Rock encyclopedia. Group "Gorky Park"

Compound Alexander Marshal
Alexey Belov
Jan Yanenkov
Alexander Lvov

"Gorky Park" (Gorky Park) is a Soviet, American and Russian rock band, created in 1987. In the late 80s, she gained fame in the United States and became the first Soviet band to appear on the MTV channel. Known for her stage image in the form of "Russian kitsch", pseudo-folk costumes and Soviet symbols.

The band has released four studio albums during its existence. The self-titled debut album, released in August 1989, hit the American Billboard 200 hit parade, setting a precedent for Soviet music. The next album was released in 1992 under the name «Gorky Park 2», was a success in many European countries and was produced in large numbers. The last two studio albums - Stare and Protivofazza - were released in 1996 and 1998.

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✪ Gorky Park-Moscow Calling / Gorky Park-Moscow is in touch

✪ Gorky Park concert (Live 1997)

✪ Bang - Gorky Park soloist Nikolai Noskov

✪ Gorky Park Stranger

✪ Gorky Park - Moscow Calling

Subtitles

Story

Background (1981-1987)

In 1981, through the efforts famous composer David Tukhmanov, the Moscow group was created, whose members were Nikolai Noskov and Aleksey Belov. With the participation of Tukhmanov himself, who played keyboards, the group recorded the album "UFO" in 1982.

In 1983, the Moscow group ceased cooperation with Tukhmanov.

In early 1987, Stas Namin began to gather musicians for an English-speaking hard and heavy band. Nikolai Noskov, guitarist Alexei Belov become members of the group. bass guitarist Alexander Minkov and guitarist Alexander Yanenkov. He finds drummer Alexander Lvov in the composition of Aria, in which a split is planned.

In the spring of 1987, the Gorky Park group was born. The team began with rehearsals in the studio of Stas Namin, located on the territory of the Park of Culture and Recreation named after. M. Gorky.

Each of the participants at the time of the creation of Gorky Park had musical experience behind them. Album "Moscow" "UFO" was the foundation for "Gorky Park". Later, in 1995, the keyboardist of "Moskva" Nikolay Kuzminykh will join the group.

During the first two years of its existence, the group rehearsed in the studio of the Park. Gorky, while writing songs mainly in English. Since the autumn of 1987, the group began to engage in concert activities. At the same time, the band's first video clip for the song "Fortress" was filmed, shown in the musical program "Don King Show". On television, the clip received a passing rotation - the prevailing negative attitude towards Soviet groups singing in English affected.

In 1988 the band recorded a demo album Hit me with the news in Moscow at Stas Namin's studio before the group's departure to America. The album contained several songs that were not released anywhere else: "I'm Out", "Modern Love", "You Not Lonely Girl" and "I'm Gonna Make It".

In the same year, Gorky Park performed with the Scorpions during their tour of Leningrad. Western producers became interested in the team. The charitable organization Make-A-Difference Foundation invited the group to take part in a project dedicated to the fight against alcoholism and drug addiction together with American hard and heavy bands. For this, Gorky Park recorded the song “My Generation”, which is a cover of the song of the same name by The Who. The name was changed to the Latin version: Gorky Park. Through the mediation of John Bon Giovi, the team signed a contract with Polygram in December 1988.

Success (1989-1991)

In early 1989, the band began recording the material they had composed. In addition, the band's sound was heavily influenced by John Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora from the rock band Bon Jovi, which had reached the peak of popularity at the time.

The self-titled debut album was released in August 1989. Gorky Park. On the cover was a logo in the form of the letters "GP". Videos for the songs "My Generation" and "Bang" were filmed in New York. Due to the growing interest in the West in the Soviet Union after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Gorky Park soon gained wide popularity in the United States. The single " Bang" hit the "Top 15" on the American MTV and stayed there for two months, reaching the 3rd line. The single "Try To Find Me" reached position 81 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Gorky Park the first Russian band to hit the national American chart. The album itself reached number 80 on the Billboard 200, in three weeks from the start of sales, the circulation of which exceeded 300,000 copies.

The next single was "Peace in Our Time", which was co-written and recorded with Jon Bon Jovi. The composition was received "excellently" and received good rotation on radio stations.

