Valeri Leontiev

Artist: Valeri Leontiev

LP: I'm Only a Singer

Song: "I'm Only a Singer"

[ listen ]

Song: "I Don't Love"

[ listen ]

I've just come back from a week-long road trip all around The Land of 10,000 Lakes! In case you're not familiar, that's another name for Minnesota. Most of the state's record stores are concentrated in the Twin Cities, and that's where I visited seven of them. The first five were all in Minneapolis...

 [ Minneapolis ]

...and my very first Minnesota record store was Cheapo Records, the big store on Nicollet Avenue. There was no listening station there (and none currently available at any of the stores I visited) so on this trip I basically had to judge a book by its cover. But what a cover! I had a strong hunch Valeri wouldn't disappoint with this 1988 LP, and I was right. Valeri (sometimes "Valery") Leontiev is a very big star in Russia, but of course I am not Russian, so I had never heard of him. I wonder: Do they have a lot of leopards over in Russia?

[ Cheapo Records — Minneapolis, Minnesota ]

Yevgeni Doga

Artist: Yevgeni Doga

LP: The Gypsy Camp Disappears In the Skies
Song: "Malyarkitsa"

[ listen ]

While spending my day off this week in Gig Harbor visiting my parents yesterday (bemasked and socially distant, but emotionally close; I hadn't seen them since Christmas!), I was thrilled to get a text from work telling me to take the next day off too, since I'd been working so many hours! That helped me relax, and I ended up staying for a later dinner than planned, and then played games and watched inspiring YouTube videos with them until I finally headed home to Seattle after 10:30pm.

So then I was a little annoyed when, this morning at 6:51 I got a text from the supervisor at work saying that, because there were so many call-outs, the manager wanted me to come in to work after all. "...at 9:30?" I texted in reply. I was thrilled to get a response ten minutes later saying never mind, they'd be able to get along without me and to take the day off after all. I jokingly replied that they were putting me on an emotional roller-coaster! 

Then at 8:02am I was annoyed to get a text from the manager saying that three pallets of Amazon parcels had just been delivered to the station and they needed me to come in to work after all to help deliver them...and that they didn't have a truck for me, so I'd likely need to go pick one up somewhere, and they'd be in touch again with further instructions. 

I was thrilled to get another text at 8:31am saying that they had decided to hold off delivering the new Amazon parcels until tomorrow, so I should go ahead and take the day off after all! So as of now (almost 1pm) it looks like I'll have the day off, but I'm still wearing my USPS uniform, just in case. 

I'm also posting this lovely number from Moldovian composer Yevgeni Doga; it's one of the pieces he wrote for the 1976 Russian film THE GYPSY CAMP DISAPPEARS IN THE SKIES (aka. QUEEN OF THE GYPSIES). I found this (slightly warped) copy in the dollar bins out in front of Beats and Bohos sometime last year. You can read all about Yevgeni "Eugen" Doga here, and go here to find some fun places to visit if you're ever in Moldova.

[ Yevgeni Doga ]

Pesnyary feat. Vladimir Mulyavin

Artist: Pesnyary Vocal-Instrumental Ensemble feat. Vladimir Mulyavin

LP: Songs
Song: "I Mowed Down a Stable"
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Song: "Ow, Early For Ivan"

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This early '70s Russian psychedelic folk-rock album by Pensyary, a famous vocal-instrumental ensemble led by musical virtuoso Vladimir Mulyavin, is something I picked up at Daybreak Records earlier today. Born in Sverdlovsk (now called Yekaterinburg) in 1941, Vladimir learned to play the guitar when he was 12 years old. He formed Pensyary in 1968, and they became one of the first successful and officially recognized rocks bands in Russia. They were also one of the first groups of Russian rockers to tour the USA, hitting the road in the American South with The New Christy Minstrels in 1976.

I realize "I Mowed Down a Stable" and "Ow, Early For Ivan" are likely only approximations of the titles of the two tracks posted above, but it's the best I could do with the Google Translate app on my phone. In fact, I translated the entire set of LP liner notes and have included those below. 

(Does anybody know how to fix the glitch in Blogger where the font size keeps decreasing each time you paste the same text over and over? It was creating a cascading disco effect beneath the photo of the commemorative statue of Vladimir Mulyavin that was erected in his home town of Yekaterinburg. The Russians also put Mulyavin on a postage stamp back in 2009.)

Pesnyary is young. Officially its birthday 
can be considered September 1, 1969.

Pesnyary have their own clearly expressed creative direction. 
The basis of the concert program "Pesnyaro" is the Belarusian folk 
songs. Without losing the original charm, these songs are interpreted 
differently by the "Pesnyarov" interpretation of "Songs."

"Songs" sound differently. With a very careful attitude to the 
original in the arrangements of the ensemble, the rhythm of today 
is felt pulsating, dynamic. Along with electric instruments, artists boldly 
introduce genuine folk instruments—the lyre and daughter. This gives the 
ensemble sound interesting, unexpected colors. "Pesnyary" is the constant 
creative search. This relentless two-year search led the ensemble to well-
deserved, serious success: In October 1970 Pesnyary became laureates of 
the 4th All-Union Competition of Variety Artists. The head of Pesnyarov, 
Vladimir Mulyavin, is a brilliant virtuoso musician, with a very peculiar 
musical handwriting, whose original, original arrangements 
largely determine the direction of the ensemble. 

