All islands!

Despite the fame in his native Nizhny Novgorod , which Elysium gained with the release of his debut album Home! ”(“ Not My Love ”) 1998, in 2000, from July to December, the group abruptly interrupted its activity ^[6] .

Dmitry Kuznetsov planned changes in the composition of the group when the debut album was released ^[7] . By 2000, vocalist Dmitry Danilin, vocalist and guitarist Yekaterina Zudina and guitarist Dmitry Kalenov left the band ^[8] . From that moment, Alexander Telekhov became the main vocalist of the group, and in 2001-2002, Yuri Devyatov sang with him, after taking up his own musical project ^[9] . With the recording of the new album, the departure of another Elysium member, drummer Igor Tarasov, who has been playing in the group since 1997, was associated. This happened in late 2001, when the album “All the Islands!” Was not yet recorded, but was completed in a creative way. According to the group, due to the "unreasonable obstinacy" of Igor Tarasov, it became impossible to work on new songs with him. Tarasova was replaced by a new drummer Alexei Kuznetsov, who played in the group until 2015 ^[10] .

The Elysium group worked on their second album “All the Islands!” During the spring - summer of 2001 ^[11] . Many songs of the new album were previously actively performed by the group at concerts - “Climber” (the oldest among them), “Alcoholic”, “How would everything be?”, As well as the songs “Like Van Gogh”, “Don’t be sad!”, “Islands” ^{[12] [13]} . The group recorded the short song “Optimism” as a kind of “joke song”: it lasts less than a minute and is a re-recorded fragment of the old song “I Love You!” (Her concert recording is on the album “ Silly banter, pop music ... and no revolutions! "). The group found the name “Optimism” more appropriate in meaning ^[13] . The new song “Tale”, which “Elysium” came up with as an answer to the fantasy songs of the “ King and the Jester ” group, underwent various variations and changes in the text for almost a year ^{[14] [15]} . The song "Ja-zzz" was written relatively long ago, but at some point "Elysium" stopped performing it at concerts. The reason for this, the group suggests, was the lyrics written under the impression of a break in love relationships - such a sad topic did not fit into the familiar repertoire of Elysium. Accidentally recalling this song after some time, the group played it with pleasure and decided to record it on the album “All Islands!”. As for the name, the musicians are accustomed to calling it “Jazz” at rehearsals, with incomplete lyrics - just to distinguish this song from others ^[13] . For the album, two songs were recorded dedicated to famous artists - “Like Van Gogh ” and “Like Gauguin ”. It is no coincidence that their authorship belongs to the then guitarist of Elysium, Sergey Sukhonin, who was fond of art and tattooing . The group did not plan to develop this theme in their further songs ^[16] . One of the hobbies of Elysium participants has always been the performance of cover versions , and for the album “All Islands!” The group decided to record a cover of “Three White Knights” - a favorite song from the movie “ Wizards ” from childhood. The song "Spring / Temptations" the group "Elysium" came up with, imitating the numerous performers of punk rock, whose repertoire contains songs on spring themes. “In reality, you can stir up a whole collection under this name, and under this auspices: we, as it were, decided not to stand aside” ^[13] .

Since Elysium paid only 12 tracks to the recording studio , after a long hesitation, the band members had to exclude from the recording one song supposed for the new album, which could take the place of the tracks “Three White Knights” or “Tale” ^[13] . Perhaps it was about the “Song about the choice of a profession”: it is known that this was written in anticipation of the release of the second album, but it never appeared on any of the group’s releases ^[15] . While by the fall of 2001 some songs from the new album had already been broadcast on Nizhny Novgorod radio, the group was experiencing the same problem as with the debut album: the search for a music label . The album "All Islands!" Was recorded, but he needed mastering , design and some other activities ^[11] . A few months later, in early 2002, Elysium decided on the publisher’s choice and signed a contract for five albums at once with the leading indie label of Russia FeeLee Records ^[17] (the album “All Islands!”, However, was the group’s only release on this label).

Music

Although subsequently the music of “Elysium” was formed in a mixed style, which the band members called “space rock”, the group had a period from the end of 1999 to the beginning of 2001, when its songs were written and performed in the style of ska-punk . When Elysium began recording the album “All the Islands!”, The band’s music began to develop in a different direction ^[18] . According to group leader Dmitry Kuznetsov, the new album had approximately the same number of ska-punk and pop-punk songs mixed with various other musical genres, such as jazz and gypsy music ^[6] . The music of Elysium is characterized by melodic, fast and energetic compositions ^{[1] [2]} . The journalist and musician Vadim Demidov first of all draws attention to the main element in the music of Elysium - wind instruments ( trumpet and trombone ), sounding in the style of Soviet VIA - such as, for example, VIA " Gems " ^[4] . Wind instruments are an integral part of all the songs on the album “All Islands!” - with the exception of the song “Fairy Tale”. The musicians of Elysium intentionally tried to make this song as simple as possible, reducing them to rhythmic guitar music with a solo number on the synthesizer ^[13] .

