BG and the aquarium group. Compact biography

Boris Grebenshchikov, Boris Grebenshchikov
834 rebounds, 9 of them this month

Biography

a group that stood and stands at the origins of Russian rock. Founded by Boris Grebenshchikov (BG) and his friend Anatoly Gunitsky (Anatoly Gunitsky, aka George, Old Rocker) in July 1972 in Leningrad.

"Aquarium" was founded as a postmodern poetic-musical project. Thirty years later, BG would describe the project as follows:
"I have a simple approach. Bob Marley said: "Who are playing with me is Wailers" who plays with me, they are the Wailers. If people are interested in playing with me, then it will be "Aquarium". It will not be me personally , because when we work together, we do everything together.If people are interested in playing this music, then this is "Aquarium" (From an interview with BG "Our Radio", Bryansk, 2002.)

According to a widespread version, Gunitsky suggested the name of the group when he saw a beer bar called "Aquarium" on Budapestskaya Street in Leningrad (this institution was closed in the 1980s). But here is what Boris Grebenshchikov himself says about this:

This is the version of my friend Tolya Gunitsky, with whom we founded Aquarium together in the summer of 1972. But I completely and completely disagree with her. Because I was never interested in beer, not then, not now. And I know for sure that the name “Aquarium” was coined in the very middle of the current Trinity Bridge across the Neva, approximately between the middle and the exit from the bridge to the Peter and Paul Fortress, as a result of the fact that we went through all possible words for three days.<…>We walked around the city, traveled around the city, moved by all methods and were transferred for three days, without sleep and rest, by combinations of words, one of which was to become the name of the group. We did this for two and a half days, and at about 17 o’clock on this bridge, either he or I, I can’t say this, he said: “Aquarium”. We stopped, looked at each other and said “Oh! May be". (BG for BBC, London, 2007.)

At first, the group did not go beyond rehearsals, but, according to some reports, in 1972 the group nevertheless gave one small concert outside the city. According to other sources, the first performance took place in the Leningrad restaurant "Tryum" near the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, and the first fee was 50 rubles in cash.

The first composition of the group was as follows: BG, George (drums), Alexander Tsatsanidi (bass), Alexander Vasiliev (keyboards), Valery Obogrelov (sound). At the end of 1972, the guitarist Edmund Shklyarsky, later the leader of the Piknik group, rehearsed with Aquarium for a short time. In January 1973, bass player Mikhail "Fan" Fainshtein-Vasilyev appeared, the first professional musician in the "Aquarium". In the same year, Andrey "Dyusha" Romanov joined the group as a keyboardist; soon, influenced by the playing of Richard Mayer and Ian Anderson, he retrained as a flutist.

In 1973, the Aquarium had its first concert experience, but the group still performs rarely: all this time the Aquarium almost does not perform, but sits mainly in the south, drinking port wine and singing songs (their own and the Beatles) or rehearsing at the faculty PM. The equipment is in the back room, and it is quite enough to occasionally play at weddings. (From an interview with BG)

"Prehistoric" albums

By 1973, the first magnetic albums of "Aquarium" belong. In January February, during the holidays, BG and George recorded "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium". The album was created using home recording equipment, and the sound quality, of course, left much to be desired. "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium" was considered lost for a long time, but in 1997 the recording was discovered and released in 2001 on CD as part of the collection "Prehistoric Aquarium".

Soon another short album, Minuet to the Farmer, was prepared, but this recording seems to have been completely lost.

The third album was called "The Parables of Count Diffuser". It was recorded by BG, George, Fan and Dyusha Romanov. None of the band members remember the exact time of the recording, but most likely it was the spring of 1974.

In 1974, the group took part in an amateur theatre, playing plays of the absurd on the steps of the Engineer's Castle. After the theater was headed by professional director Eric Goroshevsky, Grebenshchikov became disillusioned with the idea of ​​​​synthesis of rock, poetry and theater, and Aquarium concentrated on musical activity (however, the group finally separated from the theater only in 1977). George left the group, but continued to communicate with its members.

By 1975, the cellist Vsevolod "Seva" Gakkel appeared in the "Aquarium".
"In the summer, as a rule, we rarely went anywhere, preferring to wander around the city. We went from place to place and played everywhere usually in the open air. Our group, unlike everyone else, was the only mobile group in the world acoustic guitar , cello, flute and everything We played in the Engineering Castle, in all kinds of parks, around the Faculty of Applied Mathematics anywhere. We practically lived on the street and spent most of our time that way. (From an interview with the Izvestia newspaper on August 28, 2006)

Since 1976 "Aquarium" begins to conduct a fairly regular concert activity. The first joint concert of BG, Gakkel and Dyusha Romanov took place on February 25, 1976, and on March 10 "Aquarium" (BG, Dyusha, Fan, Seva, Kordyukov) goes with their own money as an uninvited guest to the Tallinn Popular Music Festival, where they play four acoustic pieces and receives a prize for the most interesting and varied program (there are some doubts about the reliability of the latest information). There is also an acquaintance with Andrei Makarevich.

In 1976, the album “From the Other Side of the Mirror Glass” appeared, and in 1978, together with Mike Naumenko, “All Brothers Sisters”.

In 1978, it was relatively quiet, BG caught fire with the work of Bob Dylan and wrote songs all summer ("Stole the rain", "You'll go your own way", "Road 21", "Steel", "Why the sky does not fall"). In the summer of the same year, he recorded a solo "long play" with Mike (Mikhail Naumenko, known for the songs "You rubbish", "My sweet N"). It was called "All Brothers Sisters" and sold throughout the Union in a mind-boggling amount - about 20 pieces. The Aquarium's popularity skyrocketed. Strangers recognize songs, and BG is recognized on the streets. (BG. Aquarium's True Autobiography)

In 1977 "Aquarium" lost two of its musicians for two years Dyusha Romanov and Alexander "Fagot" Alexandrov, who had barely appeared: they were called up for military service.

In 1979, Aquarium met two significant figures of Soviet rock at once, Artemy Troitsky and Andrei Tropillo, at whose studio the first "historical" albums of Aquarium were recorded. In the same year, Alexander Lyapin began to help the group at concerts (he finally joined the Aquarium a year later), Dyusha and Fagot returned from the army.

In the autumn of 1980, the bootleg Music of Public Toilets was released. There is also a mention of a "Music for the Dead and the Living" bootleg. But it did not receive wide distribution at the time. In August 2002, the Triary studio released this album, erroneously dated it to 1974.

Aquarium managed to make itself known loudly in rock circles at the 1980 Tbilisi Rock Festival. The group did not receive prizes, but with their performance they made a real scandal. Compared to the rest of the festival participants, Aquarium behaved eccentrically and outrageously on stage, but the jury did not appreciate this: when during the concert Grebenshchikov, playing the guitar, lay down on the stage, all the jury members defiantly left the hall. "Aquarium" was accused of promoting homosexuality (this is how one of the episodes of the performance was regarded), incest (performing the song "Marina", BG instead of "marrying a Finn" sang "marrying Ino": due to poor technique, it seemed to many to "get out marry a son”) and in obscene behavior and at first they even wanted to immediately send him out of the festival. The speech became known in Leningrad, and as a result BG lost his job and was expelled from the Komsomol.

The first "historical" albums

In January 1981, the "Blue Album" was released, which became the first "historical" independent studio work of the "Aquarium". During the recording of the "Blue Album", the group still continued the period of reggae passion, which can be understood from the songs "Rutman", "River", "The only home (Jah will give us everything)". The Blue Album, in fact, became the first full-fledged underground rock album of the USSR (the songs were recorded in the studio, the concept and original design were present).

Following the "Blue Album" in the summer of 1981, "Triangle" appeared, which, according to the plan of BG, was to become the new "Sergeant Pepper". "Triangle" was a kind of return of the "Aquarium" to traditional rock. The lyrics on the album are mostly absurd (some of them were written by George).

Shortly before the appearance of the "Triangle", a significant event took place in Soviet rock music - the Leningrad Rock Club was founded, which immediately accepted the "Aquarium" (this happened on March 7, 1981).

Album Electricity. History of the Aquarium Volume 2” was released before the album “Acoustics (History of the Aquarium Volume 1)”. According to BG, the hitch with the release of the Acoustics album was due to the fact that the cover for it was not ready yet. Accordingly, judging by the names of the albums, the album "Acoustics" was conceived as the third album, and "Electricity" as the fourth.

Since 1982, the group has been conducting a stormy concert activity. At the very beginning of the year, on January 6, a concert was played in the Lunacharsky Palace of Culture in Moscow, the recording of which was released in 1996 as a "live" album "Aroks and Stör".

Album "Acoustics. History of the Aquarium Volume 1" was a collection of songs that the band performed at home concerts. According to BG, anyone who has heard "Acoustics" can assume that he knows "Aquarium".

A little later, the album "Taboo" was released. According to BG, these were difficult times for the band, and for this reason, a question mark was even put on the cover after the band's name. In 1984, from the recordings made for Taboo, but not included in it, Andrei Tropillo, without the knowledge of the group members, compiled and published the collection M.C.I.

In 1983, "Aquarium" performed a lot of concerts, mainly in Leningrad and Moscow. On May 15, 1983, the group participates in the first Leningrad rock festival, held under the name "1st city review competition of amateur rock groups of Leningrad for the best performance of anti-war songs under the motto For anti-imperialist solidarity, peace and friendship!". "Aquarium" took part in several subsequent annual rock festivals organized by the Leningrad Rock Club.

In spring and summer, a new album "Radio Africa" ​​is recorded, which Grebenshchikov called "pagan". Serious support in the creation of the album was provided by Sergey Kuryokhin: he is even the author of one of the compositions (“Tibetan Tango”). In general, the very name of the album goes back to the idea of ​​BG and Kuryokhin to call their common projects "Radio Africa"; the projects were eventually abandoned, but the name remained. The album included the famous song "Rock and Roll is Dead", which became one of the group's main hits, and for many, a kind of anthem of the decade. Alexander Titov played the role of bassist on the recording of the album for the first time; soon he was invited to the group.

Despite the fact that Radio Africa was not accepted by everyone, the popularity of Aquarium increased. At the end of 1983, the group got into the top three in the USSR according to the results of the first poll of experts in Soviet practice, conducted by the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper among about thirty journalists and rock figures from Moscow, Leningrad and Tallinn. The top ten in the "Ensembles" category looked like this: 1. "Speaker". 2. "Time Machine". 3. "Aquarium". 4. "Autograph". 5. "Dialogue". 6. "Ruya". 7. "Rock Hotel". 8. Magnetic Band. 9. "Cruise". 10. "Earthlings". In February 1984, according to the results of an expert survey of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, the group already took second place among the ensembles.

The first of two Aquarium albums in 1984 was Ichthyology, a collection of acoustic live recordings from 19831984.

The second was "Silver Day", released at the beginning of October, the first album of "Aquarium", recorded on professional equipment. In its creation, in addition to the permanent members of the group, the violinist Alexander Kussul took part. Many consider "Silver Day" to be one of the band's best albums due to the coherent concept (created over eight months), successful arrangements and, as always, obscure but philosophical lyrics. On the "Day of Silver" the songs "Sitting on a beautiful hill", "The sky is getting closer", "Ivan Bodhidharma" were performed.

