settembre", then they came back for an encore and played "Il cavallo di legno" from the new album "Ulisse".
After the 'concerto' PFM members were interviewed in radio studios. They annouced PFM will play many live dates around the end of the summer.
PFM Reunion and their New Album! [4th May 1997]
- The rumors of a possible PFM reunion, circulating since 1995, finally and happily came true, on April 24, with the group's first official studio release in 10 years!
The new album, called "Ulisse" (Ulysses), is released on RTI (1146-2), the same label on which their 4cd live set, "10 anni live" was released last September. It is interesting to note that Ulisse is available on CD, cassette and ... VINYL !!
Here's a rundown of the titles:
Ieri - Yesterday [1:38]
Andare per andare - Leaving for leaving's sake [6:22]
Sei - You are [5:58]
Il cavallo di legno - The wooden horse [4:27]
Ulisse - Ulysses [6:03]
Uno in piú - One more man [5:03]
Il mio nome é nessuno - My name is "Nobody"[5:44]
Canzone del ritorno - Song of the homecoming [4:30]
Lettera al padre - Letter to the father [4:37]
Liberi dal bene liberi dal male - Free from good free from evil [4:39]
Domani - Tomorrow [1:58]
The line up is:
- Di Cioccio: drums, percussions and vocals
- Patrick Djivas: bass and "programming" (no details provided)
- Franco Mussida: electric, acoustic, 12string & fretless(!) guitar and
vocals
- Flavio Premoli: piano, C3 Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes, synths and vocals.
Premoli makes a very welcome return after a 17-year absence and his presence is very prominent. All songs were written by "PFM" and all lyrics were provided by Vincenzo Incenzo, a writer of many recent popular Italian songs.
According to an article in the British 'Record Collector' magazine, May issue, Pete Sinfield, who wrote the English lyrics for their 2nd and 3rd albums in the 70s, has been asked by PFM to write English lyrics for the new album.
Sinfield is quoted as saying "It's a beautiful thing but needs to be sung properly in English. I said to John Wetton if he'll sing it , I'll write it! That may occur; it will occur if I can get someone like him to sing it.
Its a concept album about Ulysses and searching and questing."
A track by track review of the album will be available soon.
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