Theme of songs

PunxNotDead, speaking of the lyrics, concluded that “All the Islands!” A true spring-summer album was released ^[2] . The album “All Islands!” Covers various topics and plots, but all of his songs are united by a romantic mood, cheerfulness and optimism ^{[1] [4]} . A kind of romance, for example, the Elysium group sees in the song “Alcoholic” (formerly called “Ska for booming boys”), where they sing about night walks with friends with alcoholic drinks . Dmitry Kuznetsov calls the style of this song kabatskom ska-punk . In order to create the mood of a “confused sloppiness”, a violinist and a gypsy ensemble took part in the recording of “Alcoholic” ^[13] .

In the review of the texts of "Elysium" from the publication "Russian-rock poetry"  author Denis Stupnikov believes that the song “About a Helicopter” from the album “ Home! "Opens a series of songs about the" romantic professions "that appeared on the album" All the Islands! ". In the song “Climber”, performed with the transition from fast pop punk to reggae and vice versa, Stupnikov noticed in the words “climbers smoke anasha there ” a formal tribute to ska and reggae culture, the romanticization and mythologization of “natural” drugs are considered to be an integral attribute of it. In the same song there is a reference to the American punk rock band NOFX ^{[2] [15]} . The title track of the album is a song about the sailors of the “Island”, which the group “Elysium” began to call “Rock Song with a Capital Letter” and considered it a kind of anthem . The words of the song convey the idea of ​​search - the idea that something new and unknown can wait ahead in a person’s life ^{[13] [19]} . The recording of this song was attended by vocalist Yekaterina Zudina, who left Elysium several years earlier than the album ^[20] . The album contains the song “Like Gauguin”, dedicated to the French artist Paul Gauguin . The subtext of this song is the desire to get away from everyday life and craving for exotic places. “I will leave, like Gauguin, to an island in Tahiti. I’ll run away from here - live as you like ” - these words directly refer to the biography of Gauguin, who really spent the last years in Tahiti , escaping from the rest of the world ^[13] .

There is a self-ironic song “How would everything be?” With a theme widespread for punk bands about giving up their creativity ^[2] . At the same time, the lyrics are more personal for its author, Dmitry Kuznetsov, who often wondered whether it is worth exchanging a measured life, career and family for participation in a punk band. Regarding the music, “How would everything be?” Came out as the most “heavy” song on the album “All the Islands!”. Andrey Shabaev, who was involved in mastering the album, said about her: “Some metal was made from a song” ^[13] . An example of a funny composition with sad lyrics is the song “Don’t be sad!” About the autumn-winter depression (originally the song was written under the name “Autumn”). This topic is relevant for Elysium, whose participants adhere to a “sunny lifestyle,” therefore, in the chorus “Do not be sad!” It is said that “rain cannot last forever” and “winter will not be angry forever” ^{[13] [15 ] ]} . The theme of spring is also present on the album - in the song "Spring / Temptations": her mood is conveyed through a text about sexual exacerbations inherent in this time of year. “Spring / Temptations” became the only song on the album that contains profanity - according to the group, it was not possible to avoid it with such a mood ^[13] .

Some recorded songs of the album “All Islands!” Saw the light even before its release. In 2001, starting in May, several songs debuted in various musical collections : “Like Gauguin” ( “Like punk and all that! Vol. 4”, FeeLee Records ) ^{[21] [22]} , “Don’t be sad!” ( Punk Rock Foreva 2, “Sound Lab” ) ^[23] and “How Would Everything Be?” ( Otsosi, “Quadra Records” ) ^[23] . In the same year, three more songs appeared on the Silver Rain radio broadcast in Nizhny Novgorod - Islands, Three White Horses and Mountaineer ^[24] . Later, in January 2002, the song “Three White Knights” debuted on the All-Russian broadcast of Our Radio , and the songs “Islands” and “Do Not Be Sad!” Appeared after it ^{[5] [6]} .

The Internet premiere of the song “Three White Knights” took place on January 24, 2002 on the official website of the Elysium group ^[25] . On February 1, 2002, the song “Islands” was also presented on the Elysium website ^[26] . Both songs were available for free download in MP3 ^[27] .

