BABA NOVAK

Well, after 30 year Phoenix is back with a truly folk-rock studio album. Is not as great as "Cantofabule", "Mugur de Fluier" or "Cei ce ne-au dat nume" but is a good one to remember the good days.

All the songs are short, whit a few musical ideas and sincerely nothing original. The most concluding song to support this affirmation is a song with lyrics in english "To My Brother". I think this song is just to fill the album and maybe to gain some attention from english speaker listener. The other song with lyrics in english and spanish is "Orujo". Is a little more better and had some humor in the lyrics. Also "Mila 2 de langa 3" who was strongly promoted on radio and TV station could be considerate as a joke. The violin sound and romanian popular percussion instruments make all the charm of the song. The best songs are "Pasarea de foc", "Apocalipsa", "Baba Novak", "Orient Express"; the last one who is an instrumental song, could be perfect included on their oldest albums. The music is absolutely wonderful. "Pasare de foc" (with an allusion to the name Phoenix) is also a great song. The lyrics are excellent and the dualism of the vocalist sounds great. Contrary to this song who is a folk-rock song "Apocalipsa" is a heavy prog maybe the heaviest song ever recorded by Pheonix.

As a conclusion, this album is strongly recommended for the Phoenix fans but it could be recommended and for the Jethro Tull fans .