The logical continuation of the "Day of Silver" was the album "Children of December" in 1985, a little darker, but similar in style; however, the gloominess is largely set by the opening song "Thirst", performed before, but re-arranged for "Children of December". At the same time, such songs as “She Can Move” and “212-85-06” carry a completely opposite mood. The album was recorded with the participation of twelve people, not counting the producer Andrey Tropillo (although he also made a small performance contribution by saying the text of the ditty in "212-85-06").

Exit from the "underground"

The tenth album of "Aquarium" "Ten Arrows" (1986) became a concert album. The album included recordings made at performances in the two years leading up to its release. The only studio recording on the album is the song "City", which has become one of the most famous compositions of the "Aquarium" (often the authorship of its music and poetry is mistakenly attributed to Francesco da Milano and Alexei Khvostenko, respectively). The album was dedicated to the memory of Alexander Kussul, who died shortly before the release of Ten Arrows.

In the same year, in the USA, at the expense of Joanna Stingray, a double vinyl collection of Soviet rock music "Red Wave" was released in a circulation of 1,500 copies, in which "Aquarium" occupied one side of four. However, it was too early to call this event a full-fledged exit from the underground: Aquarium did not give big concerts, it was rarely talked about in the press and on television. The musicians continued to communicate with the leaders of the Soviet underground: film directors Alexander Sokurov and Sergei Solovyov, musicians Viktor Tsoi and Sergei Kuryokhin, journalist Artemy Troitsky. Close relations were established at the "Aquarium" with the Mitki.

Soon after the appearance of “Red Wave”, things moved off the ground in the USSR: the first official disc of the group (the so-called “White Album”), published by Melodiya in 1987 and representing a compilation of songs from “Silver Day” and “ Children of December. Vsevolod Gakkel even connects the release of these two records:
“She (Stingray) sent one copy to Reagan, another to Gorbachev, accompanied by a statement that what politicians at the diplomatic level cannot achieve is successfully achieved by rock musicians in both countries. As a result, Gorbachev asked his advisers: What kind of Aquarium? Why don't they have a record? And the Ministry of Culture gave a directive to the Melodiya company to urgently release a record of this group in order to create the illusion that the records of these groups have been released and sold for a long time. " (Vsevolod Gakkel. Aquarium as a way to care for a tennis court.)

It was during this period that the group began to gain more and more fame, and 1987 can be considered the "year of the great turning point" in the history of "Aquarium". Back in March 1984, the group was invited by Tamara and Vladimir Maksimov to record the first program "Musical Ring" on Leningrad television. On October 24, 1986, the ensemble appeared on the Musical Ring for the second time, and on January 17, 1987, this performance was broadcast on the first all-Union program. "Musical Ring" becomes the first "visualization" of the "Aquarium" "in full growth" in the mode of a studio talk show and concert and on a scale of the entire USSR. This was a kind of evidence of the group's final exit from the underground, its official recognition and recognition as an essential element of the Soviet youth musical culture of that time. Prior to this, the group was known mainly among fans and comrades in the shop. Already in March 1987, the magazine "Youth" named "Aquarium" the best musical ensemble in the country. BG was recognized as the best musician.

In 1987, Mosfilm filmed the film Assa by Sergei Solovyov, in which five Aquarium songs were used, including City. In parallel with the film, the soundtrack of the same name was released, which includes five songs of Aquarium performed by itself.

In the same year, Melodiya released the Equinox album, the first studio album after a two-year break and the last before a four-year pause associated with the temporary cessation of Aquarium's activities. BG described it as an '80s Aquarium swan song and was generally dissatisfied with the record:
"And so we contacted them (Melody), recorded Equinox and failed our, perhaps, the best record. It's okay, we had all the control, but the way Melody works all the little things , twists and turns, problems with cables, something is cut down, someone has a headache And all this was expressed in complete jelly. (From an interview with BG magazine "Urlight")

BG in the West

On June 3, 1988, the band played their first concert abroad in Montreal, Canada, after which BG recorded two songs ("China" and "King Arthur") for his upcoming solo English-language album. In August 1988, he worked in the US and UK on a solo album called "Radio Silence" ("Radio Silence"). In the autumn and winter, Aquarium gives several concerts, but BG is constantly absent in the USA, appears in the press and gives concerts independently of the group. Work is underway on the album "Feudalism", but the group fails to complete it and release it to the public.

The activity of the "Aquarium" as a single team is finally suspended. Later, Grebenshchikov would unequivocally express himself on this subject:

Tell me, Bob, "Aquarium" disappeared forever?
Yes, "Aquarium" moved into the realm of mythology and legends.
(From an interview with BG in the newspaper "Vybor", Vyatka, October 11, 1991)

"The Aquarium group has existed since 1972. Everything that we could do, we have already done." (From an interview with BG in Yaroslavl, November 17, 1991)

"Radio Silence" was released in Europe and the US in the early summer of 1989. Gakkel and Dyusha Romanov took part in its recording, however, only the name of BG is indicated on the front side of the cover. About the work on the album, director Michael Apted created the film The Long Way Home, which was shown on MTV in June 1989.

In the same year, the "Russian-Abyssinian Orchestra" appeared. Under this name, the participants of the Aquarium record the soundtrack to the film by Sergei Debizhev "Golden Dream" (1989), as well as part of the music for the film by Sergei Solovyov "Black Rose Emblem of Sorrow, Red Rose Emblem of Love" (1989). Later this name will also appear in the credits of Debizhev's film "Two Captains 2".

At the same time, attempts by other members of the Aquarium to organize their own groups do not stop. Shamrock by Dyushi Romanov was founded back in 1987; Titov in 1990 announced the creation of the Vostok-1 project; later there were "Three Sasha" with the participation of Lyapin and Titov; in December, the Turkish Tea ensemble appeared, headed by Lyapin, Gakkel and the same Titov. In early 1991, Lyapin recorded a solo album, Nostalgia for Cold Beer (the title included a clear allusion to the early Aquarium song Cold Beer).

In the autumn of 1990, the Aquarium musicians begin to record songs for S. Solovyov's film "House Under the Starry Sky" and at the same time for the group's next album. Although the film will be released, the songs from this film would not appear as a stand-alone release until 2000. Ten years later, the Triary studio will release the soundtrack "House under the Starry Sky" for the first time under the title "Made at Mosfilm" with a subtitle explaining that the songs were recorded during the filming of the aforementioned film.

In 1990, BG starts recording his second solo album in English "Radio London" ("Radio London"). The conceived album will be released for the first time only six years later by SoLyd Records in the demo recording stage.

BG Band (19911992)

"BG-Band" was first assembled by Grebenshchikov on April 4, 1991 and was a kind of reincarnation of "Aquarium" in a new name and sound, and in new "old" faces. The ensemble included BG, Oleg Sakmarov (flute), Sergey Shchurakov (accordion, mandolin), Andrey Reshetin (violin) and Sergey Berezovoy (bass). Reshetin and Shchurakov already participated in the recording of Equinox (1987), and Sakmarov and Berezovoy were known for touring with the last composition of Aquarium.

During its existence (19911992), the new group gave 171 concerts in Moscow, Leningrad-St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Riga, Kazan, Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk, Kharkov and several cities of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia, where completely new songs and some of the former repertoire of BG and Aquarium. There is a live album of the group, released in 1993 under the title “Letters from Captain Voronin. Concert in Vyatka.

In January February 1992, Grebenshchikov and musicians from the BG Band recorded the Russian Album in Moscow, based on songs from this period. In November of the same year, the "Russian Album" was released as a vinyl record and became a symbol of the final return of BG to his homeland. The album presented to its listeners a completely new group: now the lyrics, melodies and performance were based on Russian song traditions none of the album's compositions deviates from this style. Orthodox images are used in the texts: such are the songs “Nikita Ryazansky” and “Horses of Mayhem”; the opening instrumental is called "The Archangel" (i.e. Archangel Michael).

"Perhaps the only album in the history of Russian music, except for some counter-cultural actions that have sunk into oblivion, having any direct relation to what is called "dark-folk" or "folk noir", was " Russian Album" by Grebenshchikov (who at that time was fond of the work of David Tibet), filled with borrowings and references to Current 93 (this is how Sergei Ilyich once introduced the population of the Land of Soviets to Bolan's "Cat Black"), although this album as "dark folk" is not perceived at all" (From the article "England was burning and Russia is burning in its own way")

When the Russian Album was reissued on CD in 1995, five more songs from the BG Band period were added to the 11 main compositions (live and studio recordings of 1991 and 1992). Currently, the album is officially attributed to the work of Aquarium itself, however, the name of the group is not indicated on the cover, so the Russian Album can formally be classified as a solo album by BG.

Despite the fact that at that time “Aquarium” under the original name no longer exists, its collections are published: two new “volumes” of the history of the group “Archive. History of the Aquarium Volume 3” (1991) and a little later “The Library of Babylon. History of the Aquarium Volume 4" (1993).

Aquarium 2.0 (19921997)

"Aquarium" in 1992

The new "Aquarium" was assembled in September 1992. It included only two members of the old "Aquarium" (BG and Titov) and one musician of the "BG-Band" (Sakmarov). Three more appeared for the first time: Alexei "Lord" Ratsen, Alexei Zubarev and Andrey Vikharev. A little later, Sergey Shchurakov, another notable figure of the BG Band, joined this six.

Recorded in 1993, "Favorite Songs of Ramses IV" featured the title "Aquarium" on the cover; thus, this album became nominally the first album of the revived "Aquarium".

The album "Sands of Petersburg", released in 1994, somewhat departed from the style set by the "Russian Album" and "Favorite Songs": it was composed of songs from the 1980s that had not previously been released on studio albums. The only new song was "Yuryev's Day", completed from the long-existing first two lines.

The development of the Russian tradition, combined with waltz motifs, was successfully continued in the album "Kostroma mon amour" (1994), the title track of which is a kind of anthem of the Russian province. At this time, Grebenshchikov, following Zen, discovered Lamaist Buddhism, and the very first song of the album "Russian Nirvana", similar in music to the melody of Tikhon Khrennikov from the movie "True Friends" (1954), is replete with Buddhist terms and ends in something self-ironic line: "Oh, the Volga, the Volga-mother, the Buddhist river." The song "Sing, sing, lyre" is based on one of George's early poems.

In 1994, two solo albums of BG "Songs of Alexander Vertinsky" and "Soulful Songs" were released (the latter was recorded together with "Aquarium", indicated on the cover as "Anna Karenina Quartet"). In addition, the collection "Boris Grebenchikov & Aquarium 19911994" appears in France for European listeners.

In 1995, for the first time in four years (a long time for Aquarium), there were changes in the composition of the group: Ratsen left, but violinist Andrey Surotdinov appeared. In the new line-up, the album "Navigator" was recorded in London. It was released on September 1, 1995 and differed little in style from “Kostroma mon amour”: the same waltzes (“Navigator”, “Blue Light”, “The Fastest Plane”), a bit of Buddhist themes (“Religious Ficus”, that is, Bo tree, in the shadow of which the Buddha gained enlightenment) and Russian folk motifs (“The Last Turn”).

The reporting live album for 1995 was called "Cyclone Center" and was released in early 1996. Studio "Snow Lion", which appeared in 1996, was the last in a kind of trilogy "Kostroma Mon Amour" "Navigator" "Snow Lion". Stylistically, he was close to "Kostroma" and "Navigator" - waltz melodies, Russian theme in the songs. "Snow Lion" was the last to be recorded in England.