Presentation

By early February, Elysium announced the release date of its second album. “All Islands!” Was released by the independent label FeeLee Records on CDs and audio tapes on March 1, 2002 ^{[26] [28] [29]} . Immediately after the release of the album, Elysium went on its first concert tour of Central Russia, presenting "All the Islands!" From March 6 to 10 in the cities of St. Petersburg , Moscow , Tver , Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod, respectively. As in the case of the first album, “Home!”, The release of the second album, “Elysium”, took place on the same day as the release of the new album of the friendly group “ Cockroaches! ", In connection with which the punk bands held a concert tour together; The Electronic Adventures group also performed with them, and in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, the Japanese punk band Sobut appeared on stage as special guests. In the summer, Elysium performed at the rock festivals “ Open the Windows!” "," Invasion 2002 "and the punk festival in the Moscow Gorky Park ^{[5] [6] [17]} .

The music portal KM.RU called the presentation on March 7 at the Tochka club in Moscow the “Apotheosis of the Tour”, which was notable for the unrest at the concert ^[26] . When the release of Elysium arrived, which had not even begun to play, a crowd of listeners began to climb onto the stage to the group. The club guard, driving them down, as a result came into conflict with one of the angry listeners. Dmitry Spirin from “Cockroaches!”, Who was present on the stage with “Elysium” at that time, decided to introduce the group in his own way by launching a couple of bottles of water into the hall (one of which fell into the eye of the author of the article on KM.RU). In between songs, Elysium vocalist Alexander Telekhov called on fans for acceptable stage diving , but they still found a reason to start a fight with the guards. Since the club administration lost control over what was happening, the general producer of FeeLee Records and the organizer of the concert tour, Igor Tonkikh, volunteered to go up on stage and interrupted the performance for 10-15 minutes because the club's visitors had abused stage diving, which was subsequently banned. At the break, the author of an article on KM.RU saw a furious mob beating up the person responsible for the conflict with the guard ^{[14] [30]} .

Album in Russian Rock Poetry

In anticipation of the release of the album "All Islands!" In the collection "Russian rock poetry. Text and Context ”No. 5, issued by the Ural Pedagogical University , a publication appeared by music journalist Denis Stupnikov, dedicated to the lyrics of the Elysium group. The publication affected both the already released songs of the group, and the lyrics of the new album. It depicted the history of Elysium, songwriting, commentary on them and the discrepancies between their sound and print versions. The collection itself was released in a limited edition of 300 copies, however, some of them were necessarily transferred to the musicians of Elysium during their March visit to Moscow ^[26] . Музыканты «Элизиума» с удивлением и иронией отнеслись к своей теме в публикации, исследующей актуальные течения рок-музыки в России . «Вот в одной из последних выпущенных ими книг вышла эта самая научно-исследовательская работа над лирикой нашей группы. Я бы сказал даже научно- фантастическая . Мы никогда не подозревали наличие какого-то иного смысла в своих песнях и что мы, оказывается, на самом деле имели в виду...» ^{[16] [31]} .

Переиздание

В середине августа 2004 года на официальном сайте группы «Элизиум» появилась новость о том, что не так давно в продажу поступило переиздание альбома «Все острова!». Права на распространение альбома в ближайшие несколько лет перешли другому лейблу — « АиБ Records », с которым у группы завелось длительное сотрудничество. Новое издание отличается лишь несколькими незначительными изменениями в обложке альбома. К названию «Все острова!» на ней был добавлен новый логотип «Элизиума» — «рок-череп» с костями ^[32] .

Радио и хит-парады

Альбом «Все острова!» принёс группе «Элизиум» настоящий успех ещё до своего выхода. Появившись в вещании радио « Серебряный дождь », песни «Острова», «Три белых коня» и «Альпинист» поочерёдно удерживали первые позиции в хит-параде «Серебряная пуля», который был проведён среди исполнителей современной музыки Нижнего Новгорода с февраля по октябрь 2001 года. В результате, по итогам хит-парада «Элизиум» занял первое место среди пяти музыкальных коллективов, получивших звание «Лучший нижегородский исполнитель 2001 года» ^[24] .

