Concert Recordings
Borya-blessed live albums. That is, those released on disc.
For others, less sanctioned, see Bootlegs & Bobina.
10 Years (10 Лет)
An awesome acoustic concert (90 minutes) 10-yr anniversary show with a great playlist. The small audience doesn't seem to get it at first. Then Boris explains how the show starts with long ballad-type songs. Later it picks up, as do the audience. The recording isn't from a soundboard, a fact given away by someone bumping into the microphone, but the mix is great, and the recording quality is, all things considered, fine.
Electroshock (Электрошок)
Features rocking live versions (you know it, baby) of early songs, while giving an aural lesson in what a great thing it would have been to see an early live show. Recorded on June 4, 1982 in the Conference Hall of the Main Moscow Architecture-Planning Division, this show is not vital, but it gives you that drugged-out-in-the-post-Brezhnev-era feeling without all the wear & tear on your body & wallet. Buy Aroks i Shtyor first, though.
Aroks i Shtyor (Арокс и Штер)
Get all the power of early live Akvarium with none of the fluff. Great photo on the disk (legitimate copies only) of Lyapin playing guitar with his teeth and Boris doing something zany in the background. Go, Russkii rockerboys, go! In the book Songs, Boris identifies this as the first "realistically-electric Akvarium concert, with Lyapin and Pyotr." This is realistic; this is electric; this is liver than live.
Letters of Captain Voronin (Письма капитана Воронина )
Live from the "soon to be Akvarium but not yet renamed" period. There is a second title right under the "Letters…," but it's in such a wacky stylized font that the venue of the concert baffled the Bodhisattvas for years until Dzhon the Dzhorneyman got fall-down drunk there on Christmas Eve, 1999. "It says Concert in Vyatka," he groans, "which is the old name for the city of Kirov. But almost nobody besides BG calls it that. It's the only city in Russia where the residents actually voted to retain the Soviet name rather than revert to the historical Russian one. You have to love it just for that."
At The Taganka Theater (Аквариум на Таганке)
Live recordings—74 minutes of them—made at Moscow's famous Taganka Theater between 1982 and 1986. Lots and lots of guitar, voice & cello, some odd but beautiful song choices, and a tiny bit of goofing around make this a joy. The wacky slow "Molodaya shpana" (a.k.a. "Rock-n-Roll Hero"), in particular, is an interesting retake on an old classic. Guitarists! This is your source for solo guitar "Mochalkin Blues" in F (capo recommended).
Visit to Moscow ( Визит в Москву)
Live album and video (PC video, not DVD) taken from a Kostroma, mon Amour period concert in Moscow. This packaging combo—album with PC video—is a recent development, with both Navigator and Snow Lion now available in the same format. We at the Bodhisattvas of Babylon endorse any and all marketing techniques which a) provide value and b) pay Akvarium to make more music—therefore we endorse this trend.
Cyclone's Center (Центр циклона)
Two-disc live album, heaviest on songs from Navigator. Crowd noise and a bit of stage chatter to please Dzhon & Dzhrew во принципе. Very buff Boris photos on the CD insert to please the ladies. Disappointingly short for a double album.
Season of the Snake (Сезон для змей)
Slippy, slithery live double-album recorded in 1996. Dzhon fumes about Volume 1 and rhapsodizes about Volume 2. Multiple Personality Disorder? Pelmeni overdose? Mere crotchetiness? You be the judge...
25 History (Аквариум-25. История)
The live album to accompany the 25 History video. Angrily hurling thunderbolts at my Mandala, Dzhon says "It has great sound quality as far as I'm concerned, and unlike a lot of their live stuff includes crowd noise and BG saying things like 'Ох, любим мы вас!' It also includes some genius songs—"Minus 30," "Pigs in the Ears Blues"—that are otherwise difficult to come by." Note the heavy-duty marketing on this: film, CD, multimedia CD-ROM. Yet still no traditional rock paraphernalia (see our Wish List).
Zombiyaits (Зомбияйц)
Unreviewed
Last Concert. 25 Years (Последний концерт. 25 лет)
Recorded at St. Petersburg's fantabulous Jubilee theater, this concert was part of the 25-year Akvarium Anniversary Rock Reunion Tour, selections from which first appeared on 25 years.