Changes came in 1997. First, under the name of the "Russian-Abyssinian Orchestra", "Aquarium" releases an instrumental collection "Bardo", which was recorded for seven years (starting with the soundtrack to the film "Golden Dream", dated 1989). Then the epic-mythological "Hyperborea" was released, which included previously unreleased songs from the 1970s and 1980s. The band's sound becomes harder, more "electricity" is added to the detriment of the acoustics, the range of instruments expands: harpsichord, double bass, khomuz are used in the recording.

Aquarium Lilith Blues Band (19971998)

In 1997, BG made another attempt to establish himself on the Western rock scene and, together with The Band (the former group of Bob Dylan), performed a series of concerts in New York clubs, and also prepared the album Lilith, which was released in two versions ( Russian and American). The disc was recorded without the participation of other permanent members of the "Aquarium" (not counting BG), but is usually included in the discography of the entire group.

New Electric Dog (19981999)

1998 marked the beginning of the New Electric Dog period. "Electric Dog" an early Aquarium song included on the Blue Album (1981); in 1998, this was also the name of the concert program, with which "Aquarium" performed with a large tour of the cities of Russia and neighboring countries. With this name, BG, as it were, announced a return to the origins. He produced a new "recruitment" of musicians for the group, and it replenished with Nikolai Koshkin (drums), Alexander Ponomarev (guitar), Dmitry Veselov (percussion) and Boris Rubekin (keyboards). The first three left the group after only a year, when the New Electric Dog period ended; Rubekin is a member of the Aquarium to this day. In addition to them, a year before, Oleg "Shar" Shavkunov joined the group.

In the same year, Aquarium released the Kunstkamera anthology album, which consists of recordings made from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. BG's solo discography is replenished with three albums at once: "Refuge" an album of mantras, recorded together with Gabrielle Roth & "The Mirrors"; "Boris Grebenshchikov and Deadushki" with techno versions of old songs from "Aquarium" and "Prayer and Fasting" a live album, which was originally created as an Internet-only album. Only in 2001, due to numerous requests from listeners, the album was finally released on CD.

In May 1999, the solo album of BG "Boris Grebenshchikov sings the songs of Bulat Okudzhava" appeared. As in the case of "Songs of Alexander Vertinsky", BG himself accompanied himself on an acoustic guitar, but the recording still took place without the participation of other members of the "Aquarium".

Aquarium 3.0 (1999)

The first studio album of "Aquarium" of the third convocation was the disc "ОЁ" ("Psi"), the twentieth album of the group in its entire history. Albert Potapkin, a member of the group since 1999, took part in its creation. According to BG, there is no concept in the album, it just became a reflection of the state of the group at that moment. And indeed, it cannot be said that all the songs are made in the same vein: the disc contains both positive ones (“Masha and the Bear”, “While they carry sake”), and more gloomy ones (“Moon, calm me”, “The name of my longing”) songs. For the first time in many years, a reggae composition (“Stop Machine”) appeared.

On May 25, 2000, the Pentagonal Sin album was released. This album was released under the pseudonym "Terrarium", since on the album, in addition to BG, there are invited rock musicians who perform their songs on George's verses. On November 1, 2000, the compilation album "Territory" was released simultaneously in Russia and Germany, consisting of old songs, two of which were specially re-recorded for the album.

In 2001, Oleg Sakmarov left the group.

In January 2002 in America and Europe, and at the beginning of May in Russia, the 13th solo album of BG "Crossing" ("Bardo"); again featuring Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors. The album is a reworking of instrumental compositions from the eponymous album "Bardo" by the "Russian-Abyssinian Orchestra" (that is, "Aquarium" under a pseudonym) in 1997.

The first completely new album in three years, Sister Chaos, appeared only in 2002. The disk turned out to be unlike anything that Aquarium had done before. Like "OYO", the album turned out to be very emotional and versatile (BG defined "Sister Chaos" as the first multi-colored album in the history of music.) Reggae appeared again - the ironic song "Rastafans from the Outback".

"The album was supposed to be called "Psalms", simply, the elders dissuaded me from this name. The album is psalms. There is not one psalm, there are nine psalms." (From an interview with BG)

In the same year, the group received the Poboroll award for their contribution to the development of music. Release on CD "Anthologies" has begun in two years all albums were re-released on CD with bonus tracks.

Indian musicians who played traditional instruments took part in the recording of the next "numbered" album "Songs of the Fisherman" (2003). Despite the somewhat gloomy composition "A Man from Kemerovo", the album turned out to be generally positive in terms of mood. A little later, on the fiftieth anniversary of Grebenshchikov, a double album-collection "50 BG" was released in a limited edition of 300 copies, which is sold exclusively at the band's concerts.

In 2003, three wind players joined Aquarium Fedor Kuvaytsev (clarinet), who participated in several recordings and performances back in the 1980s Alexander Berenson (trumpet) and Igor Timofeev (saxophone and flute), and for about a year the group played in consisting of nine people. At the very beginning of 2005, drummer Albert Potapkin left the band, and in the summer of the same year, Berenson and Kuvaytsev left.

In 2004, BG's 14th solo album "Without Words" was also released in a limited edition. The album contains 16 instrumental compositions representing Japanese-Chinese motifs.

The logical continuation of the group's activities in 2005 was the album "ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM". The songs that make up this album were written by BG in the Spanish resort town of Palamós.

In 2005, an announcement appeared on the Aquarium official website that, at the request of the Soyuz studio, two thematic collections would be published. As a result, in 2005 the compilation "Reggae" appeared with one new song "The Words of a Rastaman", which confirmed the restoration of BG's interest in Rastafarianism, and in 2006 "Songs of Love" with a studio version of the song "Keys to My Doors". "Reggae" and "Songs about Love" are not collections from the Aquarium itself, but are collections from the Soyuz studio, published with the permission of the group.

In the fall of 2004, bassist Vladimir Kudryavtsev left the band, and in 2005, after a series of concerts without a rhythm section, Aquarium got a new bass player - jazz musician Andrey Svetlov.

At the moment, the last album of "Aquarium" "Careless Russian Tramp", released on April 5, 2006. The album includes two songs that have been performed at concerts since the late 1990s (“Afanasy Nikitin boogie” and “Skorbets”), several compositions similar in style to the “Aquarium” of the 1980s (“On the meaning of everything that exists”, “Spiritual people") and to the previous albums "Songs of the fisherman" and "ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM" ("It's up to me", "Therapist"). There are also experiments on the album that are uncharacteristic for the group's work, like the same "Afanasy Nikitin Boogie". Several songs at once, including the title one, are devoted to the alcohol theme, and from different points of view.

In 2007, the album “Feudalism” recorded eighteen years earlier was released.

In its fourth decade, Aquarium continues to actively record and perform concerts around the world, mainly in Russia and neighboring countries. Summarizing the phenomenon of the group, Boris Grebenshchikov says:

“Aquarium” is a shining beast. Winged shining beast. He brings you medicine. He brings what you lacked, but you yourself did not know it.

In the summer of 2008, bassist Andrey Svetlov left the group, an old colleague of BG, Alexander Titov, was invited to take his place, who, after a long break, again takes the stage with the Aquarium, and also participates in the recording of the White Horse album.

On November 25, 2008, the album "Concert at the Royal Albert Hall" was posted for download on the social network "Krugi" (the composition of the group was announced as "Aquarium International"). The release of the new studio album "White Horse" is announced for December 3 (on the night of December 4, its digital version will also be presented on the Krugi network.)

The current composition of the "Aquarium":

В–Є Boris Grebenshchikov (guitar, vocals, songwriter);
в–Є Boris Rubekin (keyboards);
c–j Oleg Shar (percussion);
c–Є Albert Potapkin (drums);
c–Є Igor Timofeev (saxophone, flute, duduk, guitar);
c–j Andrey Surotdinov (violin);
в–Є Alexander Titov (bass).

The official website of the team - www.aquarium.ru

1. When was the band founded and how many times has it changed its line-up?

Aquarium was founded in 1972 in St. Petersburg.

It is practically impossible to answer the second part of the question precisely, because the composition of the group has changed dozens of times (at the same time, Boris Grebenshchikov, BG has always remained the unchanged leader of the group). In addition to Grebenshchikov, the first composition of Aquarium included Anatoly Gunitsky, Alexander Tsatsanidi (bass), Alexander Vasiliev (keyboards) and Valery Obogrelov (responsible for the sound). Also in different years, the members of the team were Dyusha Romanov, Sergey Kuryokhin, Oleg Sakmarov, Vsevolod Gakkel and others.

"Aquarium". 1986 Photo www.russianlook.com

The current composition of the band is as follows: Boris Grebenshchikov (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, lyrics, music), Andrey Surotdinov (violin, percussion), Oleg Shavkunov (percussion, drums, backing vocals), Boris Rubekin (keyboards, backing vocals ), Igor Timofeev (guitar, saxophone, flute, clarinet, mandolin, backing vocals), Brian Finnegan (flute), Liam Bradley (drums).

The backbone of this line-up was formed in the 1990s, Timofeev and Finnegan joined Aquarium in the 2000s, and Bradley has been playing in the group since 2011.

2. Why is the group called "Aquarium"?

The group's official website answers this question as follows: “For reasons of a cosmic nature. The answer is to be found in some astrological treatises.” In fact, at different times in various interviews, the musicians voiced various versions, in particular, that the name of the group was given by one of the St. Petersburg beer bars. By the way, the first performance took place in the Leningrad restaurant "Tryum", the group received a fee of 50 rubles for it.

3. How many albums does the band have?

The discography includes 29 studio albums. The last one was released in 2011 and was called Arkhangelsk. In addition, there are 5 early magnetic albums, one of which was lost, 3 were released as part of the Prehistoric Aquarium collection. Also, during the entire activity of the group, various anthologies, collections, individual singles (there were 15), live recordings (17), as well as 2 English-language albums were released. Another 6 albums fall under the category of "independent creativity of BG" - they were recorded by Grebenshchikov without "Aquarium".

4. How is Aquarium and Viktor Tsoi related?

At one time, Boris Grebenshchikov was imbued with sympathy for Tsoi and, seeing his creative potential, seriously helped the young KINO group. In 1981, BG acted as a sound producer in the recording of the group's first album - "45"; besides, because the group at that time consisted of only two people, Grebenshchikov asked his colleagues in Aquarium to help. During the recording of the second album "KINO", Grebenshchikov again acted as a producer, and again BG's friends from Aquarium took part in the recording process. Here is what Grebenshchikov says about Tsoi: “I liked him, I liked his songs, and I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy him and his songs with me.”

5. When exactly did Aquarium become popular?

1983 can be taken as a symbolic mark: "Aquarium" takes part not only in concerts, but also in the first rock festival in Leningrad, releases the next album "Radio Africa", which, by the way, includes one of the band's brightest hits of all time - the song "Rock 'n' Roll is Dead". In addition, this year "Aquarium" falls on the 3rd line in the list of the best groups of the USSR - right after the groups "Dynamik" and "Time Machine".

Concert of the group "Aquarium". Photo www.russianlook.com

6. In what films can you hear the music of the Aquarium group?

First of all, in the cult film of 1987 "ACCA" and the film of 1989 "The black rose is the emblem of sadness, the red rose is the emblem of love." The director of both films is Sergei Solovyov.