Но апогея группа «Элизиум» достигла, когда её песни «Три белых коня», «Острова» и «Не грусти!» появились в московском эфире « Нашего радио » ^[33] . На радио также попали три другие нижегородские группы, но судьба «Элизиума» сложилась удачливее всех. В начале января 2002 года песня «Три белых коня» появилась в хит-параде « Чартова дюжина », где спустя неделю занимала 12-е место ^[34] . С февраля песня «Три белых коня» находилась уже на 7-й позиции хит-парада — по словам портала KM.RU , это был небывалый случай для немосковского и непитерского коллектива ^[26] . Песня более двух месяцев занимала лидирующие позиции «Чартовой дюжины», в итоге достигнув 4-го места ^[35] . Журнал Fuzz пишет, что последующий радио-хит «Острова», окончательно расставил точки над «i»: «„Элизиум“ прорвался, став первой нижегородской рок-группой 90-х , которая заявила о себе в масштабах страны» ^[6] .

Критика альбома

Последовавший релиз альбома «Все острова!» позволил группе « Элизиум » стать одним из лидеров российской панк-рок сцены, наравне с коллективами « Тараканы! » и « НАИВ » ^{[33] [35]} .

Автор рецензии сайта PunxNotDead поставил альбом «Все острова!» в пример тому, каким должен быть настоящий панк-рок — весёлым, быстрым, мелодичным и, в первую очередь, поднимающим настроение. «Согласитесь, чернухи в нашей жизни и так более чем достаточно, так зачем же ещё больше себя вгонять в депрессию?» ^[2] . По словам журналиста и лидера рок-группы « Хроноп » Вадима Демидова , панки обожают петь на темы, которые им знакомы не понаслышке — особенно на тему пьянства, и песня «Алкогольная», с которой начинается альбом «Все острова!», не является исключением. Однако после неё, пишет Демидов, музыканты «Элизиума» будто бы впадают в летаргический сон, где их одолевает «солнечный образ жизни», совсем не свойственный панк -культуре. Сравнивая звучание духовых инструментов со стилем старых советских ВИА , Демидов назвал группу «Элизиум» первооткрывателем стиля «ВИА-панк», а его отличительными чертами — изрядное количество мажора в музыкальных гармониях и «щенячий оптимизм», не всписывающийся в историю русского рока ^[4] . Оба рецензента уделили внимание аранжировкам в песнях «Элизиума». Автор рецензии на PunxNotDead назвал их мелодичными и разнообразными, Вадим Демидов — осмысленными и местами изобретательными ^{[2] [4]} . «У группы даже хватает смелости менять на протяжении песни темп и ритмику» (Демидов) ^[4] .

Дмитрий Бебенин с музыкального сайта « Звуки.Ру » считает, что примитивное качество записи в случае альбома «Все острова!» не должно вызывать нареканий, поскольку более лучшее звучание могло бы только помешать восприятию «естественного» творчества группы. Парный вокал Александра Телехова и Юрия Девятова, по словам рецензента, звучит нетехнично, но открыто и естественно — создавая тем самым образ «обаятельных хулиганов» ^[1] . Рецензент А. Протасов из « Музыкальной газеты » критикует, по большей части, не песни альбома «Все острова!», а его заявленную принадлежность стилю ска-панк . По мнению Протасова, мода российских групп играть ска имела мало общего с историческими исполнителями этого жанра. Ему песни «Элизиума» скорее напоминают смесь из « Браво » и « Леприконсов », продолжающую традиции русской авторской музыки. Ещё до выхода альбома «Все острова!» Протасова удивило, что песня «Как Гоген» впервые появилась не иначе как на сборнике панк -музыки. «Если вы хотите найти под обложкой „Всех островов!“ то, что в панк-энциклопедиях называется ска-панком, то вы разочаруетесь. Его там нет. Любителям же „ Леприконсов “, „ Бипланов “ и прочих модных перцев — добро пожаловать! Рекомендуется для массового исполнения у костра и у подъезда» ^[3] .

В июне 2002 года, по прошествии трёх месяцев с момента выпуска «Всех островов!», на официальном сайте «Элизиума» для слушателей группы было открыто голосование на лучшие и худшие песни альбома ^[36] . По результатам на ноябрь 2002 года, чуть более 500 проголосовавших в среднем отметили лучшими песнями «Как бы всё?», «Альпинист», «Острова», «Не грусти!», «Алкогольная»; худшими — «Как Гоген», «Джа-zzz», «Весна/Соблазны», «Как Ван Гог», «Алкогольная» ^[37] .

Все тексты написаны Сергеем Сухониным, Дмитрием Кузнецовым и Михаилом Макарычевым (трек 4 — текст Л. Дербенёва ), вся музыка написана Сергеем Сухониным и Дмитрием Кузнецовым (трек 4 — музыка Е. Крылатова ) ^[20] .

• Comments on the songs of the album “All Islands!” On the official site of the Elysium band ( archived ) .
• Bloody presentation of "Elysium" - an article by KM.RU on the presentation of the album "All Islands!" In the club " Point ".