Sfinx - Secolul vitezei / Sinteze

Описание: This video is for the purpose of entertainment only......
The images used within this video are taken from photos of my personal vinyl LP jacket/cover/labels, original Romanian pressings of Sfinx - "Lume albă" (1975) on the 'Electrecord' label STM-EDE 01114, and "Zalmoxe" (1978) also on 'Electrecord' EDE 01537.

SFINX bio courtesy of Wikipedia:

The early years (1963-1973)
The band was formed in 1963, in Bucharest. It was singer and guitarist Octav Zemlicka who had the idea to start the band. ("Sfinx" is the Romanian for sphinx.) The initial line up included bassist Corneliu Ionescu, nicknamed "Bibi", who would be the only member to stay with the band until they disbanded. In 1966, Sfinx were aired for the first time on radio, with Îmi place muzica ("I love music") and their eponymous song, Sfinx. 1968 brought drummer Marian Toroimac into the band, and together with him, the young and shy Dan Andrei Aldea (both had been members of a band called Memphis). The latter left the band in 1969 for several months and returned, and he would assume control of the band and make it one of the finest rock acts in Romania.

The band played as a trio (Aldea, Ionescu, Toroimac) for several years. They used to play covers of songs by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, The Doors, The Kinks etc. As of 1972, they recorded their first single disc, Şir de cocori/Languir me fais (First title translated: "Flock of Cranes". The latter was an arrangement of a lied by George Enescu).
Classic Sfinx (1973-1980)

1973 found Sfinx without a drummer, after Toroimac left. Aldea and "Bibi" Ionescu, together with flautist Doru Donciu, set out on a number of musical experiments, of which very few were recorded, including the famous Om bun ("Kind Man"). Towards the end of 1973, two drummers were proposed to join the band, of which the former was replaced by the skillful Mihai (Mişu) Cernea (the ex-drummer of pop band Mondial, who was also a gifted composer, with whom some of the best records of Romanian rock were taped around 1970). Hornist Petre Iordache, a former member of the band, briefly joined when the band's first EP was recorded in 1974, Coborîse primăvara/Ziua ta/Fiii soarelui/Peste vîrfuri ("Spring descended/Birthday/Sons of sun/Over crests").

In 1974 guitarist and composer Dan Bădulescu joins Sfinx, and from that point on (until the eighties), the band had only a few changes of personnel. Their first LP, Lume albă ("White world") was released in 1975 and enjoyed a great success with the audience and critics. At this point, the rival band Phoenix had released their own successful LP, Cantofabule, which however was not their first. Now that Sfinx had their own LP, the tension between the two bands' fans grew higher, so the Sfinx LP cover art humourously features some of the very passionate articles found in newspapers of the time.

When Bădulescu joined, the band started collaborating with the Romanian Agency for Artistic Promotion, so the first coordinates were established, regarding future concert tours throughout the country and abroad. For instance, the band would be allowed to concert periodically in Belgium for a number of years.

Only a few months after Lume albă, another project was mostly finalized: the ambitious concept album Zalmoxe, featuring lyrics by Romanian poet Alexandru Basarab. Bădulescu had left the band and Aldea invited instead a highschool friend,[1] talented keyboard player Nicolae (Nicu) Enache. The album's release was however delayed for three years for political censorship reasons, so it came out only in 1978 on a single LP instead of a double album, as the band initially had planned. Meanwhile, Jon Anderson's backing band released Olias of Sunhillow in 1976 and when Aldea listened to it, he thought of trying to make a "timid" response out of their own album.[2] After the release of the album, a major concert tour was held throughout the country, where the band enjoyed huge success with the audience.