In addition, the songs of "Aquarium" sound in two dozen more films, including "House under the Starry Sky" and "Tender Age" by the same Sergei Solovyov, "Thirst" and "You calm me down" directed by Sergei Debizhev and others. By the way, in 1988, Sergei Debizhev shot a music video for the song "" for the Aquarium group - it is believed that this was "the first video in the USSR."

7. What is the "Golden City" and why is it important?

This is the name of a song from the repertoire of "Aquarium", which sounded in the film "ACCA". It ranks third in the list of the 100 best songs of Russian rock of the 20th century, and is also included in the list of "100 songs that changed our lives" by Time Out magazine. At the same time, it must be remembered: Boris Grebenshchikov is not the author of the song, the text for it was composed by Anri Volkhonsky, and the authorship of the music belongs to the Italian composer of the 16th century - Francesco da Milano.

8. Why does the group cease to exist?

Here is Boris Grebenshchinkov's answer: “We are 'going under the radar', joining the partisans somewhere. I really like the idea that all that's left of me is my voice. Nobody will see me. Nobody will know where I am."

Boris Grebenshchikov. Photo www.russianlook.com

9. Has Aquarium talked about the breakup before?

Yes. Here are some quotes from an interview with Grebenshchikov:

Tell me, Bob, is Aquarium gone forever? - Yes, "Aquarium" moved into the realm of mythology and legends. (Interview with Boris Grebenshchikov, Vyatka, October 11, 1991)

“The Aquarium group has existed since 1972. Everything we could do, we've already done." (From an interview, Yaroslavl, November 17, 1991)

In addition, once again, in 1982, a question mark appeared on the cover of the Taboo album after the word "Aquarium". Later, Grebenshchikov explained that this sign was an indicator of a difficult period in the history of the group - and since then it has not appeared.

10. What is the meaning of life according to BG?

The leader of the Aquarium group answers this question as follows: “The meaning of life is to achieve ... freedom, to become this freedom. Experienced people say that this is impossible without a positive attitude towards other people and living beings... (“Love your neighbor as yourself”).

Alina Kleshchenko

"Aquarium"- Soviet and Russian rock band, one of the oldest existing Russian rock bands. The composition of the participants has changed several times over the almost 40 years of the group's existence, and only the leader and ideological inspirer of the group Boris Grebenshchikov (also known as BG) has been a member of the group since its foundation in 1972. The members of the group at different times were: Anatoly Gunitsky, Dyusha Romanov, Sergey Kuryokhin, Oleg Sakmarov, Vsevolod Gakkel and many others.

It is believed that the Aquarium group was born in July 1972. A student of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics at Leningrad University Boris Grebenshchikov (born in 1953), who had previously written English-language songs, came to an unequivocal decision: you need to compose and sing in Russian. Grebenshchikov himself in the future group determined the place of a singer and guitarist, and appointed an old friend Anatoly (George) Gunitsky (born in 1953) as a drummer. The comrades-in-arms gave their group the popular name of the beer bar - "glass", located in the Kupchino area - the visitors called it "Aquarium". In 1973, the recording debut took place: Boris and George recorded the album "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium" on a household tape recorder. It was an absurd mixture of all sorts of sound effects, individual phrases and verses of songs.

The next event in the fate of the group was the appearance of bass player Mikhail Fainshtein (later changed his surname to Vasiliev, born in 1953). With his participation were the first two performances. Then the pianist Andrei (Dyusha) Romanov (1956-2001) joined the musicians, who soon learned to play the flute as well. In 1974, "Aquarium" recorded the second tape album - "The Proverbs of Count Diffuser". In the same year, cellist Vsevolod Gakkel (born in 1953) joined the band. The year 1976 was successful for the musicians. The group performed with an acoustic program at the festival in Tallinn. Grebenshchikov created a solo album "From the other side of the mirror glass", the sound quality of which can already be considered acceptable. In the same year, the bassoonist Alexander Alexandrov joined the Aquarium. In the summer of 1978, the album All Brothers and Sisters appeared. It was a joint work of Grebenshchikov and Mikhail Naumenko. In April 1980, "Aquarium" brightly performed at the Tbilisi Rock Festival. The musicians demonstrated not only musical and poetic innovation, but also unusual freedom of behavior on stage for those years. That is why their performance was considered almost scandalous. As a result, the group lost its rehearsal base, and Boris Grebenshchikov was expelled from the Komsomol and fired from his job. The latter, however, only pushed him to a closer study of music. Andrei Tropillo invited him to record songs in the studio at the House of Young Technicians. In 1980, the group began their first serious studio work - the Blue Album. In the summer of 1981, the Aquarium musicians, together with drummer Alexander Kondrashkin and jazz pianist Sergei Kuryokhin, recorded the album Triangle. When working on it, electric musical instruments were used. In 1982, the guitarist Alexander Lyapin (born in 1956) joined the group, Evgeny Guberman took the place of drums; he was soon replaced by Pyotr Troshchenkov (born in 1961). "Aquarium" has assembled a full-fledged rock line-up. This team for a long time became the number one domestic rock group.

In 1982, the album "Taboo" was created. During the recording of the next album - "Radio Africa" ​​(1983) - bass player Alexander Titov (born in 1957) joined the group, and Feinstein switched to percussion. In the autumn of 1984, one of the best Aquarium albums, Silver Day, appeared. The album's arrangements are polished and stylish, some of the songs feature a string quartet and brass horns, and in some places you can hear the intonations of the Beatles' orchestrations. The usually aggressive manner of guitarist Alexander Lyapin's performance this time is refined and sophisticated. A new member of the group, violinist Alexander Kussul (1963-1986), showed high skill. After the release of the album, some of the band's musicians created their own projects. Boris Grebenshchikov, who by that time was called none other than B. G., performed together with Titov; sometimes Kussul joined them. But formally the group continued to exist. The team reunited in September 1985 on the stage of the Leningrad Youth House. At this concert, the song "Rock and Roll is Dead" was first performed, instantly gaining popularity with listeners. In January 1986, the album "Children of December" was completed. The compositions included in it "2-12-85-06" and "She can move herself" also became one of the most famous in the group's repertoire. Almost simultaneously, the acoustic album "Ten Arrows" was released. In 1986-1987 "Aquarium" was very popular, the first concerts of the group took place at the stadiums. Television tried to tell at least something about the team, which the official media did not seem to notice for so many years. In July 1987, the musicians recorded music for the film Assa by Sergei Solovyov. (Later, two more films of the trilogy appeared: "Black Rose - the Emblem of Sorrow, Red Rose - the Emblem of Love" and "House Under the Starry Sky" with the music of "Aquarium".) In the fall, in the Melodiya studio, the group began work on the album "Equinox ”, which saw the light of day the following year. In March 1988, in Moscow, Boris Grebenshchikov and the well-known record company CBS (CBS) signed an eight-year cooperation contract. At the end of April, Grebenshchikov flew to the United States. The album Radio Silence was recorded here. The album was produced and played guitar by Dave Stewart of the Juritmix band. The record was released in 1989 (one hundred thousand copies were sold) and took one hundred and ninety-eighth place in the Billboard magazine hit parade.

Boris Grebenshchikov and the Aquariu group m

While Grebenshchikov was engaged in an English-language project, Andrey Romanov assembled the Shamrock group, which released the albums Sailor's Silence (1989) and Music of the Middle-earth (1991). After the return of Boris Grebenshchikov from abroad, this team became the basis of the revived Aquarium. It also included flutist Oleg Sakmarov. In the winter of 1989/90, Aquarium recorded a new album in the studio, but this work was not completed. Some of the songs appeared on the albums “History of Aquarium”. Archive. Volume 3" (1991) and "The Library of Babylon" (1993).

In April, he began to give concerts "B. G.-band ”(or“ B.G. Group ”) consisting of: Grebenshchikov, Sakmarov, Shchurakov, Reshetin. They were soon joined by bass player Sergei Berezovoy and drummer Pyotr Troshchenkov. The group lasted until August 1992. The following year, the "Russian Album" was recorded. Songwriter - Boris Grebenshchikov. In style, they bear little resemblance to the previous works of Aquarium.

In 1992, Boris Grebenshchikov again gathered a group called "Aquarium". Alexander Titov joined him. The team was supplemented by flutist Oleg Sakmarov, guitarist Alexei Zubarev, drummer Alexei Ratsen, percussionist Andrey Vikhorev. In 1993, the album "Favorite Songs of Ramses IV" was released, a year later - "Sands of Petersburg". The next three albums - "Kostroma Mop Amour" (1994), "Navigator" (1995) and "Snow Lion" (1996) - can be conditionally considered a trilogy. During the recording of the next album in London - "Hyperborea" - Titov remained in the UK.

In June 1997, concerts dedicated to the twenty-fifth anniversary of Aquarium were held with great success in both Russian capitals. On January 15, 1999, Boris Grebenshchikov made a statement about the next revival of Aquarium and the return to the repertoire of songs that had not been performed for a long time twenty years ago. The group held an all-Russian tour "Electric Dog", and in December presented a program of new songs "Stop Machine" and the album "Psi". On February 24, 2002, a concert dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the Aquarium group and the release of a new album, Sister Chaos, took place at the Luzhniki Sports Palace in Moscow.

Compound

Current composition

• Boris Grebenshchikov (BG) - vocals, guitar, songwriter (since 1972)
• * Alexander "Tit" Titov - bass guitar (1983-1991, 1992-1996, since 2008)
• Andrey Surotdinov - violin, percussion (since 1995)
• Oleg "Shar" Shavkunov - percussion, drums, backing vocals (since 1997)
• Boris Rubekin - keyboards, backing vocals (since 1998)
• Igor Timofeev - guitar, saxophone, flute, clarinet, mandolin, backing vocals (since 2003)
• Brian Finnegan - flute (since 2007)
• Alexey Dmitriev - trumpet (since 2011)
• Anton Boyarskikh - trombone (since 2011)
• Sergey Bogdanov - saxophone (since 2011)
• Liam Bradley - drums (since 2011)

Musicians of past compositions

• Anatoly "George" Gunitsky - drums, percussion, bass guitar, vocals (1972-1974)
• Alexander Tsatsanidi - bass guitar (1972)
• Alexander Vasiliev - keyboards (1972)
• Mikhail "Fan" Feinstein-Vasiliev - bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, guitar, slide (1973-1991)
• † Andrey "Dyusha" Romanov - vocals, flute, guitar, keyboards, piano, percussion (1973-1991)
• Vsevolod "Seva" Gakkel - cello, bass guitar, vocals (1975-1991)
• Alexander "Bassoon" Alexandrov - bassoon (1977-1981)
• † Sergey Kuryokhin - keyboards, saxophone, piano, kazoo (1981-1986)
• Alexander Berenson - trumpet (1981, 1984)
• Alexander Lyapin - guitar (1982-1991)
• Petr Troshchenkov - drums (1982-1991, 1992)
• † Alexander Kussul - violin (1984-1986)
• † Sergey Shchurakov - bayan, accordion, mandolin (1987-1997)
• Andrey "Ryusha" Reshetin - violin (1987-1992)
• Oleg "Grandfather (Vasily)" Sakmarov - rainstick, cor anglais, oboe, wind instruments (flute, saxophone), percussion, castanets, keyboards, clarinet, backing vocals (1989-1997, 1998-2002)
• Alexey "Lord" Ratsen - drums (1992-1995)
• Alexey Zubarev - guitar (1992-1997)
• Andrey "Whirlwind" Vikharev - percussion (1992-1996)
• Vladimir Kudryavtsev - bass guitar (1996-2005)
• Albert Potapkin - drums (1999-2005, 2007-2010)
• Fedor Kuvaytsev - clarinet (2003-2004)
• Andrey Svetlov - bass guitar (2005-2008)

