Fifty years ago, there was no Soviet disco that wouldn’t play the impossibly catchy «Из вагантов» (From Goliard Poetry). I had no faintest idea who goliards were, and it seems that neither the composer nor the singer did. Another thing I didn’t know at the time was that this schlager came from a freshly released LP «По волне моей памяти».
A few years later, I finally heard it as a whole, once again, thank to my cousin who brought the vinyl to our house. My I was impressed, expecially by Good Night sung entirely in English. Three more songs included verses in a foreign language: French in Sentimental Journey, German in Heart, my Heart, and Polish in Dedication in the Album*. I didn’t expect that from a composer of patriotic songs like «Мой адрес — Советский Союз» (My address is the Soviet Union) and «День Победы» (Victory Day). Cool.
Somewhat disappointedly, the title track did not have any Spanish in it. The original poem by Nicolás Guillén, as I just learned, is called Agua del Recuerdo. Maybe it’s not the Russian version of it (the only one I knew until now) as such but its interaction with the tune that makes me cringe. Which is a shame really because the music is magical. Who plays the flute, I wonder?
Then again, the whole album is magical, and has to be listened to non-stop from the beginning to the end many times in a row. Every song has a twist or three in it. Whether it is a journey from soul-funk to baroque and back in Heart, My Heart, followed by a reprise of the jazz-rock theme from the opening track, or the psychedelic From Sappho, 2.5 millennia later reimagined as Confusion which also quotes from Sentimental Journey — you can’t help wondering what else is hidden there and wanting for more.
Alas, more was not to be. «По волне моей памяти» stands as sui generis in Tukhmanov’s discography. It was not the first conceptual art/prog/any rock album made in the USSR — Alexander Gradsky recorded «Размышления Шута», also based on classical poetry, a few years before — but it remains the most influential Soviet record of the 1970s, and definitely Tukhmanov’s best.
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| По волне моей памяти | On a Wave of My Memory |
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| I сторона | Side A |
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| II сторона | Side B |
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Литературный материал подобран Татьяной Сашко |
Literary source selection by Tatiana Sashko |
Аркадий Фельдбарг — гитара-бас, скрипка Владимир Плоткин — ударные Давид Тухманов — фортепиано, орган, синтезатор, электропиано |
Arkady Feldbarg: bass guitar, violin Vladimir Plotkin: drums David Tukhmanov: piano, organ, synthesizer, electric piano |
Струнная группа Большого симфонического оркестра Всесоюзного радио и телевидения, дирижёр Константин Кримец Вокальная группа вокально-инструментального оркестра «Современник» (2, 10) Вокальная группа «Добры молодцы» (8) |
String group of the USSR All-Union National Radio and Central Television Symphony Orchestra conducted by Konstantin Krimetz Vocal group of the vocal and instrumental orchestra “Sovremennik” (2, 10) Vocal group “Dobry Molodtsy” (8) |
Наталия Капустина — вокал (2)† Игорь Иванов — вокал (3) Александр Бырыкин — вокал (4) Владислав Андрианов — вокал (6) Сергей Беликов — вокал (7) Александр Лерман — вокал (8)‡ Людмила Барыкина — вокал (9) |
Natalia Kapustina (Natasha Shneider): vocals (2)† Igor Ivanov: vocals (3) Alexander Byrykin: vocals (4) Vladislav Andrianov: vocals (6) Sergey Belikov: vocals (7) Alexander Lehrman: vocals (8)‡ Liudmila Barykina: vocals (9) |
Художник Александр Шварц |
Cover design by Alexander Schwartz |
| * | In this track, the first half is sung in Polish and the second in Russian. |
| † | The singer’s name was not listed on the album cover because of her emigration to the USA. |
| ‡ | The singer’s name was not listed on the album cover because of his emigration to the USA. |
