From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews,rec.music.misc,soc.culture.soviet
Subject: The Baltic reviews
Date: 26 Aug 92 07:13:44 GMT
Reply-To: sommar@enea.se
Followup-To: rec.music.misc,soc.culture.soviet
Organization: Enea Data AB
Originator: recmusic@galaxy

Bet Bet           - Mana mila meitene    - +2 - Latvia    - 1992
Various Artists   - Liepajas dzintars 87 - +3 - Latvia    - 1987
Dainos Teatras    - Povo link            -  0 - Lithuania - 1988
Hiperbole         - 82                   - +1 - Lithuania - 1982 (1992)
Konstantin Undrov - Levyi bereg Dona     - +1 - Russia    - 1992

This years vacation trip went to Latvia and Lithuania on the other
side of the Baltic Sea. Of course I continued in my tradition of
picking up the local rock'n'roll, and brought some records with
me home, two Latvian two Lithuanian and one Russian.


Bet Bet - Mana mila meitene - +2 - Latvia - 1992
The only one in the batch that I had any idea what it was before I
bought it, since they were playing in the store. Also, there were
posters about Bet Bet all over Riga, so they seems to be quite big.
And they deserve it. This is a well-made record. Their base is simple.
Rock or rockabilly, without too much extra. Well actually you find
harmonica, violin, trumpet and piano, but the sound picture is always
simple.
  On the other hand, the variation in modes is very pleasant. Some
songs are happy, others confident, others thoughtful. There seems
to almost be a special care to avoid songs which are alike each
other - yet this is a homogeneous album. Bet Bet is a very agreable
acqauintance.


Various Artists - Liepajas dzintars 87 - +3 - Latvia - 1987
As I understand this a live album from a rock festival held in
Liepaja in 1987, with six groups: Dzeltenie Pastnieki, Credo,
Neptuns, Zodiaks, Perkons and Livi. If this is a true sample of
Latvian rock'n'roll, I have to say I am impressed. Except maybe
for the two songs from Perkons which are a little bland, all
songs reach a high level, giving you both melody and harmony
as well quite tough guitars - and sometimes all of it in the
same song. To be compilation of several bands, the album is 
suprisingly homogenenous, maybe because of the live situation.
  It is difficult to pick a favourite, almost all songs are.
"Romance" with Neptuns, "Dzelzgriezejs" and "Straume" with Livi,
"Vejs" with Zodiaks and there's not many left. Maybe that leads
me to my biggest gripe: if Latvia rock is so good, why make this
album so short?


Dainos Teatras - Povo link - 0 - Lithuania - 1988
This seems to be a cabaret album, with more emphasis on the lyrics
than the music, meaning that I missing the important. The music
doesn't seem to stand very well on its own. Sure, various styles
are tried, but the excursions does not always seem sucessful. The 
best track is "Isjunk tekevizoriu" which has a rap approach.


Hiperbole - 82 - +1 - Lithuania - 1982 (1992)
This is apparently a release of old live material with this group
Hiperbole. Their sound is more 1972 than 1982, with a spacey organ
and mean guitars. What they produce with their instruments could
be called hard rock, but their chorus lines are often more light
weight. The line between pop and hard rock is extremely thin on
this album. It works best when the vocals are equally mean as the
guitar and organ, the more poppier lines tend to enervate.


Konstantin Undrov - Levyi bereg Dona - +1 - Russia - 1992
(The first word of the title is most certainly mistranscribed.) This
sounds very Russian. And it sounds very plastic. Just imagine this,
light rock of the late eighties with plastic synths spiced with
melodies and harmonies from Russian folk music, and some accordion
and balalaika and you have Undrov in a nutshell. It works quite well 
on the title track, "Rechka Timernichka" and "V Nakhichevani", but
the album doesn't really manage to keep me interested throughout.

I must say that "V Nakhichevani" puzzles me. How come a Russian band
makes a song about this Azeri enclave in 1992? And why does the singer
sing "Nakichevani", that is "k" instead of "kh"? Hm, the some of
the names of the people in the band doesn't look very typical Russian:
Velichko, Noshko, Sukhover, Fedoseev. Then again, I found this in
Riga, so anything but Russian seems illogical.
-- 
Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se
Life is wonderful when the wonderlife is full
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