01	L'Isola Di Niente						10:48
	02	Is My Face On Straight						06:41
	03	La Luna Nuova						06:27
	04	Dolcissima Maria						04:08
	05	Via Lumiere						07:25

Franz di Cioccio, drums, percussion, voice;
Jan Patrick Djivas, bass, voice;
Franco Mussida, guitar, voice;
Mauro Pagani, violin, flute, voice;
Flavio Premoli, keyboards, voice

Bob Eichler:
Of the three PFM albums that I've heard (the first three Italian language releases), this is my least favorite. With one exception, there aren't any bad songs on the album, but there also isn't much that makes me say "wow" like the first two albums do.
I got off on the wrong foot with this album on my first listen - the opening minutes of nothing but choral vocals had me wondering if I had picked up the wrong album. Once that title track gets going it turns out to be a good symphonic prog track though. Unfortunately, "Is My Face On Straight" comes along next and ruins any goodwill I've started to build up about the album. Featuring some hideous English-language lyrics and poor, accented vocals, this song makes me understand why most hard core PFM fans recommend avoiding the all-English albums.
The remainder of the album is better, but by this point there's only seventeen minutes left. "La Luna Nuova" starts out with a neat little percussion section and then turns into a bouncy number with very catchy violin and synth leads. Probably my favorite song on the album. "Dolcissima Maria" is a bit too pastoral for my tastes, but "Via Lumiere" makes up for it with some really chops-driven and intense sections that sound a little out of place on this otherwise very pretty album.
Overall the good outweighs the bad on this disc, and if you're into Italian prog it's worth picking up eventually. But if you don't already have the first two PFM albums, I'd grab those first.

Brandon Wu:
This was my first PFM album, and given what I'd heard about their first three releases (this being their third), I was somewhat surprised by the diversity of styles that the band exhibits on this album. Although the music here is, of course, in the melodic Italian symph-prog vein, there's a bit of variety. The title track is probably my favorite - a relatively heavy, instrumentally dense ten-minute workout. Admittedly, the first couple minutes consist of choral work that doesn't really go anywhere, but when the guitar breaks in, soon backed up by a rapidly pulsing rhythm section, you know you're in for a treat. The song never really lets up - good stuff.
The second and third songs are more along the lines of what I was expecting: cheerfully crazy vocal-dominated tracks, dominated by keys and guitar. I find that these pieces sound a bit dated and cheesy, especially the latter with its somewhat grating keyboard timbres. Oh, and the lyrics to "Is My Face On Straight" is yet another reason Pete Sinfield should have been shot. "Dolcissima Maria", on the other hand, is a short acoustic ballad that is quite beautiful in its delicacy. The closer, "Via Lumiere", is the oddball: a fusion-tinged instrumental that starts off with a bass solo and then suddenly breaks into a passage in which the fast-paced, staccato guitar playing almost wouldn't be out of place on a ska album. This passage forms the bookends of a fast-slow-fast section which then resolves into a majestic finale featuring thick keyboard washes overlaid with pseudo-psychedelic guitar noodlings. Sort of reminds of me of early Pink Floyd played over Yesish atmospheric keyboards.
Overall this is a pretty good album. The fact that the second and third tracks sound extremely dated is unfortunate, though - this is already a pretty short release, and without those two tracks I can count barely twenty minutes of material that I really enjoy. And though this makes me think that PFM albums would do well released as 2-on-1s, it doesn't make this album anything less than one of the band's strongest efforts.




PFM - L `Isola di Niente

Release Date: 1974

Track Listing
1) L`Isola di Niente (10:42)
2) Is My Face On Straight (6:38)
3) La Luna Nuova (6:21)
4) Dolcissima Maria (4:01)
5) Via Lumiere (7:21)

Member: Aereosol Kid

One of the most important Italian record companies of the 70's, Dischi Ricordi has started the long overdue task of remastering their 70's progressive catalogue, transferring to 24 bit technology, classic treasures like Banco's Darwin or the very first 4 albums by Premiata Forneria Marconi.

L'Isola di Niente is one of the lucky records to get a 21st century treatment and the title track "L'Isola di Niente" (meaning the Island of Nobody) proves that it has aged well. It starts with a complex, gloomy choir that leads to a heavy riff with very hard rocking vocals, interspersed with some atmospheric interludes full of nice acoustic guitars, mellotron and flute, making a strong opening statement that shows why ELP and Pete Sinfield got interested in the "warm Mediterranean progressive sound".

"Is My Face On Straight" is a more conventional progressive track featuring lyrics by Peter Sinfield with nice effect guitars and a strong interaction between bass and drums, very much in an early Crimson vein.

"La Luna Nouva" is the highlight from the album, the catchy theme has a folky-epic flavor provided by violin and keyboard interaction, erupting into a flute/keyboard solo supported by sturdy bass and drums. A flawless performance from all players with a beautiful soft vocal part in the middle, the song ends with another heavy arrangement that could teach prog metal groups like Dream Theater a lesson or two.

"Dulcissima Maria", a ballad named after Virgin Mary is the closest the group gets to Italian pop, but the acoustic approach makes it beautiful and worthwhile.

The album ends with "Via Lumiere", showcasing the abbilities of their new bass player at the time: Patrick Djivas, it starts with a fretless bass solo supported by eerie, jazzy guitar(Franco Mussida) and keyboard chords (Flavio Premoli), reminiscent of Return to Forever, and it kicks into a hard fusionesque ensemble with excellent solos provided by violin and flute player Mauro Pagani.

Not as progressive as the previous two efforts (Storia di un Minuto and Per un Amico) L'Isola di Niente blends perfectly early Genesis and King Crimson influences with a sound of their own and finds the group at the peak of their virtuoso playing and creativity, a must for Italian Prog fans!!!