(((O))) Review: Premiata Forneria Marconi – I Dreamed of Electric Sheep (Ho Sognato Pecore Elettriche)

17 years ago, I wandered into the ProgArchives website during the fall of 2005 when I was a student back in College. It was my introduction to the world of the Rock Progressivo Italiano genre, better known as Italian Progressive Rock. Bands such as Osanna, Le Orme, Museo Rosenbach, Metamorfosi, Celeste, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, and Quella Vecchia Locanda. It proved to me that the “P” word was more than just Yes, ELP, and Genesis.

Premiata Forneria Marconi was the one that took me by surprise. I remembering hearing tracks such as ‘Impressioni di Settembre’, ‘Harlequin’, ‘E’ Festa’, and ‘Chocolate Kings’ and I was floored after hearing those tracks. There were not only symphonic structures, but soaring Italian lyrics, folk, incredible time changes, and beautiful textures that can take listeners beyond the River of Life.

This year, P.F.M. have released a new album called, I Dreamed of Electric Sheep on the InsideOut label. Their follow-up to 2017’s Emotional Tattoos, it’s a sci-fi themed conceptual release based on Philip K. Dick’s novel which became the inspiration to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi cult classic Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford, Daryl Hannah, Edward James Olmos, and the late, great Rutger Hauer.

The genesis behind the album was the working schedule the band had to go through last year when everything came to a screeching halt back in March due to the pandemic and COVID-19. So during that time frame, the band were working at home, sharing ideas at Patrick’s house before they were ready to record the album at White Studios in Milan, Italy.

Not only COVID had affected concerts, but children were taking online courses on their computers while their parents had to work at home. Not only they’ve become like replicant’s, but for P.F.M., they had to go through that situation of not interacting with each other face to face.

With I Dreamed of Electric Sheep (Ho Sognato Pecore Elettriche), it’s all these different stories coming together as one. While the planet Earth isn’t as pretty as it seems, the machine itself flies around the globe day and night, watching everything on what we do and how it plans to return home.

And to be allowed to have Barock Project’s Luca Zabbini, alumni Flavio Premoli, along with Ian Anderson and Steve Hackett, who played with the group for the Prog Exhibition festivals, 1 & 2, they lend the band a helping hand to have contributions of bringing the Electric Sheep to life.

The 2-CD set consists both the English and Italian versions of the story as we dive deeper into the futuristic wasteland of Los Angeles, 2049. ‘Daily Heroes (Mr. Non Lo So)’ is a scatting Broadway-Jazz walk int the rain as Franz Di Cioccio is singing and walking in the styles of Gene Kelley from his 1952 classic, Singin’ in the Rain.

Driven midsections for heavier Hammonds and brutal guitar lines, Fabbri walks with Franz, followed by Sfogli’s rising frets as they enjoy each other’s presence during these tricky times they had to endure last year. ‘If I Had Wings (AtmoSpace) features a midsection with an Orwellian-like structure that Franz is describing through a loudspeaker.

He gives the crowd a heartfelt message on being free one from the city one day as they get a chance to spread their wings fluently throughout the destruction it’s going through. ‘Adrenaline Oasis (Umani Alieni)’ sets up a scenery inside an empty ghost town.

You can feel a pin drop in the middle of nowhere as Sfogli sets up the bluesy-like textures from Gilmour while Scaglione’s funeral arrangements on the piano, goes into Thelonious Monk’s background. There is an intense drive that the band get in gear for.

Structures of both Gentle Giant’s In A Glass House-era meets the band’s 1972 debut Storia di un Minuto are thrown into the styles of ‘E ‘Festa (Celebration)’. On ‘City Life (La Grande Cosa), it is a tribute to both a ‘80s sounding vibe of Franco Battiato and Rush’s Moving Pictures-era.

Nods to ‘Up Patriots to Arms’, ‘Cuccurucucu’, and ‘Red Barchetta’, it’s quite an interesting combination as if Franco had Rush as his backing band. Could it had worked in a parallel universe? Probably. It would have been great to have one of his tracks being played for this combination between Avant-Pop, Hard Rock, and ‘80s synths rolled into one.

Speaking of Rush, there’s some Crimson-sque backwards guitar textures located on ‘Kindred Souls (il Respico Del Tempo)’. The electro-drums are setting up more raindrops to pour down on the piano while Anderson’s flute arrangements bursts through the grey clouds to have our first glimpse of the sun coming over the horizon.

Now I can’t tell if it’s Luca Zabbini, Bravin, or Djivas handling keyboard work for Steve Hackett. But if it’s all three of them, they lend Hackett a big hand to bring in more blue skies to reveal a beautiful glorious day that citizens needed to have that big break from all the rain that was coming down for three days.

‘Let Go (Ombre Amiche)’ is done in an operatic sci-fi atmosphere. There is a rising sequence on the song for Di Cioccio to have audiences stand up and wave their arms back and forth to be happy once more while the closing tracks ‘Transumanza & Transumanza Jam (Transhumance & Transhumance Jam)’ brings the
curtain down for P.F.M.

They return back to their roots of their first two albums with some motorcycling sounds of the Organ and Mini Moog all revved up for Sfogli, Fabbri’s wah-wah violin, and Premoli lending the band a helping hand by coming full circle with the group. It is like an eruptive roar coming at you, really fast. At 800 miles per hour, Sfogli goes for the jugular honoring Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson, and Frank Zappa for the climatic end.

I Dreamed of Electric Sheep is one of their quintessential releases for 2021. Despite line-up changes, P.F.M. are still growing stronger and stronger by the minute. They have really come a long way of bringing their conceptual story to life this year. And was it worth the wait? Hell to the yes.