Gorky Park went on a tour of the United States, in addition to performing at the famous "Moscow music festival world" (eng. Moscow Music Peace Festival) in Luzhniki in front of one hundred and fifty thousand people, along with Bon Jovi", "Mötley Crüe", Ozzy Osbourne, "Cinderella", "Skid Row", "Scorpions". In 1990, the group took part in the Roskilde finale, the opening ceremony of the Goodwill Games of the Farm Aid festival. At concerts, the musicians often performed in pseudo-folk stage costumes (harem pants, blouses), with balalaika-shaped guitars, waving Soviet and American flags.

In 1990, the band embarked on their second and final full-scale tour of the United States. The group's concerts were such a great success that they were broadcast on American television. “A television company traveled with us, which simultaneously filmed a television show. It came out every week. And here is the Gorky Park band in Arizona, but here it is in another state. It was a whole series, ”says Alexey Belov.

In 1991, at the Scandinavian Grammys, the team was recognized as the best new international group. In the early 90s, successful tours took place in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany.

It seemed that the group is at the pinnacle of success, and nothing will stop her from staying there. But in the early 90s, the team's career was significantly shaken. The band manager was fired by the band members. Nikolay Noskov left the Gorky Park line-up. The alleged reason for leaving was "fatigue" and "pressure" in the group. Nicholas had a daughter in Russia. In 1995, the musician who organized the Nikolay group will record an album Mother Russia, stylistically corresponding to the work of Gorky Park. The album did not gain sufficient popularity either in Russia or abroad, the project died down and soon Nikolai Noskov reoriented to other music, which had practically nothing to do with rock.

Moscow Calling (1992-1993)

The recording of the album, in addition to the band itself, was attended by vocalists Richard Marks and Phi Vabil from The Tubes, guitarists Steve Lukater from Toto, Steve Farris from Whitesnake, Dweezil Zappa and Pink Floyd live saxophonist Scott Page, mixing was conducted by Erwin Masper.

Moscow Calling came out in 1992. In many countries, including Russia, it came out under the name Gorky Park II. Not hitting the American charts, the disc still managed to gain considerable popularity, selling in the world with a circulation of half a million copies. The disc was wildly popular in Denmark, having received platinum status there. In Europe, this disc was represented by BMG, in Scandinavia - CNR, in Japan - Crown, in Southeast Asia - Pony Cennen, in Russia - SOYUZ. New manager Tom Hulat dies of blood cancer in 1993 .

International success Moscow Calling allowed Gorky Park to gain financial independence and equip its own studio in Los Angeles. Alexander Minkov: “From now on, we ourselves will manage our honestly earned money”; Alexander Lvov: “We owe nothing to anyone now. We don’t have contracts with anyone anymore, they can’t close us, they can’t put us in a debt hole.

Stare (1994-1997)

After touring Russia in 1994, the band began recording material for their third studio LP at their new studio in Los Angeles. "The first title of our album was facerevers, which we remade in the English manner and turned out like “face” - this is the face, “revers” - inside out, as it were. Face inside out. They even made a cover, but the Soyuz company didn’t like it, it seemed a little gloomy, perhaps, or too abstruse ... And therefore they called it Stare - after the first provocative song, for which a video was later shot. This is how this album appeared ... ”- says Alexei Belov in his interview to MTV.

This time, guitarist Alan Holdsworth, drummer Ron Powell took part in the recording of the album, and the recording was also made with the Russian National Symphony Orchestra in GDRZ Studio-5. Shortly before the recording of the album, a full-fledged keyboard player finally appeared in the group - Nikolai Kuzminykh.

During the forthcoming album Stare a scandal broke out over the rights to the name of the group. Stas Namin, who has not been the general producer of the team for a long time, claimed his rights to the name "Gorky Park", which was officially registered by his company "SNC". Soon an understanding was reached, and the name "Gorky Park" was bought out, remaining with the group.