At various times they played with the band

• Edmund Shklyarsky - guitar (1972)
• Mikhail Kordyukov - drums (1976, 1983)
• † Mikhail "Mike" Naumenko - guitar (1977-1979)
• Evgeny Guberman - drums (1979-1982)
• Alexander Kozhevnikov - guitar (1980)
• Dmitry "Red Devil" Gusev - harmonica (1980-1981)
• Olga Pershina (Protasova) - piano, vocals (1981)
• Vladimir Kozlov - guitar (1981)
• Vladimir Boluchevsky - saxophone (1981-1982)
• † Alexander Kondrashkin - drums (1981)
• Igor Butman - saxophone (1982-1983)
• Vladimir Grishchenko - bass guitar (1982-1983)
• Vladimir Yermolin - guitar (1982)
• Ivan Voropaev - viola (1982, 1987-1989)
• Andrey Otryaskin - guitar (1986-1987)
• Sergey Berezovoy - bass guitar (1989, 1991-1992)
• Dave Mattex - drums (1995-1996)
• Yuri Nikolaev - drums, tambourine, juir, percussion (1996-1997)
• Nikolai Koshkin - rainstick, percussion, tambourine (1998-1999)
• Alexander "Panama" Ponomarev - guitar (1998-1999)
• Dmitry Veselov - percussion, tabla (1998-1999)
• Jivan Gasparyan - duduk (2003, 2008)

Group sound engineers

• Armen "Marat" Hayrapetyan
• Andrey Tropillo
• Vyacheslav Egorov
• Alexander Martisov
• Vladimir Vengerovsky
• Alexander Dokshin
• Boris Rubekin
• Oleg Goncharov

Discography

• 1973 Temptation of the Holy Aquarium. 1st "prehistoric" magnetic album "Aquarium" (BG + George). Released on CD as part of the collection "Prehistoric Aquarium" 2001
• 1973 Minuet to the farmer. 2nd "prehistoric" magnetic album "Aquarium". Lost
• 1975 Parables of Count Diffuser. 3rd "prehistoric" magnetic album "Aquarium". Released on CD as part of the collection "Prehistoric Aquarium" 2001
• 1976 On the other side of the mirror glass. 4th "prehistoric" magnetic album "Aquarium" (BG). Released on CD as part of the collection "Prehistoric Aquarium" 2001
• 1978 All brothers and sisters. 5th "prehistoric" magnetic album "Aquarium" (BG + Mike Naumenko) 1996
• 1980 (2010) Mike and the Aquarium. October 25, 1980. Moscow. Live album of "Aquarium" and Mike Naumenko
• 1980 (1996) Soon the century will end. Compilation
• 1981 Blue album. 1st album "Aquarium". Studio album 1996, 2002
• 1981 Triangle. 2nd album "Aquarium". Studio album 1994, 2002
• 1981 Electricity. History of the Aquarium - Volume 2. 3rd album of the "Aquarium". Live album/studio album 1999, 2002
• 1982 Acoustics. The history of the Aquarium - Volume 1. The 4th album of the "Aquarium". Studio album 1996, 2002
• 1982 (1995) Arox and Stöhr. live album
• 1982 Taboo 5th album of Aquarium. Studio album 1994, 2002
• 1982 (2001) Aquarium. 10 years live album
• 1982 (2010) Notes on Flora and Fauna. live album
• 1982 Electroshock. Live album 1995
• 1983 Radio Africa. 6th album of "Aquarium". Studio album; in 1988, the Melodiya company released an album in the form of a vinyl record (without the songs "Vana Hoya" and "Your Star") 1988, 1996, 2002
• 1984 (1993) BG (poetry, songs) Concert album BG
• 1984 Ichthyology. 7th album "Aquarium". Live album 1999, 2002
• 1984 Silver Day. 8th album of "Aquarium". Studio album 1994, 2002
• 1985 Children of December. 9th album "Aquarium". Studio album 1994,2002
• 1986 Ten Arrows Aquarium's 10th album. Live album (one song recorded in the studio); released by the partnership "Sister" in the form of a vinyl record in 1992 1992, 1996, 2002
• 1987 Aquarium (White Album.) Compilation from the albums "Day of Silver" and "Children of December". The first Soviet vinyl "Aquarium"
• 1987 Thirst Compilation. Soviet minion with songs from the albums "Day of Silver" and "Children of December"
• 1987 Equinox. 11th album of "Aquarium". Studio album, first released by Melodiya as a vinyl record in 1996, 2002
• 1987 Assa. Soundtrack to the film of the same name. First released on "Melodiya" as a vinyl record, reissued on CD in 1996, and in 2000 as part of the collection "Filmography" 1996, 2000
• 1987 (2011) Our Life from the Point of View of Trees. 12th album of "Aquarium". First released in 2011
• 1988 The art of being humble. Soviet single from the album "Radio Africa", released by "Melody" in the form of a vinyl record in 1988
• 1988 Captain Africa. Soviet single from the album "Radio Africa", released by "Melody" in the form of a vinyl record in 1988
• 1989 (2007) Feudalism. 13th album of "Aquarium". Studio album; consists of studio and live recordings from 1988-1990. First released February 22, 2007 as a limited edition
• 1989 Radio Silence. 1st album BG. Studio album (USA, UK, Canada).
• 1990 Black rose - the emblem of sadness, red rose - the emblem of love. Soundtrack to the film of the same name. First released on Melodiya as a vinyl double album, reissued on CD in 2000 as part of the collection Filmography. 1998, 2000
• 1990 (1996) Radio London 2nd BG album. Studio album (UK; two songs recorded in the USSR)
• 1990 Made at Mosfilm. Soundtrack to the film "House under the Starry Sky". First published on CD in 2000 as part of the collection "Filmography"
• 1991 Archive. History of the Aquarium - Volume 3. Anthology. First released by SNC Records as a vinyl LP in 1991
• 1991 (1992) Russian album. 3rd album of BG (together with "BG-Band"). The 14th album of "Aquarium" (based on the "Anthology of the Aquarium"). Studio album released by Chicken Records as a vinyl LP in 1992 1995, 2002
• 1993 Library of Babylon. History of the Aquarium - Volume 4 Anthology. The album was released by FeeLee as a vinyl record in 1993 1993
• 1991 (1993) Letters from Captain Voronin. Live album "BG-Band" (one song recorded in the studio)
• 1993 Visit to Moscow. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 1993 Favorite songs of Ramses IV. 15th album of "Aquarium". Studio album; released by FeeLee on vinyl in 1993 2003
• 1994 Sands of Petersburg. 16th album of "Aquarium". Studio album 2003
• 1994 Kostroma mon amour. 17th album of "Aquarium". Studio album 2003
• 1994 Songs of Alexander Vertinsky. 4th album BG. The studio album was released as a vinyl record in 1994 (presumably by Chicken Records).
• 1994 Sincere songs. Studio album of "Aquarium" under the pseudonym "Anna Karenina Quartet". studio album
• 1994 Taganka Aquarium. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 1994 Boris Grebenchikov & Aquarium 1991-1994. Compilation. Album released for European listeners (France)
• 1995 Navigator. 18th album of "Aquarium". Studio album 2000, 2003
• 1995 Cyclone Center. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 1996 Snow Lion. 19th album of "Aquarium". Studio album 2000, 2003
• 1996 Chubchik 5th album of BG. studio album
• 1996 (1999) Season for snakes. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 1996 Twenty years later. Concert album of BG and Andrey Makarevich.
• 1997 Hyperborea. The 20th album of "Aquarium". Studio album 2003
• 1997 Bardo. Studio album of "Aquarium" under the pseudonym "Russian-Abyssinian Orchestra"
• 1997 Lilith 6th BG album (together with The Band). The 21st album of "Aquarium" (based on the "Anthology of the Aquarium"). Studio album 2003
• 1997 Aquarium-25. Story. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 1997 Aquarium. Reader (1980-87). Compilation. Collection dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the group
• 1998 Kunstkamera. Anthology
• 1998 Legends of Russian Rock. "Aquarium". Compilation
• 1998 Refuge (English "Refuge"). BG's 7th album (together with Gabriella Roth & "The Mirrors"). Studio album (US)
• 1998 Boris Grebenshchikov and Deadushki. The 8th album of BG (together with the group "DeadUshki"). Studio album 2002
• 1998 Prayer and fasting. Live album BG (USA) 2001
• 1998 (2010) Divine Bottle Oracle. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 1998 - 1999 (2009) Zombies. Concert album of BG and the transitional concert composition of the Aquarium (program "New electric dog")
• 1999 Songs of Bulat Okudzhava. 9th album BG. studio album
• 1999 Ψ Aquarium's 22nd album. Studio album 2003
• 1999 20 Best Songs. Reader. Version 1.1 Compilation
• 1999 20 Selected Songs. Reader. Version 1.2 Compilation
• 1999 Golden Collection. Reader. Version 1.3 Compilation
• 1999 Best songs. Compilation
• 2000 Pentagonal Sin. Studio album of "Aquarium" under the pseudonym "Terrarium" (together with Maxim Leonidov, Egor Belkin, Vyacheslav Butusov, Chizh and others) with songs based on poems by George Gunitsky
• 2000 Territory. Compilation, supplemented with new recordings of two old songs ("Babylon" and "Adelaide") and four songs specially recorded for this collection.
• 2002 Crossing ("Bardo"). BG's 10th album (together with Gabriella Roth & "The Mirrors"). Studio album (US)
• 2002 Sister Chaos. The 23rd album of "Aquarium". studio album
• 2002 Russian Songwriter: a Collection from Boris Grebenshikov. Compilation. Album published for American listeners (USA)
• 2003 Songs of a fisherman. 24th album of "Aquarium". studio album
• 2003 50 BG. Anniversary compilation for the 50th anniversary of BG. 2 CDs. Collector's Edition, limited edition, distributed only at concerts
• 2004 Without words. 11th album of BG. Limited edition, distributed only at concerts
• 2005 ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM Aquarium's 25th album. studio album
• 2005 Aquarium. Reggae. Compilation. Collection published by the Soyuz studio with the permission of the group
• 2006 Aquarium. Love songs. Compilation. Collection published by the Soyuz studio with the permission of the group
• 2006 Careless Russian tramp. 26th album of "Aquarium". studio album
• 2008(2011) Aquarium International. Charity concert at the Kiev Opera Theater October 14, 2008 (DVD+2CD)
• 2008 White horse. 27th album of "Aquarium". studio album
• 2009 Pushkinskaya, 10. The 28th album of Aquarium. studio album
• 2009 (2010) Day of Joy. Concert album "Aquarium"
• 2011 Arkhangelsk. 29th album of "Aquarium". studio album

Filmography

Films about the "Aquarium"

• Rock (1987), directed by Alexey Uchitel
• The Long Way Home (1989), directed by Michael Apted, USA
• Mood Psi (1999), directed by Andrey Novosyolov

