Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM)
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2017
Duration: 61:54
Rating: 2/5
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Italy’s champions of symphonic progressive rock, have racked up a few ugly missteps next to the masterpieces over their long and turbulent career, like »Come Ti Va In Riva Alla Citta« (1981), »PFM? PFM!« (1984) and »Miss Baker« (1987), which most PFM diehards would happily forget. Sadly, their latest album »Emotional Tattoes« sits closer to those low points than to the PFM classics, both in atmosphere and in the structure of most of its songs. When original guitarist Franco Mussida, author of the lion’s share of the best work by the legendary Italian proggers and their main driving force, left in 2015, most PFM fans already sensed nothing good was coming. And they were right. Mussida was replaced by Marco Sfogli (Icefish), an established guitarist best known for his work with Dream Theater singer James LaBrie and drumming great Virgil Donati (Planet X). Sfogli’s contribution is one of the few bright spots on the album, since in the odd solo moment he proves he’s an outstanding guitar virtuoso, but there’s no way he can fill Mussida’s long shadow.
With its generic melodies and witless arrangements, »Emotional Tattoos« is light years away from what PFM did in their golden years, and from some of their more recent achievements too, like the brilliant »Stati di Immaginazione« (2006), because this time it’s not symphonic prog rock in the old-school Italian recipe, but a hollowed-out, ambient symphonic art pop rock with the occasional hard rock element and a few short solo spots. The album is chronically short on good ideas, and when a longtime fan hears abominations like the catastrophic »Il cielo che c’e/A Day We Share«, it just breaks their heart. The record is dominated by boring ballads with sleepy symphonic arrangements and generic melodic rockers, with the odd slightly wittier instrumental flash. There’s precious little worth mentioning on »Emotional Tattoos«. One of the few things is the neat instrumental »Freedom Square«, which, with its mighty guitar-and-keyboard harmonies, clever string arrangements and interesting tempo shifts, at least faintly recalls the days of former glory.
The special edition of »Emotional Tattoos« released outside Italy comes with a bonus disc containing exactly the same songs, only sung in English, which was of course a blatantly commercial move. The band’s only remaining original member, drummer Franz Di Cioccio, who has become the lead singer over the years, has admittedly polished his English singing quite a bit over time, but that does nothing to improve the bad impression left by both the Italian and the English version of »Emotional Tattoos«. Di Cioccio deserves an extra scolding, because his drums sound ‘flat’ on most of the tracks, almost like a drum machine. The biggest losers, though, are the two keyboardists who, through most of the songs, seem to play their keyboards without a shred of emotion and with absolutely zero drive. On top of that, »Emotional Tattoos« suffers from bloat, since almost seventy minutes of musical torture is absolutely too much. Sometimes it feels like Inside Out Records, who must be thrilled to have lured such a legendary band into their ranks, simply forces their artists to record the biggest album possible.
The decorated bakery led by Miss Baker heads off to San Remo. That’s about the easiest way to sum up the final impression after listening to »Emotional Tattoos«, on which PFM, without Mussida, have plunged into a creative abyss and made one of the worst records of their rich career. Listening to this instantly forgettable album is an extremely painful experience for every longtime PFM fan, so it’s better if they simply don’t add it to their PFM record collection, just like the band’s eighties output, and in doing so punish the current version of the band for creating such a subpar product and smearing the legendary PFM name.
Lineup
Franz Di Cioccio – lead vocals, drums, arrangements
Marco Sfogli – guitar, arrangements
Alessandro Scaglione – keyboards, piano, orchestration (1)
Alberto Bravin – keyboards, backing vocals
Lucio Fabbri – violin, viola
Patrick Djivas – bass guitar, keyboards, arrangements
Roberto Gualdi – percussion
GUEST MUSICIAN
Stefano Bollani – piano (11)
Production
Franz Di Cioccio
Track list
CD 1 – Italian version
1. Il Regno (7:12)
2. Oniro (6:06)
3. La lezione (5:08)
4. Mayday (5:56)
5. La danza degli specchi (6:03)
6. Il cielo che c’è (4:55)
7. Quartiere generale (5:27)
8. Freedom Square (Instrumental) (4:47)
9. Dalla Terra alla Luna (5:57)
10. Le cose belle (5:16)
11. Big Bang (5:07)
CD 2/ 2LP – English version
1. We’re Not An Island (7:12)
2. Morning Freedom (6:06)
3. The Lesson (5:08)
4. So Long (5:56)
5. A Day We Share (6:03)
6. There’s A Fire In Me (4:55)
7. Central District (5:27)
8. Freedom Square (Instrumental) (4:47)
9. I’m Just A Sound (5:57)
10. Hannah (5:16)
11. It’s My Road (5:07)
