Stuffography Books
Buy Songs and 14... put Songs on your fancy home bible stand (in front of your lingham shrine and polishing post) and carry 14 with you to thump & wave as you rant & rave in the rynok. Anything else is just between you and your sickness.
"True story" may be taking it a tad far, but this is a must-have for the non-Russian fan of Russian rock. Artem Troitsky's story of the glory days, when Akvarium was obscene and every rock concert was a youth talent show, is full of wonderful first-hand stories…if you don't mind hearing waaay too much about Troitsky's role, Troitsky's opinions, and all things Troitsky.
Collection: 1972-1992 is the essential companion piece to 14—Lyolya Sagareva edited both.
It's cover is basically the cover of the White Album in rectagular format. The "Collection" is a vast assemblage (unfortunately printed on cheap paper, and badly bound) of exclusive inside interviews, photographs, reviews, samizdat pieces, you name it, lovingly collected and ordered chronologically by a long-time Akvarium freak and assembled with the complete cooperation of the entire group. Sagareva pulls it all together with enlightening essays by herself and others (I excerpted one in my Radio London review).
All in all a fine and—dare I say it—absolutely essential collection.
Paperback from "Experience" press, this is the proselytizer's little helper. Take it with you when you march out to the market to harrangue The Masses. It has many flaws, among them its lack of an index-by-title and the fact that it ends with Russian Album. Despite these shortcomings, no Akvarium fanatic should be without this book. It has pictures of the album covers, weighs less than B.G.: Songs, and it has an indestructible binding.
Hardback from ЛЕАН. Very nice looking. Comes with a fold-it-yourself cover featuring older, dignified Boris, a good table of contents by album or by song, and Boris's notes about every album through Snow Lion.
Ilya Smirnov's full-length, carefully footnoted biography of BG (cum history of Akvarium, natch), evidently written with our favorite dilettante's tacit approval and cooperation.
Alexsander Kushner's coffeetable-sized tome describes 100 early Soviet Underground Rock albums recorded/released between 1977 and 1991 on reel-to-reel tape. "Magnitoalbumy" are the "bobina" of Bodhisattva Lore: lingham/yoni enhancements to anyone who finds any one of these albums that hasn't yet been re-released on CD! (Ownership of Original Akvarium bobina, by the same token, qualifies you for the HOV lane to nirvana).
Musings by and about the late, much lamented Dyusha Romanov.
The most complete compilation of BG/Akvarium song texts to date, but, except for including songs written during the last four years, it's far inferior to the 1997 ËÅÀÍ Press publication B.G. Songs. It does, however, have the signal and indisputable advantage over Songs of being both in print and readily available by mail-order.