Films with Aquarium music

• Ivanov (1981), directors A. Nekhoroshev, A. Ilkhovsky
• Darling, dear, beloved, the only one (1984), director Dinara Asanova
• Assa (1987), directed by Sergei Solovyov
• Thirst (1988), directed by Sergei Debizhev
• You calm me down (film) (1988), directed by Sergei Debizhev
• Golden Dream (1989), directed by Sergei Debizhev
• City (1989), director Alexander Burtsev
• Red on Red (film) (1990), directed by Sergei Debizhev
• Black rose - the emblem of sadness, red rose - the emblem of love (1990), directed by Sergei Solovyov
• Mitki in Europe (1990), directed by Alexei Uchitel
• House under the Starry Sky (1991), directed by Sergei Solovyov
• Two Captains 2 (1992), directed by Sergei Debizhev
• Grass and Water (1992), directed by Viktor Tikhomirov
• Not going (1994), director Anatoly Vasiliev
• Tender age (2001), directed by Sergei Solovyov
• Azazel (2002), directed by Alexander Adabashyan
• Communication (2006), director Avdotya Smirnova
• Peter FM (2006), director Oksana Bychkova
• Lavra Janitors (2007), director Olga Molokanova
• Golden Section (2010), directed by Sergei Debizhev

In addition, there are several films in which Grebenshchikov is a participant, regardless of the "Aquarium"

gramophone records

In brackets is the original year of the release of the album on magnetic media

• 1986 - "Red Wave" (2LP)
• 1987 - "Aquarium (White Album)" (songs from the album were released on magnetic media in 1984-1985)
• 1987 - "Thirst" (single) (songs from the album were released on magnetic media in 1985)
• 1987 - Assa
• 1988 - Equinox
• 1988 - "Radio Africa" ​​(1983)
• 1988 - "The Art of Being Humble" (single) (songs from the album were released on magnetic media in 1983)
• 1988 - "Captain Africa" ​​(single) (songs from the album were released on magnetic media in 1983)
• 1989 - "Interchords Featuring" (promo LP)
• 1989 - "Radio Silence"
• 1989 - "Radio Silence" (single)
• 1989 - "The Postcard" (single)
• 1990 - "Black rose is the emblem of sadness, red rose is the emblem of love"
• 1991 - "Once Upon a Time at the Rock Club"
• 1991 - “Archive. History of the Aquarium - Volume 3»
• 1992 - "Russian Album"
• 1992 - "Ten Arrows" (1986)
• 1993 - "Favorite songs of Ramses IV"

“God is light, and there is no darkness in him,” Boris Grebenshchikov sings this way in the song “Day of Joy”. The intellectual singer, founder and permanent leader of the Aquarium rock band, spiritual practitioner and philosopher, who chose the Christian abbreviation Gd as his pseudonym, celebrated his birthday yesterday, and we remember his work, loved by more than one generation of those whom gave birth to the sound of marches.

Boris Grebenshchikov - singer, musician, philosopher.

BG is a cult musician. Fans know that, despite the seeming simplicity, his work is multilayered and multifaceted. Writing like BG is not difficult at first glance, but feeling and living like him is not an easy task.

"Aquarium" was founded by Boris Grebenshchikov and poet Anatoly Gunitsky in 1972 (according to Gunitsky, the name of the group was given by analogy with the name of the beer bar "Aquarium", Grebenshchikov rejects this version, saying that the symbolic word flashed among a dozen other options by accident) , and the first years the group existed semi-basement, one could only dream of concerts and performances. The debut acoustic album was recorded in 1978, and two years later, Aquarium is on the list of banned groups (in fact, BG became the first Soviet punk), Grebenshchikov was expelled from the Komsomol and fired from his job. In a word, the musicians live through a history typical of the Soviet era.

Boris Grebenshchikov in his youth

Then there were years of underground work, forbidden concerts, apartment houses. In 1988, the group manages to travel to Montreal, where the musicians speak at a conference against nuclear war. Their songs appeal to the public, but the band members do not receive a fee, the organizers compensate for travel expenses, although this was enough by the standards of that time. The following year, in America, Grebenshchikov manages to publish the first English-language album.

Boris Grebenshchikov in his youth

The composition of the Aquarium group changed several times, various musicians were involved in the studio work. BG is an experimenter in matters of form and content. In addition to collective and solo musical projects, he is busy with literature, filming and playing in the theater, organizing personal photo exhibitions. A special place in his life is occupied by spiritual practices and translations of Buddhist books. By the way, about translations. In the Soviet years, Grebenshchikov became famous for making the first translation of Tolkien's immortal saga "The Lord of the Rings".

Boris Grebenshchikov at the Aquarium recording studio, 2001

Today, Aquarium has dozens of wonderful songs, some of which were written under the impression of real events that took place in the life of a musician. So, the song "This city is on fire" appeared in 1987. The musician composed it on the train, when, during a tour of the USSR, he saw oil rigs blazing outside the window like torches.

Boris Grebenshchikov and Viktor Tsoi. BG became the first producer of the Kino group

The versions of the creation of the song "212-85-06" are also interesting. So, according to one of them, this number really belonged to BG. True, the musician himself says that he came up with it arbitrarily, since the numbers fit well into the rhythm. The song quickly gained popularity, but the apartment in which this number was held was besieged by fans with calls. Someone constantly tried to call the number, and six months later the phone was simply forced to turn off.

Boris Grebenshchikov with his son Gleb at the Saigon cafe. (Leningrad, 1980s).

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Biography, life history of the Aquarium group

Boris Grebenshchikov really started playing the guitar in 1968, before that he tried to master the seven-string guitar, which he did not like very much. The first song he played and sang properly was "Ticket to Ride" by the Beatles. After a short period of writing songs in English, he came to a clear realization of the need to sing and compose in Russian, this happened in the fall of 71, after listening to John Lennon's song "60D". The idea and name of AQUARIUM came to Boris together with Anatoly Gunitsky (George) (although Boris had played in a band based in Avtovo before).

When asked why George was called George, the answer is usually given: "Because he does not look like Santana." Gunitsky studied with Boris, but a class older. Even at school, they wrote plays, poems, etc. together. George became AQUARIUM's first drummer.

In the period up to 73 years, a bunch of songs were written, both by Boris and George, some of which were included in their joint album "The Temptation of the Holy Aquarium". The concept of a recording group was one of the first that Boris came up with. On the album there were such numbers as "I am a schizo", "My mind is dead" by George, "Mochalkin blues" and a number of others by Boris. At the moment, it is not known at all whether the recording of this album has been preserved somewhere.

In 1973, Grebenshchikov made his stage debut. It happened at the festival in Yucca, where Boris sang songs by Cat Stevens with an acoustic guitar. ST. PETERSBURG, MANIA performed at the same festival, and according to him, Boris was very flattered and pleased to move from the state of a listener to the state of a performer.

The next member of the group was Mikhail Vasiliev (Fan). Boris and Fan saw each other once at the same session, and then, by chance, met on the subway, and one had a record of "Moody Blues", and the second - John Mayel. A natural topic for conversation arose, in which it turned out that Mikhail plays the guitar and bass in the Psychedelia Faction group, along with Volodya Rusakov, Sasha Afanasiev and Andrey Apostashev. Their repertoire consisted, however, as it was clear from the name, of the things of the DORS, FRANK ZAPPA, JIMI HENDRICKS and CREAM, and some of their own material.

CONTINUED BELOW

Everyone knew Andrei Romanov (Dyusha) for a long time, but it turned out that he was a musician by accident. Having once entered the hall at the university, Boris found Dyusha there rehearsing as part of some group. Under the motto "We need a keyboard player now!" Dyusha was seduced in half an hour. Since no one had the keys, Dyusha became the second voice and soon began to study the art of playing the flute.

A romantic album "The Parables of Count Diffuser" was released, already strongly influenced by Eastern philosophy, where there was also the song "Praise to Shri Krishna". "The Abbey Road is gone, ORBIT and SAIGON are gone ...", which many still repeat with nostalgia.

Approximately to this time, the EP of AQUARIUM "The Minuet to the Farmer" dates back, where, in addition to the title number, there were also "The Camel-Architect", "Maria-Louise 7" and "I Know the Places". By Boris's definition, it was the music of electro-absurdity.

At the same time, a large series of songs like "Baby Kwak" "Be like a bank for me", "Hawai me, hawai", "Blues of the pig in the ears" was written, but not recorded, which later surfaced in Tbilisi-80, inspired in part by travels around hip path in the Baltic States and colorful types that flooded it in those days. These songs were quickly forgotten by the aquarists themselves, but the patients of mental hospitals remembered them well - often without even knowing the name AQUARIUM.

The common phrase "Ensemble AQUARIUM is not just an ensemble, but a way of life", most of all fits what the AQUARIUM was like in the 70s. It was a community, a team, you can call it whatever you like, boys and girls who were almost constantly together, moving from apartment to apartment. It was so to say "AQUARIUM - dissolved". From 10 to 40 people, united by close hobbies, in short, an open lifestyle for anyone who wants it, if they suit him, but he does not contradict them. You can call it a "musical-communal community", you can call it "music brought to life" - as one likes, depending on the point of view. And there was, so to speak, "AQUARIUM - concentrated", - that is, several people who left the company for an hour or two to take a place on the stage, give pleasure and joy to themselves and others, and then again become part of society. It is hardly possible to immediately penetrate all this spirit, but it is necessary to take note of it, because this gives the key to understanding some aspects

in AQUARIUM, in particular the concepts of exchange of energy and joy.

In the summer of 1974, the whole company spontaneously organized a theater right on the steps of the Engineers' Castle. The idea caught on. The theater turned into a theater-studio under the direction of Tovstonogov's student Eric Goroshevsky, and six months later George decided that the theater was more important to him than drums. Immediately after the recording of "Proverbs" Dyusha, after consulting with Goroshevsky, followed George. Boris and Fan, as consistent rock and roll players, quickly abandoned the idea of ​​a career on the theater stage. There was a shortage of musicians. Then I remembered a certain cellist, met at a joint concert with a group of WATERCOLORS (Later - YABLOKO) and who struck me with the exoticism of the instrument and the New Testament appearance. Inquiries through mutual acquaintances showed that he also liked the AQUARIUM, but got tired of the WATERCOLORS; and Seva Gakkel, and it was him, invited them to his house for a cup of tea and a rehearsal. AQUARIUM began in "full growth"!

Even the fact that Fan went to the army soon after graduating from the institute could not stop this process. In addition, Duchet in the theater began to lack music, and a flute was added to the cello, and a third to two voices. In this form, they walked around Leningrad and played - both in the halls and in the open. And when the idea of ​​celebrating the Beatles' birthdays with concerts matured in Leningrad, the AQUARIUM in this line-up, supported by veteran drummer Mikhail Kordyukov on bongs, was right there.

In the spring of 1976, having learned about the rock festival being held in Tallinn, AQUARIUM set off. Out of naivety, no one thought of an official invitation, but this did not stop them from performing there and even receiving a prize for the most peculiar program, which they learned about six months later from the newspapers.

In the same year, Boris recorded a solo album "From the other side of the mirror glass" where Seva plays in one number, this was the first decently recorded disc.

Recordings of AQUARIMA began to slowly spread, the ensemble began to go on tour, mainly in the Baltics. Concerts, mostly chamber-acoustic, were perceived better thanks to the recordings.

The bassoon became the second strange instrument that received a residence permit in the AQUARIUM. Sasha Alexandrov, who knew Seva from Goroshevsky's studio, played music on it. In 1977, Dyusha and Fagot Alexandrov went to the army.