Third studio album was released in 1996, followed by a big tour of Russia. On the compositions "Stare", "Stop The World I Want To Get Off", "Ocean" and "Scared", directed by Sergey Bazhenov (?). At the same time, the Russian label Moroz Records released a compilation best songs"Gorky Park" in the series Legends of Russian Rock. In addition to hits, it included previously unreleased compositions "Nitti Gritti" and "Do What You Want".

Protivofazza (1998)

In May 1998, the fourth studio album was released under the title Antivofazza. “The last two albums -“ Stare ”and“ Protivofazza ”- it was, in principle, one big album,” Alexei Belov told the MTV film crew, “we recorded it in the studio. There were, I remember, twenty-one songs, and we mixed these songs. When we made the selection for "Stare", we had a huge number of songs left - ten songs. What are we to do with ten songs? Some of them are very strong pieces, there are even such ethnic-symphonic ones, such as "Liquid Dream" and "Moving To Be Still"... Just interesting music! Then we decided to finish just two songs quickly ... So we got such a double. ”

The name of the Gorky Park album is explained as follows: “There is such a term in radio electronics, when one phase is reversed compared to the other, and the sound becomes not what it should be. When a person swims against the current, the same thing happens. Roughly speaking, antiphase is a contradiction to everything. According to them, such a name would be close to each of their albums: they swim against the current all the time.

Soon the musicians, after living in the United States, returned to permanent residence back to their homeland. The band's plans also included the recording of a live album, but events that changed plans took place in the band.

Breakup (end 1998-2001)

The end of 1998 was almost fatal for the group: Alexander Minkov left its composition, explaining this by their desire to try something new and realize their own ideas and desires, Alexander Yanenkov and Alexander Lvov. Despite this, the activities of the band continued, Alexei Nelidov (ex-Angels & Demons), who became responsible for vocals and bass guitar, and Alexander Makin, who took drums, were invited to replace the former members. Alexander Minkov, who left the group, returns to Russia and begins solo career under the pseudonym Alexander Marshal. Unexpectedly for everyone, the musician begins to sing in the style of Russian chanson.

Belov also returns to Russia, calling Yanenkov and Lvov with him, but they refuse. Soon Kuzminykh leaves Marshal and joins Belov - together with the new musicians they call new composition groups like "Park Belova". Yanenkov, on the other hand, joins Marshal to record the album "White ash", after which he returns to the group again.

In 2001, a single was released for the song "Made in Russia", and a video clip was also shot for it. At the same time, a new studio album, Gorky Park, was being prepared for release, mainly in Russian. But things didn’t go any further - Alexei Nelidov left the group, leaving for permanent residence in Germany. The dissolution of the band was officially announced, and the album never saw the light of day. A four-year break has come in the history of Gorky Park.

rebirth(2004 - present)

In 2004, Belov and Yanenkov decide to resume active concert activity as "Musicians of the Gorky Park Group".

The composition of the group at that time: Alexey Belov (guitar, vocals), Yan Yanenkov (guitar), Alexander Makin (drums).

In 2008, the group was revived at the Avtoradio-15 festival. The team played 5 songs and an insert from the instrumental track "Volga Boatman". A few days later, at the award ceremony TV channel"Muz-TV", "Gorky Park" received an award for their contribution to rock music and performed with the same composition with the song "Moscow Calling".

In 2009, the group performed the song "Moscow Calling" at the opening of the Eurovision 2009 festival

Alexey Belov: “We have long wanted to get together, but there was no ... pretext, or something. Everyone was minding their own business. And last year, Avtoradio offered to perform at its festival. It was then that the first important step was taken. This really inspired everyone! "Gorky Park" in its full form is a group for sports palaces and stadiums. So we're looking forward to a massive comeback. To begin with, we plan to record some new tracks and do a tour. And what then, we'll see ... There are a lot of proposals, the excitement is grandiose.

On June 4, 2012, the group performed in the first line-up (N. Noskov, A. Marshal, A. Belov, A. Yanenkov and A. Lvov) in the TV program "Evening Urgant" on Channel One.

July 8, 2012 the group performed at the festival "Invasion-2012" (as part of A. Marshal, A. Belov, A. Yanenkov and A. Lvov)

On November 18, 2012, the band's 25th anniversary concert took place at the Crocus City Hall. For the first time in many years, the “golden” line-up (N. Noskov, A. Marshal, A. Belov, A. Yanenkov and A. Lvov) entered the stage.

