So the main reason they hired Lanzetti was that they felt they needed a stronger lead vocalist who was fluent in English. I was curious how they handled performances of songs from before he joined the band, though. Did Lanzetti take over live vocals on those? Or did the member who sang the song originally continue to sing it live? Either of these options seems a bit awkward.
Peculiar question. Mostly they simply sang in Italian before Lanzetti! Mussida and Premoli shared most of the lead vocals, also the English ones.Originally Posted by dpt3
Just listen to "Cook".
Nowadays Di Cioccio sings (most of) the lead vocals
Yeah, I know that Mussida and Premoli sang lead before Lanzetti joined, but what I'm asking is whether once Lanzetti joined, they continued to sing the older songs live. So say you saw them in concert in 1976 after Lanzetti joined, and they played "Impressioni di Settembre": would Mussida sing it since he sang it originally or would Lanzetti since he's the new dedicated lead singer?
Sorry, got you wrong. As far as I know Lanzetti took the lead vocals on the older songs too. You can hear that on the live bonus disc of a Chocolate Kings reissue.
Thanks. I'll have to get a copy of that sometime.
I just listened to that live bonus disc a few days ago, and yes, Lanzetti does the vocals on the older songs. Same with that 4 CD "Official Bootleg" box set of live PFM, as I recall. Personally, I prefer the other guys and always have. His unnatural, forced vibrato is almost a deal-breaker for me. Incidentally, that is not a great-sounding concert on the Chocolate Kings reissue on Esoteric, and the mix is pretty strange. The Jet Lag reissue, also on Esoteric, has a long bonus track from the same concert, and it has the same sound quality issues.
Yeah, I actually like Lanzetti well enough but I definitely don't hear him as the significant improvement over the other guys that he was supposed to be. I'm mostly just curious as to what it sounds like.
It's really a weird situation, though. I can't think of any other bands where, after several albums of members singing, hire another guy to be *the singer* without changing any other personnel.
Same here ! - but when he sings in italian, like on Passpartu he is quite okay.
I don't like Passpartu at all, rather unexpected folky album, lightweight and poppy. Chocolate Kings is the only studio album w Lanzetti I like.
Journey?
Lanzetti didn't liked it either and the lyrics are not from him but Gianfranco Manfredi. (this was the band's choice). At this point the relations between Lanzetti and other PFM members were already starting to detriorate.
From an old interview (Progresiste 2005) it appears that Lanzetti has some rather bitter feelings about his time spent with PFM. He wasn't treated very well and never considered as a real member of PFM by the other members, also his musical input was minimal. He was fired without any notice or discussions after completing the recording of Passpartu ,and never got paid for it.
This short interview excerpt shows his state of mind about this subject:
PR: Why were they (PFM) looking for a singer ? Didn't Franz wanted to sing the songs himself ? Wouldn't this lead to future conflictual situations ?
BL: ... I'm sure this is a question you might ask them !
You don't like Jetlag? It's quite strong imo.
Novalis. I think Fred’s vocals on the older material is fantastic, he’s the first really strong singer the band had, though their earlier guys were not bad (at least not Camel bad).
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Oh come on ...
Like him or not, Lanzetti had vocal power. As much as the others combined! This is why they needed him and I suspect it was as important as a finding a singer capable of delivering in English.
Mussida has a wonderful voice but can only really be convincing on the softer material. Pagani's attempts at more powerful singing were awful. Premoli was a bit better but again just doesn't have the ability to get much range in there and sound above average.
There was just so much more reach they had once Lanzetti joined. There are sections on Chocolate Kings that the other three would have had a chance in hell of pulling off.
I like the early, pastoral PFM. But they were looking to explore some musical territory that required a real singer and to extend their international appeal. This is surely why Lanzetti was brought aboard.
At that point in their career PFM had big ambitions and started to get international recognition, they really needed a frontman singer with a powerful voice and stage presence. They hired Lanzetti but for various reasons it didn't worked as well as expected and even today most PFM fans have mixed feelings about the Lanzetti era. I personally think he did an excellent job on both Chocolate and Jet Lag.
Yeah, I quite liked Chocolate Kings. Lanzetti did a very good job with the material, even if his vibrato did sometimes go a bit overboard for me personally. As much as I love the other guys' (and especially Mussida's) singing on the first three records, they couldn't have pulled it off with the material on Chocolate Kings or Jet Lag IMO -- and that's okay! Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Franz Di Cioccio's vocals were never a problem for me. I liked a fair bit of their post-70s material, including his singing. Obviously PFM was a very different animal by then, but that's another discussion...
I agree. I don't care if he has "power". I find his voice a bit irritating. The vibrato thing sounds cheesy to me. He sounds pretty good on tracks like "Harlequin", and "Song From A Picture", from the first Acqua Fragile, but when he starts belting it out, I tend to cringe.
I agree that PFM was right to look for a singer with more power, I just think they made the wrong choice. I listened to the Acqua Fragile albums the other night, and I'd say Lanzetti's vocals fit their style a little better, and in general, his voice is much better on studio recordings than live recordings.
by the way, worth watching
Very impressive!
I personally like Lanzetti, though I can see why some might not. I think he has a very distinctive style and I love his performances on the Acqua Fragile albums and Chocolate Kings and Jet Lag. I feel his voice works for all that material, at least for me it does.
I do think he's a much strong singer than the others in PFM, but I think overall they made the vocals on those early albums work very well. They didn't try anything to crazy, and they compliment the music (which is the star of the show anyway) very nicely.
I don't have the reissues with those live tracks (sounds like I'm not missing much sound-quality wise). I can't recall if Lanztti sings any of the older material on the 1976 BBC disc. I'll have to spin that one again to refresh my memory.
Bill
Ok.
I was trying to respond more from an objective standpoint as to the notion that he wasn't an "improvement" on what they had before.
Like him, don't like him ... I just don't think it's hard to understand why the band wanted him. The guy can sing the others under the table.
So I just spun the BBC 1976 disc. Lanzetti sings Four Holes in the Ground, but it does not sound like him singing on Dove... Quando. So I guess they mixed it up, with him taking some of the earlier stuff, but not all of it.
I think Lanzetti sings well on this disc. The music is furious, I'd have a hard time keeping up singing over that, and he keeps up and stays on pitch and strong. I've started singing a lot more of late and have been noticing vocalists more, even in more poppy stuff. I'm impressed with Lanzetti as a singer on this BBC disc, though again, I can understand why someone might not like his voice. Fortunately, I do, and I enjoyed hearing this again.
Bill
If you listen to "Cook" I think it's understandable why they recruited him. In the live setting the vocals are weak and pitchy so if they were working on breaking into the North American market it makes sense.
For me Lanzetti sounds great on some songs and not so great on others but as Jeff said he was an upgrade in terms of power and range - never saw them with him but I'm also guessing he was a good front man as well.
Plus, the vocals are pretty clearly in phonetic English. Lanzetti could at least speak the language (and I really like his singing).
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