Radio silence

The history of this album began in late 1987, when American producers Marina Albi and Kenny Schaffer from Belca International became interested in Boris Grebenshchikov. They were able to convince the large company Mezhkniga to make Boris a visa to the USA. With their mediation on March 20, 1988, a BG contract was signed with CBS to release eight albums. Practically the whole spring and summer of 1988, work was underway on the album Radio Silence , the international premiere of which took place in November of that year. The wide release of the disc began in June 1989. ^[3]

Boris Grebenshchikov about the album ^[4] :

Critics in Russia do not like Radio Silence for the fact that it a) does not look like “ Aquarium ”, b) did not take first place everywhere, thereby confirming the primacy of Soviet rock over everything else, and c) not at all Pomitkowski . They are right. They, as always, did not understand anything.
RS actually ruined the benevolent from its own success (from the autumn of the 86th we moved from the stadium to the stadium under such stormy ovations, as if the Soviet power had been canceled personally) and the promoted Aquarium and put us face to face with the real world.
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After 11 albums of “Aquarium”, it would be rather strange to go to New York to record the 12th album of the same. A chance meeting with Dave Stewart in Los Angeles defined the musical direction of my “American album” because Eurythmics , for certain reasons, then occupied an extraordinary place in my world.

All but two songs (Young Lions and China) are written in English . The process of creating the album, recorded on the film by Michael Upped, is shown in the documentary “ Long Way Home ” ( eng. Long Way Home ).

Music and lyrics in all songs - BG, except specially marked.

1. Radio Silence (3:55)
2. Winter (3:17)
3. The Postcard (4:31)
4. "The Wind" (4:37)
5. "The Time" (4:25)
6. “That Voice Again” (5:44)
7. Real Slow Today (4:39)
8. “Young Lions” (3:39)
9. “Mother” (3:57)
10. "Fields of My Love" (4:00)
11. “China” (“China”) (1:46) (A. Vertinsky - N. Gumilev)
12. “Death of King Arthur” (2:45) (B. Grebenshchikov, A. Romanov - T. Malory)

The European version of the album came out with the following order of songs ^[1] :

1. "Radio Silence"
2. "The Postcard"
3. "The Wind"
4. "The Time"
5. "Winter"
6. “That Voice Again”
7. "Young Lions"
8. "Fields of My Love"
9. "Death of King Arthur"
10. "Real Slow Today"
11. "Mother"
12. "China"

The recording was made in the following studios:

• 1 - The Hit Factory ( New York )
• 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11 - Church Studios ( London )
• 3, 11 - Chapel Studios ( Los Angeles )
• 4, 5 - Orca Studios (Los Angeles)
• 7 - Reb Bus Studios (London)
• 9, 12 - Le Studio (Maureen Heights, Quebec )

• Boris Grebenshchikov - vocals , guitar
• Dave Stewart - Guitar
• Olle Romo - Percussion , Synthesizer
• Annie Lennox - vocals (3, 10, 11)
• Alexander Titov - bass guitar (3, 4, 8-11)
• Michael Kamen - oboe (3)
• Sivon Stewart - backing vocals (4, 8)
• Patrick Seymour - keyboards (4, 6, 8, 11)
• Billy Mackenzie - backing vocals (6)
• Darryl Way - violin (6, 8)
• Chucho Marchen - bass guitar (7)
• Harry Dean Stanton - vocals (8)
• John Stewart, Kenny Smith - background vocals (8)
• Ray Cooper - Percussion (8, 10, 11)
• Derek Megaphone (8)
• Peter Troshchenkov - drums (9)
• Vsevolod Gakkel - vocals (9)
• Andrei Romanov - flute , vocals (9)
• Chrissie Hynde, Janice Jameson, Charlie Wilson - vocals (10, 11)
• Dave Plyus - trombone (10, 11)

• In May 1989, the video for the song “Radio Silence” was shot (the first song written and recorded for the album). This song itself has risen to 5th place in the charts of modern rock of Billboard magazine.
• The album was released on CD , vinyl records and compact cassettes. There were 2 singles for the album:

• In addition to the American one, the Japanese edition of the album was released, preceded by the release of an EP (promo plate) ^[8] containing the songs “Radio Silence” and “That Voice Again”. In Russia, the album was released on CD only in 1996, and its first edition, made on the basis of a defective phonogram, was almost completely destroyed ^[9] .
• The song “Death of King Arthur” was part of the 3rd album of “Aquarium” - “ Electricity ”.
• The song "Young Lions" was released as a bonus track on the album " Feudalism " in a concert version.
• The song "China" was included in Grebenshchikov's album " Songs of Alexander Vertinsky ".
• A little later, Grebenshchikov admitted that while recording this album he experienced a lack of money and he had to sell CDs ^[10] .

• Aquarium "Dreams about something bigger." Text writers: A. Rybin, A. Kushnir, V. Soloviev-Spassky; Editor: Boris Grebenshchikov - M .: Sofia Publishing House, 2004
• Alexander Morsin. 30 years ago, Radio Silence was released, an English-language album by Boris Grebenshchikov, recorded with Eurythmics in the United States. Here is his story (Neopr.) . meduza.io (June 30, 2019). The appeal date is June 30, 2019.