"I Quelli" went on in their session men activity until the beginning of the 70's. In 1970 Franz Di Cioccio was lent to "Equipe 84". This happened because "Equipe 84" was being re-launched by the participation with L. Dalla to Sanremo Festival. "Equipe 84" needed a drummer for eight months and "I Quelli" needed to change their record company. Both bands were owned by Ricordi and that was the good occasion to exchange courtesies. By lending Di Cioccio, "I Quelli" got free from the old contract. Soon they left Ricordi to follow some dissidents who were against the artistic line of the Milanese company. Three of them , L. Battisti, A. Colombini and Mogol founded a new record company called "Numero Uno " (Number One). I "Quelli" where about to join Numero Uno.During 1970 Sanremo Festival "I Quelli" had the opportunity to debut in progressive music. They were engaged by the "Whisky Club", (a club near Ariston Theatre, where Sanremo Festival usually takes place) to perform some alternative music in a town which was invaded by easy songs. "Please, no commercial music" was the owner's wish, "Only progressive music breaking energy". During that transfer, Di Cioccio's part as lent musician became very peculiar. From 8pm to 11pm he performed well dressed up, live on TV from the Casino Dance Hall. Later, he joined his friends at the club; he changed clothes and musical current, becoming an instinctive, sweaty rhythm machine. The band's repertory was perfect, arranged cunningly to catch the audience's attention, and consisted mainly in covers. They chose particularly different songs of the most popular foreign bands in the vanguard at that time. Every evening the club was invaded by people who wanted to see the performance of the band which "used to do unbelievable things". Thanks to this success "I Quelli" understood they were going to the right direction. Immediately afterwards Sanremo experience "I Quelli" signed the new contract with "Number One" . They also decided to change their name, because they wanted to cut completely with the past, even if they would have lost all the engagements as "I Quelli". The new name had to be different from everything already heard, as, for example, the well known animal's name, which were very popular during the sixties. The task was not easy. After many days spent imaging hypothesis, the choice had to be done among Isotta Fraschini and Forneria Marconi.
Finally they chose the second name, adding "Premiata", which means "Awarded". At "Numero Uno" they were told their name was too long, but the band's philosophy was clear: if the name was difficult to remember, it would also be difficult to forget. Their philosophy won. This original choice was the right one, because it gave birth to a new trend in Italian bands names. A new name, a strong wish of success, some grit and an acrobatic repertory were the ingredients to made up a new adventure. PFM needed only the good occasion to be discovered by the audience. At that time Franco Mamone and Francesco Sanavio were the two most important promoters in Italy and they were both aware that times were changing because dance hall's era was going to its end. They started to promote the most important foreign bands' concerts. Franco Mamone become PFM's manager and for this reason PFM started to perform live show as special guests. They started with Procol Harum, then with YES, but the good occasion came when they performed as special guests before the concert of the most important band of that time: Deep Purple. The idea was a little bit daring, but courage have always supported PFM's choices!
The echo of that beautiful evening went far away. Times were really changing and live festivals were taking place everywhere. Not long after, PFM had another good occasion to get known and to grow up (from the artistic point of view). During summer 1971 in Viareggio took place the first "Vanguard and New Trends Festival", the most important Italian live festival of the year, where all the new Italian bands were invited to perform. The Festival rules asked every participant to perform an unpublished song. Franco Mussida, who was used to compose since the early beginning of his musical adventure, composed "La Carrozza di Hans" (Hans' coach). He composed it mentally while he was driving from Turin to Milan. The song was arranged and prepared for the Festival. At Viareggio Festival everybody were surprised by PFM's memorable performance which started by an electrical and involving "overture", then Mussida took his classic guitar and made people fly in Hans' story (Hans is a merchant who sells dreams) by his sweet arpeggios…The audience was astonished. PFM achieved success and won the Festival in equal worth with Mia Martini and Osanna.
After the first single (Impressioni di Settembre and La Carrozza di Hans) PFM recorded its first LP "Storia di un Minuto" (The story of one minute). They recorded live in studio, because they wanted to transfer on their LP the peculiar energy and immediacy of their music.

