CEI CE NE-AU DAT NUME

The year is 1972, Prog had already grown in Europe and USA, but in Eastern Europe the Soviet satellite governments had a certain dislike for Rock which was seen as a tool the North American Capitalists used to corrupt the mind of the young proletarians, so they were some years behind the UK and most of the Western hemisphere, but in some countries a few musicians and bands managed to keep updated with the new currents and even went further, like PHOENIX from Romania, who blended Heavy Psyche with some of the rich ethnic elements of their country.

"Cei Ce Ne-Au Dat Nume" is the debut album of this excellent band, and even when the path they were going to take was not so clear, this album presents more than hints of how they were going to evolve with the pass of the years, but still hooked in some degree to the late 60's music.

"Cei Ce Ne-Au Dat Nume" starts with "Preludiu - A Oilor", a strange introduction with an excellent distorted guitar work by Nicolae Covaci that reminds me a bit of Carlos Santana, but soon the sound changes to a blend of electric and acoustic guitar (Double-Six to be precise) with a soft flute in the background and the drums making an effect as the bells from a tower clock, which lead to an extremely beautiful melody with a mysterious gypsy atmosphere.

"Primavara - Introducere" is a short and frantic track with an interesting guitar and drum work but overall some outstanding bass passages, sadly 1:03 minutes are not enough to consider it more than an interlude.

"Primavara -Paparuga" begins with a chorus in Romanian that soon is joined by Mircea Baniciu with the acoustic guitar and the rest of the band, but seems that the constant is the wonderful bass by Iosif Kappl, the tune is pretty catchy and seems simple, but the interplay and the arrangements are much more complex than they sound, specially because all the band collaborate with the percussion.

"Vara" is a radical change, the ethnic elements are less preeminent than in the previous tracks and are replaced by a Psyche sound that reminds of the mid/late 60's, with an excellent vocal work, the most unusual fact is that the guitar covers the lack of keyboards (at least according to the credits in the album and official site of the band), even when sometimes I swear some synths can be listened. The next track "Toamna" continues in the Psyche territory, but this time reminds me of the sound that was preeminent in Italy during the late 60's, again with outstanding vocals despite I can't understand a word.

"Iarna-Introducere" returns to the sound of the first songs,. the Folk elements are more evident even when the Psyche component continues being evident, the most radical change comes with "Iarna - Jocul Caprelor" in which the bass is the main instrument followed by a very complex percussion and the fluier (Romanian six hole pipe), very unusual.

But is the surprises weren't enough, in "Nunta" the band moves to a very peculiar heavy rock that has some resemblance of "Mountain" but with the peculiar sound of PHOENIX and the elaborate blend of percussion instruments and unique language.

"Negru Voda" starts with a very folksy violin that starts to morph from ethnic to Rock until the heavy guitar replaces it and they start to rock for 14 minutes, a sound that is only interrupted by jazzy sections that soon return to heavy territory and at the end to the folksy violin and wonderful vocals, if you like the unexpected, this is your album.

"Cei Ce Ne-Au Dat Nume" is closed with "Pseudo Morgana", even more surprising than all the previous tracks, and harder to describe, because while the band plays an acoustic soft track, the distorted guitar goes for a different territory but managing to keep the Folk Rock atmosphere, my favorite track in all this fantastic record.

Before ending the review I have to thank my friend Zsolt Enyedi from the Romanian band YESTERDAYS who sent me all this amazing material that I'm still starting to enjoy.

No less than 4 stars, would go with 5 but "Cantofabule" is better and for that reason deserves a higher rating.