LUME ALBA

Excellent start for a band from Romania! My father bought the vinyl when I was a little kid. It was my first contact with a progressive band ever! Dan Andrei Aldea, also called The orchestra-man, the frontman and the main composer really introduced the concept of progressive music in the band. We've got a splendid intro called Rasarit (translated Sunrise), than the album begins with the track Calatorul si copacul which is a little modest, but what follows is really and truerly progressive. Secolul Vitezei (Speed Century) and the excellent instrumental track Sinteze (Synthesis): remarkable is here the Moog sounds who are very clear and the drum section. Corneliu Bibi-Ionescu plays on Bib-synthesiser, designed by himself. Lume Alba (White World) is an excellent instrumental-electronic track very similar to anything from T.Dream. Muntele (The Mountain) is another great track, showing a band who really put the steps forward. There is speed in rhythms, harmony, great lyrics.... The album ends with Om bun (Kind Man), showing another face of the band. The flute and the voice of Aldea show a balladesque tone similar to some Camel compositions. Recommended for any progressive music lover!

Sfinx came in life in Bucharest around 1963, found by three high school students and friends, drummer Cristian Valica, bassist Corneliu "Bibi" Ionescu and singer/guitarist Octav Zemlicka.Among their early members was also organist Idu Barbu, but the crucial point comes in 1967, when violin player and student Dan Andrei Aldea joined the band, he was destined to become the band's leader and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist.Several members would come and go over the span of the next 7-8 years, Sfinx'es fame though was on the rise, writing music for the film ''Nunta de piatra'' and releasing a first single in 1972.A second EP follows in 1974 at a time, when Ionescu and Aldea were surrounded by ex-Mondial drummer Mihai Cernea and a second guitarist, Dan Badulescu.Their ex-keyboardist Idu Barbu helped them during the recording sessions of their debut ''Lume alba'', which was released in 1975 on the Electrecord label.

You shouldn't expect by a band from Romania, a country with limited tradition in Progressive Rock, to break new grounds, but Sfinx appeared to be more than just a talented band on ''Lume alba'', exploring music fields that were almost forbidden for other groups.They played a mix of straight Hard Rock with some supporting poppy tunes, but I also encounter lots of folky influences and spacey, Fusion touches in their sound.The standard-structured tracks are rather of limited interest for fans with no access to the Romanian language, containing lots of punchy guitars, catchy choruses and dynamic grooves, which are sometimes surrounded by discreet keyboard sounds.But there are also tracks in here that are surprisingly good and beyond their time regarding the Romanian Rock scene.For example ''Sinteza'' is powered by great electric solos and a marching rhythm section, accompanying some impressive Moog synth solos with a slight spacey underline or the title-track, which sounds extremely trippy with its wordless vocals, background bass lines and soaring synth lines.''Muntele'' is very interesting as well, some of the guitar parts recall KING CRIMSON at their mid-period, the Hard Rock leads are still in evidence, but the semi-symphonic synths, the powerful breaks and the changing climates add a personal aura in this piece.''Calatorul si copacul'', the opening track is a nice attempt in Folk/Pop with great violin work by Aldea, while the swansong of the album, ''Om bun'', is a beautiful piece of archaic Prog Folk with a slight Medieval atmosphere, featuring poetic voices, traditional flute lines and light bass work.

That's what should be called Art Rock.Not groundbreaking by any means, however ''Lume alba'' remains a hidden gem of versatile Eastern-European Rock music with multilpe influences, likely to satisfy all lovers of flexible listenings.Recommended.

Beautiful almost forgotten prog rock album from my country from our top band named Sfinx. Issued in 1975 named Lume alba, the debut. Definetly the sound and music was in time with prog scene around that time, it sounding most of the time to me with some italian bands from that period, Alusa Fallax comes in mind. Some great pieces here like Sinteze, Secolul vitezei or Muntele, just strong beautiful prog with some intresting instrumental sections, worth investigated.

3.5 stars for sure, a good towards great in places release, their next one Zalmoxe tops this one in every aspect, but both albums worth have.

R.I.P. - Dan Andrei Aldea 9 March 1950 - 18 January 2020

He was one of the most acomplished musicians from these parts of the world in prog scene.

Lume Alba, the 1975 debut by this Romanian Prog band, came out just in time to place them right at the fore of what I consider the Second Wave of Progressive Rock, some of their most notable international contemporaries being bands such as Rush, Camel and Kansas. This is the beginning of a near-10-year long recording history. Helluva start.

Right off the bat with "Rasarit, Calatorul Si Copacul", we have some very quirky psychedelia in the form of a Keith Emerson-esque synth jaunt. Around a minute all falls away to nothing and piano picks up. This has some Jangle Pop in it and... maybe if Roots Rock had a baby with Schlager? Am I misremembering how this traditional genre sounds? Very infectious vocal melodies, nice beat and viol!

In for a rockin' number and definitively Prog, once again, eventually, in the ELP vein, "Secolul Vitezei" is a great track! This level of synth performance here can not be found at all on their 1979 follow-up, Zalmoxe. Right off the bat, I must ask... Why is this so much better than that album and nowhere near as regarded? [I do feel, having let it marinate after listening to both, they really are comparable in quality to some extent... There's just so much ear candy here that their second doesn't quite reach.] I prayed the quality would be sustained throughout this one [It fared pretty well.]... Continuing in ELP admiration is "Sinteze", and my mind immediately went to "The Endless Enigma" (Trilogy is my forever favorite from that trio). People may come out in droves to complain about copycat bands: be warned haha. This features a really great melody/theme. Nearing minute 3, guitar takes mainstage. These guys really can play. Things fall away and the guitar, too, becomes a percussion instrument along with the drums. This is an excellent must-hear.

"Magelan" is a sort of darker number. Really fun and weird. And then when it didn't even need it, a big shift around minute 1. So awesome. Welcome to frisson country! Really stellar, clean synths and lovely vocals (unironically, it tonally sounds like Roy Estrada of the Mothers of Inventions if he wasn't a pseudo-castrato). Onto our title track, "Lume Alba", it's a slow one and yet once again classic and pop-sensitive to my ears. I'd love to hear this in a Spaghetti Western haha. The synth is very old-school and spacy and the guitar reverberates to and fro. This track does not operate in any way as an interlude, of sorts, as "Hora De Baieti" has absolutely nothing to do with it, starting off heavy and groovy. Nice melodies. Decent guitar work.

Also on the heavier side is "Norul", a galloping song with real Rock sensibility. This one has a bit more goin' on in the guitar department, but is more reminiscent of... well, Hard Rock. Like Bad Company? Or anything else that Paul Rodgers was in haha. Much more complex immediately is "Muntele". The bass follows the guitar in melody and it's back to the gallop, but with big keys-synth energy. They really did default to the Emerson way of doing things here. I'm not complaining. I mean, really, very cool, spacy and intricate key work. Even in its more quieted, spaced out moments, it should keep you on your toes. Finally, we have "Om Bun", with a flutophone(?!) return to the Ren Faire. A mystical sort of number, certainly an interesting way to go out.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0 [I've decided to make the rare exception of rounding up from a half-star.]