This LP had such a good success and PFM's members decided to go back to the studios and record the second LP. They were oriented towards Europe. The second LP "Per un amico" (For a Friend) sounded differently, maybe more international than the first one. What happened later confirmed that it was really "more international". On December 20th 1972, Greg Lake saw their showcase in Rome, at PalaEur. He invited them to visit the Manticore (Emerson, Lake & Palmer Record Company) in London where they also met Pete Sinfield, King Crimson's poet.

	P. Sinfield, who was also Roxy Music producer, went to their showcase in London and decided to produce them and write the lyrics. He liked the warm, Mediterranean touch of PFM's progressive music and for this reason he decided to continue with them the same "research" he started with the first Crimson band. On January 1973 the band moved to London where they started to record their first international LP at Command Studio. Irony of the fate, R. Fripp's King Crimson were recording "Lark's Tongue in Aspic, while PFM was recording "Photos of Ghosts" - "Per un Amico" English version -. During that period in London, PFM had to modify slightly their name, because Englishmen could not pronounce it properly.

	In fact, during the interviews they remarked that everybody was mangling Premiata Forneria Marconi in the most grotesques ways, that sounded like: Premiaticoni Fornaroncini Marconcinetti. Pete Sinfield suggested to use simply PFM, which was an easier and more international name. On March 24th 1973 PFM performed a showcase in London's ABC Fhulan Theatre, but, unfortunately, the critics were not very warm. They used to say: "these musicians are not too bad, but they are Italians!". Anyway critics had to change their mind very soon. PFM's first English single "Celebration" ("E' Festa" English version) was very successful and PFM took part to Reading Festival. In that occasion, at the end of their show there was a standing ovation and everybody asked for one more song: Celebration.

The most unexpected surprise came from USA, because PFM's LP entered in BillBoard's hit parade. This event was really unbelievable, because it was very difficult to be considered in that Hit parade, especially for a non-english band. Things started to go on very well, because the band received continuously new confirmations of their growing success. PFM reached the second place in Melody Maker's Brightest Hopes hit parade and the third place in New Musical Express's Brightest Hopes top ten.

The band started touring all around Europe with Pete Sinfield and M. Collins. PFM 's success grew everywhere and in Italy everybody were astonished about this exceptional career.

	Patrick's musical versatile culture improved very much the band's composing ability and introduced some ethnic sounds (for example in "La Luna Nuova" - " The new moon" the Italian version of "Four holes in the ground"). He was also very fond of jazz and he shared with the band the same love for R&B, rock and improvisation. "L'Isola di niente" (which was launched in Europe with an English title: "The world become the world") sounded different if compared with the previous LP. In fact it sounded more complete and solid. By this new experience PFM joined its artistic completion and become ready for the American turning point. PFM could reach the top band's level because of its peculiarities such as: original songs, rhythmic solidity and virtuosity.

From 1973 to the beginning of 1974 PFM went on tour in Italy, Great Britain and Europe with Alvin Lee's Ten Years After. "Photos of Ghosts" entered in Billboard's American charts; PFM reached the second place in Melody Maker's Pop Poll's Brightest Hopes chart (they were upper than important bands such as: Eagles and Supertramp). The band also won the Japanese Critic's prize as the best band of the year. After these exceptional results, their record company Manticore decided to organise there first show case tour in the USA in order to launch "The world become the world". During that tour, Mr. Mario Medius, Manticore's artistic director in NY suggest PFM to record some live concerts and few time later Manticore launched "Cook", their first official Live LP which was also launched in Italy entitled "Live in USA".

AROUND THE WORLD "Cook " reached the 150th place in Billboard's hit parade. That was really a great target for an Italian band.

PFM's first performance in the USA was in LA, at the Whisky Club. Their concerts were sold out for 4 days. They also performed some days at the Rainbow and at the Golden Bear where it happened the same. Soon afterwards they started to perform with many important stars, such as Santana, ZZ Top, Allman Bros, Poco, Beach Boys, Dave Mason. PFM's success was growing and they entered in the small group of those bands which were famous for their live performances.