On November 24, Gorky Park performed at the Olympic Sports Complex as part of the Disco of the 80s.

October 5, 2013 "Gorky Park" as part of A. Marshal, A. Belov, A. Yanenkov and A. Lvov played several songs during the show program of the fight Vladimir Klitschko - Alexander Povetkin. The performance was not broadcast anywhere.

At the moment, the band is preparing to release a DVD with their anniversary concert. It is also planned to show this concert on television.

On May 14, 2015, Gorky Park gave a concert as part of the Moscow Calling album with the Russian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (conductor D. Yurovsky) at the Crocus City Hall.

Music

Influence

Alexey Belov about the influence of music on creativity: “It is very difficult to list everyone. This is a huge number of groups playing heavy music, jazz, fusion, as well as a lot of instrumental and, of course, classics.

musical style

The American period of the band was characterized by a hair metal orientation due to the popularization of this genre in the face of such bands as Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row and others. Cooperation with leaders this style only fixed the glam image for the group, while touching on the peculiar polyphonic manner of performing songs, characteristic of hair metal. Meanwhile, the group has a rather light sound compared to heavy metal, therefore, in addition to classifying the group as part of this genre, a pop-rock orientation is also distinguished in its work. Debut album Gorky Park was recorded in the genres listed.

The next two albums marked the band's transition from commercial glam rock to progressive rock.

Gorky Park about his work

Alexey Belov: We wanted to create a band that would pay much attention to the professional, musical side and play at the level of Western rock bands, both in terms of instrumentalism and compositions.

Alexey Belov: “When we wrote our albums, we had a rough idea of ​​which songs would become hits, but there were also surprises. Sometimes completely unexpected things “fired”. Take, for example, the ballad "Two Candles". We were not going to make anything special out of it: we didn’t shoot clips, we didn’t promote it in particular, we didn’t play it. But it became a big hit. And it happened the other way around: we worked a lot on the alleged bestseller, shot a video - but no, it didn’t roll. ”

Alexey Belov: “When our first single was released in the States, we lived in a condominium ... three-story, or something. In general, everyone was scattered across the floors. Everyone was minding their own business - and then someone shouted: “Look, we are shown on TV!”. Everyone came running, inspired: they got on MTV, great. We looked, we parted ways. Forty minutes later, the next cry: “We are shown again!”. Gathered again and looked. Forty minutes later - the same story. And during the day we ran up to the TV like that eight or ten times ....

Stas Namin: “The music of Gorky Park is songlike, melodic, difficult to perceive the first time. The group is not very large in terms of the number of instruments - only five musicians participate in it. Melody, pressure, heavy rhythm, original image, serious lyrics - we tried to combine all these qualities when creating a team.»

stage image

From the very beginning, Gorky Park, despite the English-language component of creativity, demonstrated its Russian orientation. Thus, their image was an excellent commercial step: in stage costumes (shirts with Russian patterns), in vocals, up to the famous balalaika guitar, made especially for Alexei Belov by the American company Kramer. In total, two guitars were made in red (you can see in the video from the performance at the Moscow Music Peace Festival-1989) and white (in the video for the song Moscow calling), and four were not completed. The very first was a guitar made by master Igor Barbashov. She had a folk Russian drawing. She can be seen in the videos for the songs "Bang" and "I'm Going Down").

The Gorky Park logo - American and Soviet flags tied to each other as if they were one - symbolized the coming changes.

Criticism

In the mid-1990s, the band switched to a different sound from glam metal, which disappointed their fans. Album released in 1998 Antivofazza only increased criticism of the group, and the former popularity abroad was also lost.

The solo orientation of the band members was perceived rather “coolly” by the fans: for example, Alexander Minkov began to perform songs in the Russian chanson genre, and Nikolai Noskov began to play music other than rock.

Compound

Latest cast

• Alexander Marshal - vocals, bass guitar (1987-1999, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015)

The Gorky Park group has the status of a world legend. And this is not surprising, because in the first years of its existence, the band already had hundreds of thousands of records sold, and their hits were on everyone's lips. Better known among foreign listeners as Gorky Park, the group entered the history of world rock music as a phenomenon.

