【Melodid Rock/AOR】Compact (Romania) - Cîntec Pentru Prieteni 1988~Emily's collection

【Pls look at the top comment first】Rock music from Romania is less-known by people outside the country. Even in Europe, Romanian rock artists seem to be underrated especially those who performed in their native language. Among all the Romanian rockers, Compact is a real monument when speaking of their native hard/melodic rock. Don't judge an album by its cover. This album featuring a dark-faced lady with hidden eyes and a freaky smile truly scared me a lot when I saw it for the first time, but this is Compact's 1980s epic release. After hearing the songs, my heart is touched by the warm tunes.

Formed in 1977 by bassist Teo Peter and guitarist Constantin Cămărăşan, in the early years, Compact did sucessfully on local stage as a classic rock band with old-school style. Since vocalist Paul Ciuci's joining, they gradually tried hard rock as their major music style.

Compact's official debut "Fata Din Vis" (The Girl Of My Dreams) was a hard rock album released in 1985 including the theme title song written in 1978 by Paul Ciuci. Since Paul Ciuci's joining the band, he took on most creative jobs for Compact. In 1988, "Cîntec Pentru Prieteni" was released. This time they changed style to pure melodic rock.

Compact's early albums were released on vinyl and cassette, so the sound quality is not desirable, but their albums are the treasures for whoever shows interest in melodic rock map around the world. I think Romanian people must feel so proud of their native legend Compact, whose music careers have lasted until today.

Here "Cîntec Pentru Prieteni" (Song For Friends) is the opening theme title song. Compared to the hard rock songs from their debut, this album sounds poppy with aor elememts added into each song and keyboards enriching the arrangements to create hooks one after another. In this album, Paul Ciuci weakened his sharp voice feature on hard rocking tunes and took on his gentle side in these melodious aor tunes. Personally, the most impressive songs for me by Compact are all taken from this alum, including Cîntec Pentru Prieteni (Song For Friends), Mi-e Tare Dor De Tine (I Miss You So Much), Dă-mi O Veste (Give Me Some News) and Întoarce-te Acasă (Go Back Home), all of which featured splendid keys and brilliant solos, conveying 1980s pleasant vibe.

This album also means a lot to Compact, because it was the last one featuring this classic line-up. After its releasing in 1988, the band spilt up into two branches, Compact B and Compact C. B stands for Bucharest, where Teo, Vlady and Aurel moved to and C stands for Cluj-Napoca, the original city they came from, led by Constantin.

Vocalist, songwriter as well as the core member of Compact, Paul Ciuci left the band after this album. In Compact B led by Teo Peter, a new member Leo Iorga joined the band on lead vocals, who played the vital role in the following years, but passed away in 2019, aged 54. During 1991 to 1995, Paul joined "Sphinx Experience". In 1996 he returned to Compact.

During the Compact B years from the early to the mid 1990s fronted by Leo Iorga, they released three epic albums. In 1996 when Paul Ciuci came back to the band, in the following years, they continued to release a few albums fronted by Ciuci. Nowadays Compact still performs actively on stage fronted and led by Paul Ciuci. The former leader Teo Peter passed away in 2004.

Most following albums released in the name Compact were from Compact B, which was always simplifed as Compact while Compact C broke up in 1998. Review the classic album "Cîntec Pentru Prieteni", that was from the most memorable Compact union, a group of friends, who will sing in this grand evening and a celebration they cannot forget (reference to the lyrics)

It's my great honour to recommend Romanian legend in English outside Romania as an attentive melodic rock lover from another continent. More Romanian hard rock legends who perform in native language such as Holograf, Iris, Krypton and more need to be paid attention to, because rock n roll is always boundless for the worrld beyond languages.
#MelodicRock #aor #Compact #PaulCiuci