In the same 77th year, Mike became active, who had been a mutual acquaintance since 74th year. Leaving the role of bass player in the UNION OF ROCK MUSIC LOVERS, he became a regular guest guitarist on electric guitars of rock and roll programs. Huberman emerged from the Leningrad SUNDAY, which had disintegrated by that time. Concerts were held at various institutes and within the walls of the university. Such a combined band was called "Vocal-instrumental group named after Chuck Berry".

This is how the ensemble that gave a powerful rock and roll concert at LISI looked like: Evgeny Guberman (Goloshchekin's ensemble "Sunday") - drums; Alexander Lyapin ("Well, wait a minute") - guitar; Boris, Mike, Fan, Seva. Records of these events have been preserved: "I vividly remember Gakkel waving a chella over the heads of the musicians, Grebenshchikov throwing a microphone stand into the hall and fighting with Mike with guitars."

Communication with Mike resulted in a joint album called "All brothers and sisters. At that time, Boris had the idea that all the walls that reflect sound only interfere. Therefore, the tape recorder was taken out into the open field on an extension cord, and microphones were placed in the middle. All this took place on the banks of the Neva, not far from the Okhtinsky bridge. The quality turned out to be "not very, very much". Nevertheless, it was essentially the first full-length album in Leningrad with a cover, a concept and a set of beautiful songs. Boris owned "Stole the Rain" there, "Road 21", "Sands of St. Petersburg" and a number of things that later became part of "Acoustics" Fan also helped in the recording.

It was the first album that was circulated in Leningrad as an album, and not as a kind of tape with recordings of nameless people. He was the forerunner of the "Blue Album" and "Sweet N.". Its spread was held back only by the sound and the unpreparedness of people for the census.

The end of the 70s, as we know, was marked by crisis phenomena in rock music, the emergence of an extremely commercial disco style, but at the same time the birth of a "new wave". All reviews of domestic concerts of that period, excluding the ascending TIME MACHINE and, in part, the RUSSIANS, were littered with the word "boredom". The first wave of our rock had already subsided, most of the bands ceased to exist, some were commercialized, and the second wave was just rising. AQUARIUM became the crest (no pun intended!) of this wave. Boris was one of the first to get into reggae music at that time.

In 1979, Dyusha and Fagot returned from the army, Michael Kordyukov was on drums. In this line-up, AQUARIUM went to the festival in Chernigolovka, which did not take place near Moscow, where they met Artem Troitsky and through him received an invitation to Tbilisi, where in April 1980 an all-Union festival of Via and rock bands was held. From Leningrad three ensembles went to the festival: "Earthlings" (Myasnikovsky); AQUARIUM and Kraftwerk. The latter was a group of A. Dryzlov, a manager who was engaged in the creation of his own mafia, which AQUARIUM categorically refused to enter.

At the end of the performance of "Earthlings" the lights were turned on in the hall, there were so few spectators left. And with the group "Kraftwerk" the following story happened: during the performance of a song about a flying saucer, a frisbee was launched into the hall. Circumstances developed in such a way that with this very plate, which soared smoothly above the listeners, the Kraftwerk group hit one of the jury members on the head, which he did not like at all. A scandal was brewing Baidak and Dryzlov, taking advantage of the opportunity and the impression that AQUARIUM's performance made on the most conservative people, quickly dashed off a cart to the relevant authorities that AQUARIUM was to blame for all the outrages. The performance of AQUARIUM had no analogues. It was just an artifact. Anyone who has heard the first side of "Electricity" can appreciate it. Stage - "Ariel", "Gems", - and suddenly this ... Finnish television recorded two numbers and still sometimes turns.

The consequences of all these events were as follows: Boris was expelled from his job at the university, and then from the Komsomol (where he subsequently recovered), there could be no talk of concert performances and the electric program stopped ... However, even before the wheels of the administrative machine began to spin, AQUARIUM managed to go to Klaipeda with Borya, Dyusha, Fan, Seva and Kordyukov together with MACHINA. Then Makarevich gave them a concert in Moscow, where he performed with them as a special guest. There must be a tape of this concert somewhere.

AQUARIUM switched back to pure acoustics. All summer long, songs were written on the sly and immediately rehearsed (of course, again at Seva's house), and in the autumn a huge band of home concerts began in Leningrad and Moscow. Immediately a man turned up by chance - someone's distant acquaintance, who offered his services in terms of sound recording. In January 81, the "Blue Album" was recorded. The appearance of the "Blue Album" - thoughtfully designed, properly designed, with such hits as "Electric Dog", "Railway Water", "Tea", and most importantly - well, high-quality recorded, radically changed the situation. Now any person listening, not necessarily fan rock, should not have to go to God knows where, play around with tickets, break through three controls in order to listen to music on dubious equipment, often not letting the text through. No, now you could calmly, at home or away, put the cassette on the tape recorder and listen thoughtfully to the texts, even if by the way there is a desire, to think about them, to become interested.

In 1981 AQUARIUM performed at the Leningrad Palace of Youth in the program "Bards and Rock Music" together with Mike and Volodya Levy. These were acoustic concerts, slightly oversound with bass, piano and drums. This time the drummer was Alexander Kondrashkin (STRANGE GAMES, MANUFACTORY, TAMBORRIN). In an atmosphere of general fuss and nervousness, Boris alone managed to remain calm.

In the midst of dragging with the apparatus, he approached the microphone and affectionately asked the operator: "Comrade Tropillo, are we going to rehearse today, or maybe it's better to cancel the concert?" The performances lasted three days and gave an opportunity to get acquainted with the phenomenon of Leningrad rock to many people who were previously very far from it. LDM even paid everyone for the concerts. (Boris received as much as 20 rubles).

In the summer of 1981, together with Kondrashkin, as well as jazz pianist Sergei Kuryokhin, "Triangle" was recorded, which, according to Boris's plan, was to become the "Sergeant" of our days. "There was only one "fatal" (in the common sense of the word ) the composition "Misha from the city of creaking statues". It included one thing from "Temptation", songs on the verses of George, and the folk hit "Two Tractor Drivers". Olya Pershina (Protasova) sang in two numbers. It was an album of real internal mythology. Four the sides of the cover remain the best work of Andrey Usov ("Willy"), who did the artwork for all the albums of AQUARIUM and some of Mike. On "Triangle" one can notice the influence that reading "fantasy" had on Boris (fairy fiction)."Misha from... ", as well as the inscription on the spread in runes from the Tolkien trilogy, which means AQUARIUM.

In 1981, the second part of the "History of AQUARIUM" - "Electricity" was published. The first part, "Acoustics", as it is not funny, was released in 1982. "Acoustics" included the main part of the things that were constantly played at acoustic concerts, including many songs from "All Brothers and Sisters", things like "25 to 10", "Song for a New Life", dedicated to A. Lipnitsky - the Moscow owner a VCR, a somewhat scandalous "We'll all be better" and short things on the words of George, not included in the "Triangle": "Count Garcia" and "To Friends". The wonderful "Sonnet", again based on the words of George, which is considered a parody of Okudzhava, was also not included in the final version. The most final - 1983 edition included the intended for "Radio Africa" ​​"It would be nice to claw golden horses by the hooves." It can be heard on the MCI (MCI) bootleg.

The first side of "Electricity" was the recording of the festival in Tbilisi with the numbers "Heroes", "-30" and "Flying Saucer". The second side was made up of five studio recordings "My Musician Friend", "It Would Be Easier for Me to Sing", "Beautiful Amateur", "Babylon" and "Who Are You Now". This is an amazing record. It has a minimum of pretentiousness, a maximum of sincerity. "Babylon" was the culmination of reggae, "My Friend the Musician", dedicated to Duchet and inspired by the life of the AQUARIUM at that time, leaves room for concert experimentation, "Beautiful Amateur" was declared the best song of 1981 in Moscow, and the other two amaze with tenderness penetrating the soul. Kuryokhin does the piano there, Volodya Kozlov (UNION OF ROCK MUSIC LOVERS UNION) plays the solo guitar, they made a wonderful duet, and Alexander Kondrashkin is on the drums everywhere, except for "Amateur", where Huberman plays.

In 1982, the leader-guitarist Alexander Lyapin (WELL, WAIT, sessions), an old acquaintance of Dyusha, appeared in the ensemble. Under the conversations "Kondrashkin is a good drummer, but a little late", the place of the drummer was again taken by Huberman, who was soon replaced by Petya Troshchenkov, who considered himself a student of Huberman and demanded that he be written everywhere as P. Huberman ("Aroks and Shter", " Taboo"). Boris had seen enough of the video in Moscow, which had an impact on his stage image. In the new electric program, Boris appeared before the public in a black kimono, with a powerful band behind his back. Undoubtedly, Boris gained power over new energies, which, combined with his growing all-Union popularity, had a colossal effect. Simply put, AQUARIUM became the #1 band, which it remains at the time of writing this story.

Since 1982, a stormy concert activity began, trips to Moscow, Arkhangelsk, and other cities. These were electric concerts, and acoustics for four - Borya, Seva, Dyusha and Fan, and solo performances by one Boris. In 1982, the official bootleg "Arox and Shter" was released (working words from the "Poetry" issue on the "Triangle"), on which was the hit "Cold Beer", performed by Dyusha, written under the influence of "Maxim and Fedor". There were also a grandiose 14-minute "We will never get older", "Ash", "Marina". In short, it was a rough draft of the next Taboo album.

AQUARIUM on the cover of this album was listed as questionable. In a way, this was no coincidence. The thing is, there are a lot of problems. Dyusha and Fan worked part-time on watermelons and could not find time to pull themselves up at the session. It turned out that powerful electricity in the studio, where a piece has to be rewritten several times, is not at all the same for Lyapin as at a concert, where he receives energy from the audience. Finally, Kuryokhin's excess on the keys is felt throughout the entire album. All in all, it was a bad album. The form triumphed over the content there, but there were still two wonderful things there - reggae "Aristocrat" and "Take care of your hoy". On the saxophone

I. Butman, on bass - B. Grishchenko (GULF STREAM).

In Moscow during this time they released their own bootleg called "Fish Breakfast", which includes rather rare tracks "Guys get their high" and "Suburban Blues" by Mike. Scary recording quality.

In 1982, an attempt was made through a rock club to deprive AQUARIUM of the right to concert performances. The reason this time was a new cart, this time from Arkhangelsk, which was written by two old women from some discos oversight committee, or something like that. They looked at Boris in a black kimono on stage and asked with horror: "Are you a Chinese?", obviously referring to the kimono. - "What are you - nationalists?" - with dignity answered the rock star. The entire rock club, however, at the meeting voted against such an action, that is, the deprivation of concert activity for three months. Therefore, it was announced that there was another meeting, at which no one knew who was, and the decision was nevertheless made, banning concerts for six months. In response to this, AQUARIUM during the summer and autumn of 1982 gave a record number of unaccounted for acoustic concerts in Moscow and Leningrad.

The Aquarium spent the beginning of 1983 almost like a big band with Kuryokhin and saxophones - Boluchevsky and Butman. Kuryokhin, by the way, also sometimes took up the saxophone. Boris' jazz experiments with Kuryokhin, the jazz saxophonist Chekasin, who appeared at the suggestion of Kuryokhin, and the star of avant-garde vocals Valya Ponomareva date back to the same time. Collaboration did not remain entirely in the field of rock, it moved into the avant-garde. The result of this was the disc "Chekasin, Kuryokhin and Grebenshchikov. Exercises", which was released in England in 1983 by the company "Leo Records". The Baltic newspaper included Boris in the top five jazz guitarists of the Union.

