The guys from PFM have worked hard, demonstrating the seriousness and commitment of true professionals, to achieve these results: but on the other hand, despite having become the most appreciated representatives of Italian pop outside the national borders, they have never forgotten the fans of their country, so much so that they face frequent tours - without real security from an economic point of view - in order to maintain immediate contact with our public.
Within the Premiata, in recent months, an important change has occurred in the line-up with the inclusion of a solo singer, Bernardo Lanzetti, from Acqua Fragile.
We spoke extensively with Mauro Pagani, violinist, flutist and effective spokesperson for the ensemble, of these innovations and the fervor of initiatives that are shaking and enthusing PFM. But - to start - we asked him to summarize once again the lucky story of Premiata Forneria Marconi.
“Towards the end of the 1960s there were several groups of excellent technical level in Italy which, however, could not overcome the diffidence of record companies and concert organizers. I Quelli, for example, had an excellent preparation behind them, but in order to survive they were forced to make Italian versions of foreign hits, or to accompany local singers on their records. In 1970 I came into contact with them (Franco Mussida, guitars; Flavio Premoli, keyboards; Giorgio Piazza, bass; Franz Di Cioccio, drums) and after a long period of rehearsals together, Premiata Forneria Marconi was born, inspired by English "progressive rock" intended to demonstrate that even in Italy it was possible to create committed music in step with the times. In that year the first tours of British bands (Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Yes) in our country began, arousing sensational acclaim, and someone began to sense that the Italian public was now mature and able to critically distinguish between 45 rpm "industrial" production, and a more refined and advanced genre. Thus came the first album of Le Orme and then a few months later, our “Storia di un minuto”. We had already made ourselves known, participating in concerts of some foreign groups and at the Festival of Avant-Garde and New Trends in Viareggio, and the album achieved immediate success, reaching first place in the charts (early months of ’72). Other tours culminated with the first series of self-managed concerts in the South, which allowed ticket prices to be kept at a reasonable level, and the second LP was then released, “Per un amico”. In ’73 we met Emerson, Lake & Palmer who offered us to join their new label, Manticore, for which we make the English version of “Per un amico", that is "Photos Of Ghosts" with lyrics written by Pete Sinfield, former collaborator of King Crimson. We made our debut in London in March 1973, followed by a European tour, appearances at the Reading Festival in England and the Zurich Jazz Festival. Meanwhile, Giorgio Piazza has been replaced in the formation of bassist Patrick Djivas, from Area. The next album, “L’isola di niente” is recorded in London in Italian and English (this one with the title "The World Became The World”); other European tours, but also numerous concerts in Italy, (among others, the first edition of the Lambro Park Festival in Milan). In the summer of 1974, the American debut with a tour of over two months. In the United States and Canada, we go back to the end of the year for other concerts and for the recordings of the live LP "Live in U.S.A". In the meantime, we have repeatedly played in England (also at the Rainbow in London) and in Europe (also at the Olympia in Paris and at the Montreux Festival), 1975: Third American tour in spring and still many with some in Italy for the democratic and progressive organizations. In October the new LP “Chocolate Kings” with lyrics in English, and the year ended with a beautiful tour in Japan. At the beginning of ’76, another Italian tour in collaboration with alternative circuits. Meanwhile, Bernardo Lanzetti joined the group as a solo voice.”
What are the Premiata's projects now?
What is most important to us at present is to start a collaboration with other musical groups (such as Area and Stormy Six) and with cultural and political organizations to create a truly functioning alternative circuit, which guarantees the survival of the Italian bands seriously engaged in artistic research with specific cultural and political directions, there are many, really valid, who are in serious financial difficulties due to the misunderstanding of the music industry and information means. It will be a long job aimed at building a national network for organizing concerts, debates, and cultural events, and we will need the support and interest of all music fans and young democrats. At the moment, it must be said, the situation of concerts in Italy is chaotic and in many cases the amateurism of those who organize them causes misunderstandings in economic failures: we think that it also affects - and above all - to the musicians help to clear things up.
Why has “Chocolate Kings” been published only in Italy so far?
Beh, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore, after a good start, turned out to be a badly organized record company. In these weeks we intend to get a definitive clarification with them, also because it has had substantial offers from large US companies. In any case, the album should come out soon abroad: in the U.S.A. it has long been transmitted by the main radio stations and has obtained very favorable acclaim, even more than for our previous production. However, we are preparing for new tours across the Channel and across the Ocean, completing in these days the development of the amplification and the lighting system. In Japan we presented “Chocolate Kings” live and the reactions were excellent: the lyrics also aroused a lot of interest.
You have been criticized for making a record entirely in English. What is the reason for such a decision?
For "Chocolate Kings", conceived for the new line-up with a solo singer, the compositions obviously left a lot of space for lyrics: in addition, there was also our desire to make people abroad understand what our cultural and political commitment is (already known to the Italian public for our “live” activity and previous records). Even though we imagined that we would face criticism, we therefore decided to write the lyrics ourselves in English (the themes favored by Sinfield did not seem more suitable), with the help of the American singer Marva Jan Marrow, a friend who lives in Italy. Once the drafting work was finished, and satisfied more than expected by the results, we started preparing the Italian version. But we soon realized that - both for questions of metrics and for the particularities of our language - a surrogate emerged, a not very poetic compendium which also diminished the value of the contents. The solution was to include the literal translations in Italian on the record, that allowed to fully understand what is meant and are interesting in themselves.
The PFM has added the voice of Bernardo Lanzetti. For what reasons?
At some point we decided to take a singer, finding ourselves at a crossroads. Premiata was always more of an instrumental group than vocals, none of them actually sang willingly; we were so forced to compose very short vocal parts, because we were more interested in the instrumental aspect. The choice at the end was between becoming a formation without voices or adding one, a soloist, which would allow us to propose well-studied and fairly extensive texts. We chose this second solution: the first contacts were with Ivan Graziani, a very good singer-composer who in the past had been part of the Anonima Sound. But, after months of rehearsals, we realized that for various reasons, his voice and his personality didn't blend well with the musical setting of PFM. In the end, the matter with Ivan, who has now made an album of his own, was amicably resolved, and we turned to Bernardo. He accepted immediately, because at that time his group, Acqua Fragile, were restructuring the formation in a direction that interested him less. Although he arrived at the last moment, Bernardo was able to collaborate validly in the drafting of the lyrics and therefore began to study the vocal parts intensely: the result of his insertion was certainly positive, but from him, from his expressive skills as a singer and from his ability as a composer we expect a big contribution for the evolution of the group. We are already preparing new pieces and the impression is that the “new” Premiata is becoming more and more direct and essential, to the advantage of communication, for a closer contact with our public.