History of creation and composition

The biography of the Gorky Park group began in 1987 in the USSR at the Center. The history of creation is such that initially the team was created with a focus on the American market. The name "Gorky Park" did not come to the producer by chance, because the rehearsal place was located on the territory of the Park of Culture and Recreation named after, and besides, at that time there was a rumor abroad novel of the same name Martin Cruz Smith.

The composition of the group was very unusual: each of the young people had experience in popular rock bands. The first member was Alexei Belov, who took a place at the solo guitar. Previously, he participated in the team "Moscow" and VIA "Nadezhda", and since 1983 he has been engaged in arrangements.

Got a job as a vocalist. He worked together with Belov in the Moscow group, and then sang in the Rus restaurant, from where he left for the Gorky Park group at the invitation of Stas Namin.

Alexander Minkov, now known by the name, became a bass player. The place behind the drum kit was taken by Alexander Lvov, and Yan Yanenkov was responsible for the guitar. The last three musicians who came to Gorky Park participated in the Stas Namin Group at different times. These members represented the original composition of the group, in which the musicians lasted 3.5 years.

Music

In the autumn of 1987, after several months of hard rehearsals, the group made their stage debut. A video was shot for the track "Fortress", which was broadcast on the popular American program "Don King Show".

In August 1989, the band's first album, Gorky Park, was released. The cover depicted the logo in the form of the letters "GP", stylized as a hammer and sickle. After the fall of the Iron Curtain and due to the growing interest of the West in the Soviet Union, the Gorky Park group quickly became popular in the United States.

The single "Bang" lasted 2 months on the American MTV, reaching the 3rd position. As for the single "Try To Find Me", it reached number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Gorky Park the first Soviet band to enter the chart. The album "Gorky Park" itself reached the 80 position of the Billboard 200, the sales of which exceeded 300 thousand copies in 3 weeks.

The song "Bang" ("Bang") of the group "Gorky Park"

The next single was "Peace in Our Time", recorded with , which received excellent rotation.

The members have had successful tours in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Norway, as well as two major tours in the United States. The concerts were a huge success and were broadcast on television in America. The participants were remembered for performances in stage costumes with folk themes and guitars in the form of balalaikas.

Gorky Park was at the pinnacle of success, but after the dismissal of the manager by members of the group, their career was shaken. At the same time, Nikolai Noskov left the line-up, the alleged reasons for the musician's departure were fatigue and pressure from the participants.

Due to changes in the composition of the group, Alexander Marshal takes the place of the soloist. The band has started recording new material called "Moscow Calling", with vocalists Richard Marks and Phi Vaibil taking part in the creation process.

The song "Moscow Calling" by the group "Gorky Park"

In 1992, in Russia and many other countries, the album was released under the name "Gorky Park II". Although the record did not hit the American charts, it managed to gain significant popularity - sales in the world amounted to half a million copies. The disc gained particular fame in Denmark, having received platinum status there.

Thanks to the worldwide success of Moscow Calling, the band gained financial independence and set up their own studio in Los Angeles.

In 1995 keyboardist Nikolai Kuzminykh joined the group. Upon returning to Russia, the performers went on tour, after which Gorky Park began recording material for the 3rd studio disc in a new studio in Los Angeles.

During the preparation for the release of the Stare album, a scandal erupted with the ex-producer of the group, Stas Namin, over the rights to the name Gorky Park. But the parties quickly came to a compromise: the performers bought the name.

The song "Two candles" ("Two candles") of the group "Gorky Park"

The third official record was released in 1996, followed by a tour of the cities of Russia. After 2 years, the group released the next studio album "Protivofazza". Soon the musicians finally returned to their homeland. The plans included recording a live album, but events occurred that changed everything once and for all.

The end of 1998 was marked by a fatal event for the group. Three main musicians left the line-up at once: Yanenkov, Lvov and Minkov. The latter explained his departure by the desire to realize his own ideas.