At the May festival in 1983, the jury, which included Sadchikov and Igakov, decided that AQUARIUM deserved only second place. Boris performed Vertinsky's romance there, the associations from which entered Radio Africa without words under the name "To Your Star".

The quality of the recording of "Radio Africa" ​​was noticeably different from previous albums. It was a mixture of pop music ("Music of the Silver Spokes" and "Moon Time") and rock. The grandiose hit "Rock-n-roll is dead", which takes on flesh and blood in a concert performance, once again, like the previous electric songs, has lost half of its energy in the studio. At the same time, a new sound appeared, embodied in "Boy Evgraf" and "Songs of people who draw out people" - a kind of synthesis of acoustics and electricity. Fan appeared on the bass again and for the last (so far) time, in some places the bass is played by Gakkel, "Take me to the river" - Grishchenko. And Alexander Titov, an extra-class bassist (AUGUST, ZEMLYANES), first appeared on "Time of the Moon". Alexander liked the idea of ​​the AQUARIUM so much that he spit on the work of a professional musician and with a calm soul went to watchman, stokers, etc. and so on.

Among aesthetes, it has become fashionable to scold the AQUARIUM. Keeping his ear to the ground, Borya, in response to this, began to frighten the people with rumors about the imminent dissolution of the AQUARIUM. At one time this seemed to be true. Fan did not play the bass guitar, he was completely replaced by Titov, Dyusha did not take part in every concert and vaguely hinted at the creation of his own group. However, the acoustic-four-piece concerts continued. An original report about them was the album "Ichthyology", where there were old and new things recorded during the concerts of 83-84. There are "Watchman Sergeev", "Strange Question", "New Life in a New Post" and others, such as "Keys to My Doors".

Before "Ichthyology", without the knowledge of Boris, a studio bootleg "MCI" was released, where there was a well-known "Platan", a cheerful "Alternative", known to everyone from concerts. This is a collection of versions and recordings rejected by AQUARIUM itself. At the festival of 84 years, AQUARIUM performed very strongly and was among the laureates (places were not distributed). There sounded a new hit, turning on the audience as "Rock and roll is dead" - "Thirst" ("Knife cuts water").

Boris spent the winter and spring of 1984 at the usual rehearsal point - at Gakkel's house, where, while drinking tea, they were working on a new project, which was later closed - performing a number of Glinka's songs for the film directed by A. Sokurov, and at the same time new things like "The Case" were discussed and arranged Masters Bo. To work on it, the violinist Sasha Kussul, an acquaintance from the joint work in the Kuryokhin orchestra "Pop-mechanics", was involved.

Summer Grebenshchikov spent in search of a new studio, but, not finding it, again resorted to Tropillo.

In the fall of 1984, the album "Silver Day" was completed, the concept of which was hatched for 8 months. The sound was to some extent successive in relation to, for example, "Boy Evgraf", but the album was much more unified and thoughtful. To a certain extent, this was the result of close cooperation between Boris, who loves spontaneity, and Gakkel, who insisted on rehearsals.

In "Ivan Bodhidharma" they used a trumpet (A. Berenson), in "Electricity" and "Dreams" a string quartet plays. At the same time, Lyapin's guitar became smaller and more elegant. "Silver Day" is one of the best and perhaps the most balanced AQUARIUM record. At the time of its release, it was perceived almost as the result of more than 10 years of activity of the group. According to Boris himself, the "Silver Day" ended a round in the history of the AQUARIUM. After two electric concerts in the fall of 1984, held under the slogan "Old Dinosaur Dances", everyone quietly went to their places and it was like the dissolution of AQUARIUM. In reality, it was more of a sabbatical, a time to calmly assess the situation and look at your own contradictions. One of them was Lyapin's desire for long solos at concerts. This caused great delight of most of the audience, demonstrated Lyapin's virtuosity and complete dedication to the cause of the guitar ("sometimes he hit it around the stage, played with his teeth, behind his head, etc.), but sometimes it went against Boris' plans for this song.

Now that Lyapin had the instrumental group "Tele-U", founded by him with the guitarist-instrumentalist Vladimir Gustov, with whom he performed with great success at the 1984 festival, new ideas could be considered.

At the same time, against the background of such musicians as Lyapin, Titov, Kurekhin, Seva and Dyusha looked somewhat strange. In short, after the concert, which took place on 10/18/84, AQUARIUM stopped electric concerts, until the festival-85, held in March. During this period, there were separate acoustic concerts in the composition: Grebenshchikov, Titov, Kussul. Various rumors about the "end" of the AQUARIUM were crawling among the people. Boris himself explained this by saying that he did not want to stand still, that he had some kind of unspoken agreement with the old aquarists about a certain freedom of creativity. "And now," he said, "a new phase." The manifestation of this phase was seen at the third, March festival of the rock club. AQUARIUM performed with Boris, Titov, Troshchenkov, Kuryokhin, plus Vladimir Chekasin and Alexander Kondrashkin. This synthesis turned out to be rather unsuccessful, because Chekasin got used to jazz expanses, sold out to the fullest, the sound was very bad and the impression remained gloomy. The recording is nevertheless very interesting to listen to.

In May, on the initiative of Kuryokhin, Andrey Otryaskin, a superguitarist from the JUNGLE ensemble, focused on art rock, was recruited into the AQUARIUM for concert electric performances. The properties of his melancholic, thoughtful nature manifested themselves in the AQUARIUM. The fact is that one of the notorious hits "The Knife Cuts the Water" with Otryaska's guitar did not sound at all, but any slow piece, for example, "Cud Goddo", acquired an almost studio sound on stage thanks to Andrey's sophisticated playing on a double-necked guitar.

In the summer of 1985, AQUARIUM began recording a new album with the tentative title "Life from the point of view of trees", and at the end of September a stage reunion took place, which turned out to be a grandiose triumph for LDM. Boris, Dyusha, Seva, Fan, Titov, Kussul were on the stage. The musicians played a seated semi-acoustic program (accompanied by bass and microphones) and got wild applause. For an encore - in a similar instrumental version - "Rock and Roll is Dead" was performed, which brought the whole hall into ecstasy. Among the hits it is worth mentioning "The Master" and "The Judge".

On October 12, at the opening of the season, Grebenshchikov, Troshchenkov, Titov and Lyapin appeared on the stage at the rock club, opening the concert with the new blues "I am a snake". Then Fan, Seva and Dyusha appeared on the stage, which greatly pleased the old fans. A. B. Pugacheva, who was present at the concert, invited Lyapin to Recital, which he refused. Saxophonist Chernov from "Pop-Mechanics" performed together with AQUARIUM.

Autumn-85 passed without further electricity, but the reunited acoustic AQUARIUM, replenished with bass and violin, continued to play actively around Leningrad as before. There were also tours in Moscow and Chelyabinsk. At the same time, work on the album continued. The recording sessions recorded material on a full-length double, specifically a 14-minute version of "We'll Never Get Older". The material, however, turned out to be very heterogeneous and, so to speak, "resisted" its creators. Boris himself, apparently, was also in doubt about the choice of things. The album was released only in January 1986 under the name "Children of December" and turned out to be very electric. The worldview and, as a result, the work of Boris began to differ from the worldview of the majority of listeners, which was reflected in such songs as "Cad-Goddo", "Village". At the same time, there were also traditional aquarium compositions, for example, "Dancing on the Edge of Spring" and "Children of December" itself. Very unexpected was the arrangement of "Thirst" with the use of Polyansky's choir. The sound was also very heterogeneous, as if they were an album from different collections.

The hits were "2-12-85-06" and "I am a snake". The latter was recorded with a more subdued sound than live performances, and for the first time this proved to be a plus. Most of the solo guitar parts were performed by Boris himself, inviting Lyapin only to "2-12 .." and to rock and roll "She can move herself." It should also be noted that Kuryokhin's excellent playing and the high quality of the recording. Grebenshchikov called this album "secret".

However, as is often the case with aquarium albums, after some time "Children of December" discovered the second and third semantic layers. The combination of acoustics and electricity reflected Boris' desire to merge the two phases of the AQUARIUM into a single whole.

Almost immediately a live album called "10 Arrows" was released - the tenth album of AQUARIUM. The album was a documentary reflection of acoustic concerts of 85-86 years in six. There are several versions of this album, as well as just live recordings. The canonical variant features an acoustic version of "She Can Move Herself" and a studio version of "City". It is difficult to understand the inclusion of the third version of "The Sky is Getting Closer" into the album and the exclusion from the final versions of the rare "Crossroads", which begins with a long solo on percussion by Mikhail Vasiliev. On the other hand, "The Host" and "Tram", which had been walking around in dirty records before, now received a permanent album registration.

At the fourth festival (May 1986) AQUARIUM achieved unprecedented success - this time both with the audience present and with the jury, who awarded the ensemble the Grand Prix. The concert program included several new songs - "Adelaide", "Love is all we are" and the tenderest "Gold on Blue". Otherwise, the program could be called "History of AQUARIUM - life". Both purely electric and purely acoustic things sounded from the stage. Two incompatible, it seemed, incarnations of the AQUARIUM merged in this case quite harmoniously. Boris, the famous master of paradoxes, once again demonstrated his art.

After the festival, the summer of 1986 began, which, I think, will go down in the history of AQUARIUM as its summer. Despite the fact that outwardly nothing special happened, except for a successful performance in Moscow at the reporting concert of the rock laboratory. In fact, events developed like in a detective story with a famously twisted plot.

In June in the USA, in California, a double album entitled "Red Wave" was released by "Big Timer Records". There were recorded 4 rock club groups: AQUARIUM, KINO, ALICE and STRANGE GAMES - one side for each group. Joanna Stingray, a Californian local singer, had a hand in the release of this album. The circulation, however, was only 10,000 copies, but nevertheless this event made a rather strong impression on everyone who is fond of domestic rock. - As a hobby or for work, the aquarists themselves, of course, had nothing to do with the release of this album. Fortunately, the songs included in "Red Wave" were registered with the BOAP, and no trouble ensued. On the contrary, since the end of the summer, serious talks began about the release of the AQUARIUM giant disc at the Melodiya company. Two artistic councils were held, the poet Andrei Voznesensky spoke at the second, after which the ball's disc was approved. It will run for about 39 minutes - the limit of "Melody" - and will be a collection of "Day of Silver" and "Children of December". The entries for the matrices are Tropillov's.

All this news was overshadowed by a very sad and difficult event: in August, while swimming in the Volga, Sasha Kussul drowned. An album is being prepared in memory of him, which will include his most outstanding works.

After the festival, which was marked by the episodic appearance of Gakkel at the bass performance of "Rock and Roll ...", Vsevolod somewhat withdrew from participating in live performances. The rest are still together. In terms of the possible participation of Alexander Lyapin in acoustic concerts. As for Mikhail Vasiliev, he masters keyboards.

The volume of this publication leaves no room for broad generalizations, but speaking of AQUARIUM, it can only be compared with the Beatles (in terms of value) of the late 60s. Each album is also expected and in each text they are also looking for a second and third meaning. The influence on the minds of Grebenshchikov's work is enormous and it is impossible to overestimate the role of AQUARIUM in the development of domestic rock.