Anyway they started to get tired of being sacrificed, especially from the financial and affective point of view. If they wanted to have success in the USA they should have stayed on tour for at least one year. That was what happened to Peter Frampton (who was on tour in the same period) : he went on touring for one year and then he recorded "Frampton comes alive". They had to strike while the iron was hot, that was true, but they started to miss Italy very much. They decided to go back to Italy, stopping for a little while the American project. Once back to Italy, they decided to rest a bit and, above all, to make some changes. They decided to add another member, a vocalist, who would have sung all the songs in order to let them concentrate on the musical performance. They chose Bernardo Lanzetti, who was "Acqua Fragile" leading singer, a band produced by PFM. Bernardo Lanzetti had a strong vocality, which could bear PFM's sound impact; he also spoke American English quite well, because he attended a Texan college.

The "new" band started recording a new LP "Chocolate King". Lanzetti got into the group very well, participating actively, writing lyrics in co-operation with Mauro Pagani and Marva Jean Marrow and singing really in a remarkable way.

	Musical parts were composed by Premoli and Mussida . The LP had a quite good success in Italy, even if some critics did not agree with PFM's decision to stop recording a double version of each LP (one in Italian and one in English) to sing only in English. As usual the LP was a live-performance recording in studio, because PFM's fans seemed to like the energy given off through live performances. "Chocolate Kings" was also launched in Great Britain where it was really successful, even from the critics point of view. This new success convinced PFM's members about their international fame and for this reason they decided to start touring in Japan.

In Japan PFM's members had really many fans who were looking forward to see them performing live. Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya concerts had an enormous success and PFM received the gold LP record. Thanks to Japanese audience's participation and fervour the Japanese tour is still considered by PFM one of the most significant experience in their whole career. Soon after the Japanese tour, PFM started a new tour in USA. PFM with its leading singer was well accepted in the USA too, even if the LP was criticised because of its lyrics which were not very close to the American way of thinking. By the time "Chocolate Kings" entered in the English Top twenty (maybe that was the compensation for the tepid American welcome), consequently PFM came back to Europe and started its fourth English tour.

CONTAMINATIONS - NEW WAYS TOWARDS ROCK

Mauro's giving up coincided with the end of an important and eventful period which took PFM towards unexpected results. The international success (from the tours and hit parades point of view) was a very good result and the band had to look for new creative ideas. All the members agreed with the need to make some changes. At the beginning they thought about introducing a second guitar player to support Mussida and create a completely different sound. Afterwards they thought about introducing a saxophone player, because they remembered about the important experience they had with Mel Collins during Sinfield's European Tour. Anyway at the end they decided to remain five. They rehearsed a lot because they did not want to loose the peculiar artistic form they had at that time. They wanted to repeat the success they had in USA before "Chocolate Kings", an LP with unexpected outcomes. The LP was very successful in Europe - especially in UK - in Japan and in Italy, but less in the USA, particularly from the critics point of view. Maybe people did not like the cover with the curled American flag. For sure the Italian cover was more suitable and ironic with the image of a fat and decadent Marilyn Monroe. Fortunately, not everybody in the American Music Business agreed with the critics, in fact "Electra Asylum" director proposed PFM to join the company's team. This happened, of course, in England, during Chocolate Kings promotional tour, at the end of PFM's show at the Royal Albert Hall. PFM made also a brilliant performance in "Old Gray Wiste Taste", the most important English live TV show .
They went to LA and signed the new contract. They were really enthusiastic, thinking about a new American adventure. During their long stay in California they could learn a lot about the new musical trends of that area, especially about Jazz Rock, the new current characterised by sophisticate arrangements which was getting more and more appreciated by estimators. PFM's members got involved almost unconsciously, especially because they were influenced by their friends of that time, such as: Frank Zappa, Jaco Pastorius, Billy Choban, Lenny White and many other musicians who belonged to West Coast rock jazz set. Anyway, PFM's members got also involved because it was impossible to stay apart end avoid any cultural exchange with that kind of friends.
At that time, while PFM was creating/composing for the new LP, they met Greg Bloch. One day Greg came to see them while they were rehearsing at home (they were staying in a villa which was half home and half recording studio). Greg was an excellent violin player. In the past he joined the band "It's a beautiful day". When he met PFM he was one of Mark Almond Band's members. Everything happened very quickly. PFM did not want to add a new violin player, but Greg was so talented and his musicality was so rich that they could not help inviting him to join "Jet Lag" project. "Jet Lag" (an emblematic title about the rapid time zone change which happens when someone is flying for a long journey) meant something different for PFM: it was an imaginary musical journey, a comparison among different cultures. The Band's members wanted to express how things were changing their identity whenever it happened them to leave their country to reach the USA. The LP got ready in January 1977. The project itself was very interesting, but it was conceived in a moment of trend change: punk wave was born and the market seemed to become very interested in dance music. Anyway, Jet Lag was built up on a very interesting project, so the criticism and the most intellectual California public appreciated it very much. In fact, American Press considered "Jet Lag" as one of the best example of cultural "contamination" among different musical words. Two different cultures (Mediterranean culture and West Coast rock jazz culture) could meet through PFM's members' experience, as they were living two realities at the same time.
Jet lag cover was included in "The Illustrate History of Rock Album Cover" a book which contained the most beautiful covers in the world. PFM had its official place in the "New Musical Express Encyclopaedia of Rock". Starting Jet Lag launch PFM decided to found its first recording company, the Zoo records. This new company was founded to be the intersection point for the new Italian musical trends.