A little later, unexpectedly for all listeners, Alexander appeared on stage under the pseudonym Alexander Marshal with songs in the style of Russian chanson.

Having suffered significant perturbations, the activities of the performers continued. Aleksey Nelidov took the place of the vocalist and bass guitarist, and Alexander Makin became the drummer. Yanenkov also joined Marshal to record the album "White Ashes". When the work was completed, the musician returned to the group.

The song "Made in Russia" by the group "Gorky Park"

In 2001, Gorky Park released a single and a video for the track Made in Russia. The performers were preparing a studio album, but the work never saw the light, since Alexei Nelidov left the band, moving to Germany. The dissolution of the team was officially announced, and a break came in the history of Gorky Park.

After a long silence, Belov and Yanenkov decide to resume the concerts as "Musicians of the Gorky Park Group" together with Alexander Makin at the drum kit. But this project did not last long and was quickly closed.

In 2012, the Gorky Park group held 3 concerts. The performers in the first cast performed on the TV program "Evening Urgant" and gave a jubilee concert dedicated to the 25th anniversary. In July, the musicians played at the Invasion festival, but without Nikolai Noskov.

The next time the reason for the training was the fight show program and. Further, after a silence of 2 years, the last concert of Gorky Park took place with the album "Moscow Calling" accompanied by symphony orchestra at City Hall.

"Gorky Park" now

Now there are no prerequisites for the re-creation of the group, each musician is busy in his own project. Today, the exception is Nikolai Noskov, in whose life a disaster happened. A man was hospitalized due to a stroke, and after a temporary improvement, he again struggles with the severe consequences of the disease.

As for Alexei Belov, he continues to perform solo, produces new projects and writes songs for his wife. In July 2018, the musician released a new single called “To Live in Moscow” - the first track in the future solo disc.

In honor of this event, Belov gave an interview to Ekho Moskvy radio, where he spoke about the years spent in the Gorky Park group and the prospects for a solo project. As for Alexander Marshal, he continues a successful solo career. Photos of Gorky Park participants can be found on the Web.

In 2016, a scandal erupted over the Gorky Park pseudo-group, whose members traveled around the country and were going to record a Russian-language album. It turned out that this action is run by a former member of the group Yan Yanenkov and a certain Yegor Dervoed, a self-named producer and director.

To clarify the situation, Alexander Marshal and Alexei Belov held a press conference. Belov said that once he received a call from the administrator of Ukhta, who asked in a nervous voice if the Gorky Park group was going to their concert. The surprised musician admitted that he had heard about it for the first time.

After that, the caller said that a festival was being organized in Komi, to which the Gorky Park group had been invited, and an advance payment of 100 thousand rubles had already been transferred to Yegor Dervoed. The head of Komi saw the lists of the team and was indignant at not finding Belov there. As a result, Alexei and his wife had to go, because the situation almost ended in failure.

At the end of the press conference, the musicians announced that Yanenkov was no longer a member of the Gorky Park group. Marshal and Belov also said that they would resolve the issue with the surrogate by immediately contacting law enforcement agencies. How the trial ended is unknown.

The track "Moscow Calling" became the official soundtrack for the series "Fizruk".

Discography

• 1989 - Gorky Park
• 1992 - "Gorky Park 2"
• 1996 - "Star"
• 1998 - "Protivofazza"

Clips

• Peace In Our Time
• My generation
• Fortress
• Moscow Calling
• Stranger
• I'm Going Down
• tell me why
• Stare
• Ocean
• Try To Find Me
• Two Candles (Two candles)

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Biography, life story of the Gorky Park group

In Russia, and, perhaps, throughout the world, the Gorky Park group has the status of a legend. And how could it be otherwise: in the first years of its existence, Gorky Park already had hundreds of thousands of records sold all over the world and world recognition. Now the group is more than ten years old, but "Gorky Park" is still loved and eagerly awaited in all cities of Russia. This group entered the history of world rock music under the name PHENOMENON. It is with this phenomenon that we want to acquaint you as closely as possible, bringing to your attention truly unique story Russian team.
Many of us Russians remember how the life of the country changed dramatically during the late 80s. Those were the times when the Soviet rock scene made its way from the underground to the ranks of popular music, times that anyone would like to return, but even then there was still much to be achieved...

