The Bodhisattvas of Babylon

Rare Things (Редкие вещи)

Recordings from 1979-1986—live and otherwise. From "Feel Tapes." 60-min tape, often murky and full of what sound technicians call "wow" (it's different from what listeners call "wow!") There are also clean songs, well-recorded. The tape label is next to worthless—mistakes, omissions, misidentifications. D'oh. The track list given here is still subject to change.

First released in 1986.

Review by Dzhrew

Interesting facts culled by Dzhrew (facts about songs that are well-recorded and listenable):

When I was trying to figure out what "Why?" was (of course the label was incorrect), I knew I'd heard the song somewhere. I forgot about Sands of Petersburg for some reason and ended up thinking it was a wacky narkoman version of "Spring on the Riverbank Road," from the Mitki records and Cabinet of Curiosities (the first verse is about sharing a joint with somebody in one of the filthy basements you find under every Soviet building). The two songs are really similar. It sounds like he's singing it for a small group of friends in a kitchen over a few drinks. He says they "need a choir" for the song to come off properly.

The song after "Why?" sounds like it comes from the same kitchen recording session. I have no idea what the song's called, so I'll just trust the (about 20% correct on identifying the other songs on the tape) Feel Tapes label. Somebody has an accordion. It ends with Boris saying, "Âñ¸, ÿ áåðó," which I presume he means in the sense of, "I'm picking up my shot glass now."

Cool solo acoustic "Alternative." He ad-libs in an obscenity that doesn't appear on the album.

The last song on my tape is actually called "One --" and I can't understand the second word because some dickhead in the crowd shouts "19th century!" when the woman in the audience answers Boris's question about what song that just was. This song is noteworthy because Boris plays the worst guitar I have ever heard him play. Another song starts (then cuts off on my tape) after "One …" It's in English. But since I don't really know what either of them are, they aren't included in the track-listing below.