Jet Lag project coincided also with the end of the American experience, because PFM decided to stay in Italy, rediscover Italian culture and find some new ideas. The following LP, entitled "Passpartù" (that is to say the Italian phonetic transposition of the French word "Passe-partout", which means master key) was characterised by the acoustic dimension and by the return to Italian language. "Passpartù" was for PFM a new key to enter in a different musical adventure.

Live performances changed too, because PFM started to invite some guests, such as: Roberto Colombo (keyboards), Roberto Haliffi (percussons). Gianfranco Manfredi co-operated with PFM for lyrics and Andrea Pazienza, the comic strip illustrator drew the LP cover.

PFM went on tour to promote the new LP, but unfortunately "Passpartù" did not succeeded as the band hoped. Anyway critics and audience appreciated live performances very much. Soon after "Passpartù" experience, Bernardo Lanzetti decided to quit the band, because he could not fix his role within PFM and also because he was oriented towards American rock music. He went on singing alone. PFM had to find a new balance. All the members had to start over again and, above all, they had to find new creative ideas. The band had to face its first artistic dilemma.

PFM's members decided to drive out their doubts by touring again, because they wanted to receive the right energy from the audience support. One evening, while they were performing in Sardinia, they met an old friend, Fabrizio De André. In the past PFM had already worked with Fabrizio for "La Buona Novella" project (The Gospel). That evening Fabrizio De Andrè was really impressed by PFM live performance, that is why Franz Di Cioccio proposed him an artistic co-operation. Fabrizio De Andrè listened to some new arrangements of his songs performed by PFM and he liked them. PFM and Fabrizio De Andrè gave life to a wonderful live project; the tour which was very successful.

Fabrizio's original music was re-arranged and transformed by PFM's new ideas. Our friends were able to create new sensations around lyrics. The audience could fly on fantasy's wings and discover new feelings and emotions coming from the songs that everybody already knew and loved. The co-operation among Fabrizio De Andrè and PFM was an artistic choice which gave birth to several other experiences of the same kind in Italian music outline. The experience with Fabrizio De Andrè was really important for PFM because the band received new energy. Fabrizio taught everybody something very important: lyrics were a song's lasting part in people's memory. The audience liked virtuosity, but everybody remembered words more than music, that is why every time Fabrizio started to sing a song the audience used to welcome his voice with ovations. PFM understood word's importance in Italian market and realised their biggest mistake: they had always given too much space to music, forgetting lyrics's great communication power. They also understood that they needed a front man, a trait d'union among the audience and them. Franz Di Cioccio, who was very exuberant, seemed to be the right applicant for that role. Franz was really happy about that opportunity, because he knew about other drummers' experiences of that kind (for example Phil Collins) which were very positive. So he became PFM's front man. The new project coincided with ZOO Records closing and with the signature of new contract with RCA. PFM's members were going to face a new project and the beginning of the 80's era. They felt they were supported by a growing enthusiasm.

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