PFM's comeback good, but go for www-pfmpfm-it first
woburnmusicfan | Woburn, MA United States | 06/07/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This 1997 album was the first album by Italian progressive rock group PFM in a decade. Keyboardist Flavio Premoli, who had left circa 1980, rejoined guitarist Franco Mussida, drummer Franz DiCioccio and bassist Patrick Djivas, with the first three sharing the lead vocals. "Ulisse" is a concept album based on the Ulysses saga, with lyrics by Vincenzo Incenzo (who also wrote the words for 2006's "Dracula Opera Rock." The album is entirely in Italian.
There are some good songs here, especially "Andare per Andare" (which translates as something like "leaving for leaving's sake") and the ballad "Ulisse". But the bottom line is that four of the five best songs on "Ulisse" also appear on 1998's excellent live album "www-pfmpfm-it", and all of them sound better live ("Andare per Andare", "Ulisse", the single "Il Cavallo di Legno", and "Sei"). If you haven't already got that album, go for it first. The best of the other songs is "Il Mio Nome E Nessuno", which includes Mussida doing some Steve Morse-style picking on the chorus and a long closing section with Mussida soloing while Premoli repeats a string synth chord progression an octave higher each time through. Alessandro Colombini's production is slack, compared to the solid sound of 2000's studio follow-up "Serendipity".
(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1