Musical Ring: BG and Akvarium (Музыкальный ринг: Борис Гребенщиков и Аквариум)
Boris and Co. appear on the Soviet Union's surreal equivalent to "Top of the Pops." We haven't seen this yet.
Videos, DVDs and Software
Films by, about, starring, featuring, riffing off, exploiting, endorsing, condemning, celebrating or otherwise relating to Akvarium and Akvarium-related matters. And soundtracks fitting the same description.
Assa (Асса)
Dzhrew's kid brother look-alike gets stabbed in the heart by Mafia types. Buy it. Love it, inadequacies and all. Bonus appearance by Victor Tsoi; he's a wonderful musician, and he's at least as good an actor as Elvis.
The Long Way Home
The breaking of Boris' Western recording career. Do not watch this until you've fully digested the post-America brilliance. You may also want to listen to Radio Silence before you watch this, so you can be properly prejudiced.
The Black Rose is the Emblem of … (Черная роза—эмблема печали… )
Full title: The Black Rose is the Emblem of Sadness. The Red Rose is the Emblem of Love"
Jury's out. I saw a bit of it & thought... "nah," but Semyon says the film is better than "eh." Since I know he actually insists on spelling his name "Semen" in English I'm inclined to trust his judgement. Dzhrew and Dzhon have each seen it but have yet to pony up a reivew, although Dzhrew comments with the pithiness of a Zen koan: "Not a must-see, unless you're a sick, twisted, Akvarium fanatic. Ergo, a must-see."
Two Captains 2 (Два Капитана 2 )
So what's up with this? It's Sergei Kuyokhin goofilicious, sure, but what's the story? Did Boris and Afrika work on the music, or were they just "actors" in the film? Is it maddeningly wonderful, or just wonderfully maddening? Follow Dji's arc from confusion to partial understanding.
Which Side Are You On? (Billy Bragg goes to Moscow & Norton, Virginia, Too)
Billy Bragg, punk-influenced protest singer and old-school Socialist extraordinaire, finds himself, for the first time in his life, in the Soviet Union, where he meets BG, among other Russian oddities.
Home Under a Starry Sky (Дом Под Звездным Небом)
No Bodhisattva has reported seeing it, but Akvarium contributed several songs to the soundtrack. Who will scan these skies on our behalf?
Visit to Moscow (Video) (Визит в Москву (видеозапись))
Transitional period live show. Lots of stuff from all periods, but focusing on the early 90's. Interesting structure: Intercut with the live footage, they show scenes of the band (mostly Boris) coming to town, setting up, goofing backstage, breaking down their equipment and getting on the train to go home. Boris does his "I'm a Buddhist, bless you" salute lots o' times, once or twice even in slow motion.
Navigator (Video Concert) (Навигатор (концертный запись))
Live concert footage filmed sometime around the release of Navigator and drawing most heavily from said album. (Presumably a must for souls suffering from calenture, and who think Navigator is the best Akvarium album. They say that drowning is an excellent way to die.) Available separately on PAL video, and on VCD as part of a deluxe, two-disc rerelease of the Navigator album in Y2K.
25 History (25 История)
See Boris play phat, phat, phat rock & roll with the original Akvarium. A few clips of earlier performances which cut into 1997 concert footage of the same song. Unfortunately, the quality of the recording varies throughout. Get it for the clips.
B.G. and Andrei Makarevich, Twenty Years Later (Б. Г. и Андрей Макарейвич, двадцать лет спустя)
Video of a 1997 Moscow concert. Don't forget that Makareivich is the Anti-Boris, and you can deal with this film.
40:0 on behalf of B.G. (40:0 в пользу Б.Г. )
Opinions vary. Dji says: Very interesting footage of Boris' early post-America period, circa Russian Album. Beautiful performances with nifty capo closeups are enhanced by perspective-rendering tear gas on the streets of Moscow, plus Boris & the boys making fun of post-disco-techno-pop-Moscow decadence. Dzhon begs to differ, in no uncertain terms:
Ring of Time (Кольцо времени)
Two disks of Boris' wacky virtual world. Dji's computer wasn't up to it, but it was entertaining...also likely to cease being entertaining eventually. Special bonus footage of "Novi-Russkii Phase" Boris taking off his sunglasses and smiling at the camera...played over and over and over again. There's a message here, right?
Snow Lion (Video) (Снежный лев (концертный запись))
High in the frozen Tibetan wastes roars the Snow Lion...the Bodhisattvas and Peter Matthiesson in hot pursuit. A concert film available on PAL videotape or on VCD (as part of the Y2K deluxe reissue of the album of the same name) made sometime during the Snow Lion tour.
25 History (25 История)
Haven't put out the rubles yet, but may be the multimedia disk set to get. Light on the "Ooh, this is Boris's virtual world" stuff and heavy on the "Are you a narcoman? Tell us about sex in those crazy early days" interviews. According to the label, that is. Three disks. Buy it and support the use of advanced marketing techniques in Russia today.
Aquarium (Аквариум)
A 1998 concert film, still in its shrink wrap and waiting for Bodhisattva review. (Since watching it is also contingent upon converting it from PAL to VHS format, this may or may not ever happen.)
A Psi Mood (Настроение 'Пси')
Concert footage from the Psi tour.
Sister Chaos (Video) (Сестра Хаос (видео))
Time for a new album = Time for a new video. Along with a whopping 30 songs perfomed live, this also includes the music videos for "Fording" and "Train on Fire."