10 Anni Live - 1971-1981
FM Absolutely Live 1971-1978 (10 Anni Live - 1971-1981, in the Italian release) is a 4-CD box, tastefully packaged, with an informative booklet containing 265 minutes of surprisingly high quality recordings of 4 specific periods:
- 1971/72 ("Italian Tour");- 1974 ("The American Experience"); - 1976 ("The European Experience"); - 1977/78 ("Contaminazioni"). The set is licensed by Italian "Vinyl Magic" company. The first disk starts with a true surprise: very convincing versions of "21st Century Schizoid Man", "My God", "Picture of a City" and "Bourree". The ultimate prog-boy's wet dream! Mauro Pagani's voice at moments does remind one of an early Ian Anderson, albeit with a strange accent. What on earth could he mean with: "Ze bladi surseringlun/intsanes iwistori/requests your urgri presence"? But let's not spend too much time making fun of Italian accents. Too much of that is going on already. I find it brave to start such a box with more than 30 minutes of Crimson and Tull covers. It gives a nice (and sympathetic) insight in the musical origins of the band. The strange thing is, that they weren't at all inexperienced, starting musicians. PFM's predecessor I Quelli recorded singles as far back as 1965! By 1971 they were true virtuosi. In places they actually add value to the classic Tull- and Crimson-songs! It's a pity, though, that consequently there isn't too much room on the disk for PFM-originals. With only 50 minutes this disk is by far the shortest of the set. It ends with "La Carozza Di Hans" and "Dove***Quando" from their first LP, "Storia di un Minuto". For much more material of their first period, you'll have to get the CD "Bobo Club 2000 - 1972" (Prehistoric Label, PR 02), but the sound quality of that CD is far inferior to this Japanese box. The second disk is bound to be the least interesting, because much of the material from that time has been released as the live-album "Cook". Still,PFM was one of those bands that never mechanically played what they once recorded in the studio. They have always principally been an improvising group. "We try to give more as possible", as one of them states on disk 2. Bass-player Giorgio Piazza had been replaced by Pat Djivas, who was an excellent (improvisational) jazz-rock-bassist with cult-band Area, and that surely shows. By 1974, PFM no longer was a "symphonic" rockband. Older songs recieved a face-lift, and became more jazzy. Most people who are into PFM object slightly to this trend, but personally, I love their interpretation of "jazz-rock". All this means, that disk 2 is certainly not a rip-off of "Cook". Apart from the obvious things (the violin-solo evolving into Rossini's "William Tell Overture", it contains at least one gem: an incredibly funky version of "La Carrozza di Hans", the best I have ever heard. Disk 3 shows the further development of PFM towards a more rocky, jazzy sound. Franco Mussida's guitar becomes more and more dominant. He has a variety of styles, sometimes playing in the vein of Steve Howe, then again sounding distinctly like Frank Zappa. This disk is virtually one big improvisation, with well known themes passing by. These last two disks contain recordings exclusively from Italy, so the interaction between group and audience is in Italian. That sounds much nicer then their English experience. The group has had many lead-singers, and on the last two disks of this box, it is Bernardo Lanzetti from Acqua Fragile. He has a voice with which many fans have their problems. I once heard him described as "Peter Gabriel with laryngitis". But since most of PFM's music is instrumental, it doesn't really matter. Disk 3 is of the "Chocolate Kings"-tour, and contains some very strong versions of the already quite energetic songs of that album. Also another violin solo with Rossini. Not a very strong version, in my opinion, and the disk would've been better off without it. It isn't long, though. "Celebration" and the standard finale (drum-solo, "Impressioni di Settembre" and "Poseidon" finish this disk. Disk 4 - Towards the end of the seventies, when Mauro Pagani had left to pursue his solo-career, Franco Mussida clearly became the frontman of PFM. His guitar-playing dominates the first half of this disk, where "Jet Lag" is played almost in its entirety, culminating in the wonderful "traveler", with its hypnotic theme. Due to Pagani's absence, we hear no more flutes, but the violin-parts have been ably taken up by Gregory Bloch, who freaks out on the second part of disk 4. A little less subtle, perhaps, than Pagani, his more electrical style of playing fits in really well with the rest of the band.
My final conclusion:
Robert Eksteen
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