Record of the day: PFM, “Jet Lag”

PFM, “Jet Lag” (Cd RCA Nd 75244)

The first album released after Mauro Pagani had left the group, “Jet Lag” had the very difficult task of living up to the previous “Chocolate Kings”, one of the cornerstones created by this historic Italian rock formation.

The singer Bernardo Lanzetti had now integrated perfectly into the general sound of the group (even if PFM has always been a formation inclined to give space more to instrumental performances than to vocals) and juggles through the complicated melodies of these songs with valuable results . To make up for the lack of Pagani’s violin, the American Gregory Bloch was recruited, coming from the Marc Almond Band, who proved to be technically very skilled but decidedly less personal than his predecessor and who played a rather secondary role in the album.

The group manages to remain at high levels thanks to the compositional skill of all the members; instead of settling into a successful routine (like many groups in that period) they completely get back into the game by pushing even more emphasis on the jazz-rock language, giving life to exciting ensemble improvisations with great instrumental virtuosity within structures decidedly complex compositions. Together with Area and Banco, PFM moved at levels of technical-executive standards that were unthinkable for any other Italian group at the time (and probably even now), but the technical skill never crystallized into a cold calculation of instrumental skill and was always at the service of a spontaneous and imaginative musical approach.

Franz Di Cioccio on drums is irrepressible, but Patrick Djivas’ fretless bass is no different in creating rhythmic frameworks that combine originality and instinct in an unmistakable way. The pieces are all excellent, from the guitar solo “Peninsula” which fully reveals the skill of guitarist Franco Mussida to the enthralling theme of “Left-Handed Theory” passing through the homage to Weather Report in “Storia in La”. Compared to records like “Storia di un minuti” and “L’isola di niente”, “Jet Lag” was received rather coldly by the public (and rock critics, as usual, understood nothing about it), but it’s never too late to make up for lost time by rediscovering a work full of excellent music.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.