Yehuda Poliker (album 2- update) - Day dreamer

After many many years waiting for this, I have finally bought, received and listened to Yehuda Poliker's second solo album. 

It was released in 1986, like I mentioned, and was very difficult to find.

I was a bit surprised to hear that the album was actually recorded live - which wasn't announced anywhere on his website, nor wikipedia. The liner notes, however, do specify this detail. 

All 12 songs have Greek melodies, several instrumental pieces and Lyrics are either in Greek or translated from it in. 


Tracks 3 & 10 are sang in Greek, 8 and 12 are instrumental, and the others are in Hebrew.

• The first song is called ''after the war'', as Yehuda's parents are WW2 holocaust survivors and that he often writes about this difficult topic - understandably so, with the severe trauma it left on everyone. 
• I love its unusual long (over 2 minutes) instrumental introduction before the song actually begins. 
• The second ''let me eat you'' is sang to a woman, pledging an undying love, using memories and the ending line of ''we'll grow old and die together''. Years later, he came out as gay, but maybe this song (and a few others) tell us that he is actually bisexual ? Or, that he had to hide his orientation through gender and hetero lyrics? Who is to say? 

I especially love the change of tempo for the last minute or so, with an instrumental intermission before the last lyrics close it.

• As the third song ''Piga'' is in Greek, I cannot comment its lyrics. I can, however, tell you that its melody weaves nicely into the fourth song ''Yassou Phanays'' (or something like that), and which is in Hebrew again, about a boy who runs away after being bullied for his differences...
• For the fifth song, Yehuda invited another singer for the vocals. Her name is Yehudit Tamir, and she sings this ''if I only were with you'', a powerful song about a co-dependent lover who is depressed and wishes to have died to follow her deceased lover to end her pain.  Yehudit's adapted her voice to a perfect match, as she expresses the agony and despair, surrounded by a haunting melody that grips and knots the belly. I consider this the best song on this cd, and can already tell you that the studio version would be released many years later on a double-cd best off.
• After this tragic song, Poliker passed to the sixth track ''Old Lullaby'' that isn't actually about sleeping, but sleeping the big sleep - as the lyrics tell us of pale hands and a white veil over someone... There are only two verses in this song, and yet another haunting , melody flowed naturally from the previous song, into a slower rhythm and keeping with some tragic lyrics.
• I'm not sure what the seven song is about... from research into the lyrics and possible meaning of the title ''Baglams'' which seems to translate as a court hearing and to pertain to identity documents, I think he's talking about his name change back in the 1980's, or possibly the difficult immigration process his parents had to go through when they moved to Israel.... I cannot really say, it's a bit cryptic.
•  Track 8 is instrumental, ''and the boys shall dance'', with a Greek fancy tune you can dance to. 
• 9th song is a famous one which he often plays in concert : ''Claps'', originally from his first solo album. This is a fast paced and almost 7 minutes long version, which I love tremendously. It does show the age of this mastering, as I have to raise the volume, but that's not a real issue. Claps, as in claps in a Greek party... following on the previous instrumental. 
• 10th is a mix of a Greek ''Rebetika medley'' followed by a Hebrew ''the village's drunk''.  Their melodies are again typical Greek feasting and vary in pace.
• 11th is the title song, ''Day dreamer'' has a slower pace, and talks about a dream, evidently... or rather, the imagery of a dream woman that left him... it's beautiful, and poetic. 
• Lastly, 12th track ''wind direction'' is an instrumental piece to close the album. I cannot find an online link to this version, but he performed it elsewhere, including live in Caesaria later in 1997, and also on a tv show. I enjoy this song a lot, and propose a link to this latter version from the tv show, so you can hear and see him playing it and giving the impression that playing on a buzuki is easy.. 

All in all, I enjoy this album a lot, in spite of the inherent lower volume the cd offers, which can be corrected with any decent Hifi system. The rhythms are well proportioned and meaningful lyrics tend to set Yehuda Poliker aside with the topics he chooses - with the exception of party songs that help to alleviate the spirits in the heavy atmosphere. 

I am glad to have finally found Day dreamer to complete my collection - I now miss only 3 other albums he did in collaboration, each with a different person.  

Instruments in this album :
Bass, Bouzouki, Drums, Guitar, Keyboard, Percussion, Whistle.