Seven musicians united around him: Valery Mulyavin (rhythm guitar, trumpet), 
Leonid Tyshko (bass guitar), Vladislav Misevich (saxophone, flute), Valery 
Yashkin (organ, lyre), Valentin Badyarov (violin), Alexander Demeshko 
(drums), Leonid Bortkevich (soloist of the ensemble).

All members of the ensemble are instrumentalists and vocalists, each of 
them contributes to the creation of concert programs. And most importantly, 
they are all undividedly devoted to their favorite work—the 
popularization of beautiful Belarusian songs.

  [ Statue of Vladimir Mulyavin in Yekaterinburg, Russia ] 

[ Vladimir Mulyavin: January 12, 1941 — January 26, 2003 ]

Zodiac

Artist: Zodiac

LP: Music In the Universe

Song: "Laser Illumination"
[ listen ]

Last night I rendezvoused with my Seattle Spinsters Vinyl and Music Appreciation meetup group at Obec Brewing, which just happens to be about 35 steps from my front door. Obec evidently has vinyl night every Thursday, where people can choose to play a side of one of the LPs the brewery has on hand in their collection, or they can bring in their own LPs and sign up to play a side from one of those instead. What I wasn't told is that their turntable doesn't spin at 45 rpm, so I ended up handing out all the 7" singles I brought so people could use them as beer coasters instead. 

Fortunately, I'd also brought Jimmy Smith's "The Cat" LP, which went over well, and also this 10" record by Juliette Greco. The theme for the night had been advertised as "back to school," so I'd also brought my copy of "Doris Day's Greatest Hits," so I could play "Teacher's Pet." But when I learned I'd have to commit to playing an entire side of a Doris Day LP at a brewery full of hipsters, I chickened out and quietly slid her hits beneath my chair. I love you, Doris, but I won't cast my pearls before swine. I pictured next-day headlines of fatalities: SEVEN TRAMPLED TO DEATH AT OBEC! Over half a dozen trendy people in their mid-to-late 20s died last night at a Seattle brewery when a stampede to the exits broke out as Doris Day's "A Guy Is a Guy" blared from the speakers at the popular Ballard watering hole. 

Anyway, it was a fun night, and we plan to do it again. Next time I may bring this 1983 Soviet-Latvian synth rock record by Zodiac that I found at Redhill Records in Helsinki last year. The recording of the LP was inspired by the bandmembers' visit to Star Town, where they met cosmonauts and learned about outer space. I bet it would keep the hipsters in their seats. And I may bring some Bow Wow Wow while I'm at it.

[ Zodiac ]

Sofia Rotaru

Artist: Sofia Rotaru

LP: Sofia Rotaru

Song: "My Birthplace" 
[ listen ]

I've been hanging onto this terrific 1970s (probably?) Russian pop record for years without being able to read a single word printed on the label. Today I pointed my trusty new Google Translate app at it and voilá! Unlike Japanese, the Russian language requires no highlighting of text. As soon as I point my phone's camera at the label, the words I see just switch from Russian to English. It's like magic! I thought maybe 'CTEPEO' was the name of the singer, so I translated that first: 'STEREO'. Well, okay. I next pointed my camera at the label on side one of the record and it told me everything I needed to know. The singer's name in English flickered back and forth between "Sofia Novel," "Sofia Battalions," and "Sofia Rotaru," but a quick Google search told me which of those I was listening to.

Sofia Rotaru was born on August 7, 1947 in the Romanian-speaking village of Marshyntsi in Ukraine, near the Romanian border. She learned music from her older sister, Zina, performed in choirs at church and school, and then found early success as a folk singer after appearing in a musical film in 1966. Her husband encouraged her to switch to pop music, which caused Sofia's popularity to grow. Despite rumors in the late '70s that her voice was a product of computers, unaffected by political tensions between Ukraine and the Soviet Union, in spite of her legions of fans clamoring to know which nationality Rotaru most identifies with, and even following a brief stint in a nunnery, today Sofia Rotaru remains as popular as ever. She was the highest paid celebrity in Ukraine in both 2008 and 2010. There's lots more to read about Sofia Rotaru on Wikipedia here, and you can find this CTEPEO record's labels in both Russian and English (sort of) included below.

[ Sofia Rotaru ]

Alexander Gradsky

Artist: Alexander Gradsky

LP: Variety Soloists Parade

Song: "We Can't Live Without Each Other"

[ listen ]

This 1983 "Variety Soloists Parade" LP offers a collection of songs by contemporary Russian pop artists of the time. Born in Kopeysk, Russia in November of 1949, young Alexander Gradsky was introduced to artists like Elvis Presley and Little Richard through the records his dancer uncle brought back with him from travels abroad. In 1963, when Alexander was just 13, he performed vocals with The Cockroaches for a show at the International Club of Moscow State University. This is reportedly the very first time rock-n-roll was performed in the Soviet Union. Gradsky went on to become one of the biggest rock stars in Russia (figuratively and literally), earning the flattering moniker "The Granddad of Soviet Rock," along with an unflattering one, "The Russian Meatloaf," after putting on a few extra pounds. You can read more about the life and career of Alexander Gradsky here, and go here to see some pictures of Alexander and his lovely young wife, along with a bunch of other startling photos of physically mismatched couples. This one is my favorite.

 [ Alexander Gradsky ]