Several young guys, not known in Russia or anywhere else, secretly rehearsed, like many other rock groups of that time, and got together in Stas Namin's studio, located on the territory of the Park of Culture and Leisure named after. M. Gorky. Rock and roll was still something "out of this world", half illegal in the Soviet Union. Those who played him were forced to beware of the police and KGB secret agents. However, many say that it was
much more fun.

Those young boys were no beginners. Each of them had a good experience with others enough famous rock groups of that time. Alexander Minkov (now better known as "Marshal", nicknamed so for his childhood dream of becoming none other than a marshal) played the bass guitar in the Arax group, quite famous thanks to his album "For Whom Our Alarm Bell Tolls". True, at the time when the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating Gorky Park appeared, Alexander worked in a restaurant, but nevertheless

Alexander Yanenkov ("Yan") used to sing "We wish you happiness" together with Stas Namin's group "Flowers" extremely popular in the ranks of Soviet youth, being the guitarist of this group.

CONTINUED BELOW

Alexander Lvov ("Little" Sasha) was the drummer of the first line-up of "Aria", the founding band of Russian heavy metal. A rare person in those days did not hear and did not know this group.

Alexei Belov and Nikolai Noskov were the main creative force of the "most professional studio group in the country", according to music critics of that time - the Moscow group under the direction of David Tukhmanov. Album "Moscow" "UFO" was the foundation for the "Gorky Park". Later, in 1995, the keyboard player of Moscow, Nikolai Kuzminykh, will join Gorky Park.

Bands such as "Aria", the Stas Amin Group, "Moskva" and "Araks" dominated the Moscow rock scene, but none of them were able to write anything outstanding on their own. Alexey Belov, future
lead guitarist of Gorky Park, grew up, like many teenagers of the 70s, on Western music and hated it with a terrible, deep hatred Soviet stage. This brought up his taste: Alexei dreamed of achieving the same success as his legendary rock idols, but the energy and universal ambitions that wandered in young minds could not find an outlet in a society tightly closed by the "Iron Curtain". Gorbachev's politics gave a long-awaited chance, and Alexei decides to gather like-minded friends in the studio to record an English-language demo. So in 1987, Gorky Park appeared. Stas Namin himself has a reputation as the creator of the team. It was he who became the first impresario of the new team.

The name of the group was determined "by the nearest corner". Yes, it was Gorky Park - the entertainment center of Moscow. The musicians of the "Park" were quite suitable for each other in terms of musical interests, similar playing style and vocal technique. The guys spent in the studio of the Park. Gorky for two whole years, continuously working on English-language material. Of course, there was no money back then. According to Noskov, the guys woke up at night from the fact that mice were running over them; Lvov and Belov were forced to sleep "back to back", hiding under one blanket - all for the sake of the cherished dream of breaking through to the West, conquering the whole world. In the late autumn of 1987, the concert debut of "PG" took place. Around the same time, the first video clip for the song "Fortress" was shot, shown on the popular music television program "Don King Show" ("Don King Show").

In the spring of 1988, Stas Namin organized the performance of "Park" as a warm-up band during the Leningrad tour of the Scorpions. Despite the fact that the audience took the performance of "Park" quite cool, the group did not go unnoticed. In the summer of 1988, during the band's first trip to the United States, the Mike-A-Diffrance Foundation offered PG, along with leading hard and heavy musicians, to take part in the recording of a charity album included in the program to combat alcoholism and addiction. The song "My Generation" was written for this record and was written by Peter Townsend of The Who.

In December 1988, Stas Namin invited the management of the Polygram company to Moscow and signed the first direct contract in the history of Russian rock between the Russian group Gorky Park and an American record company. Thanks to the beginning of perestroika, it was a little easier to cross the border. So the guys came to the United States as an unknown group from Russia when the two countries were still in a state of Cold War. This quiet war was in its final stages, and perhaps this was the right time and place to come. Undoubtedly luck and hard labour helped the guys climb the ladder to glory. Alexey Belov later said that he met several great people who are directly responsible for the success of Gorky Park. One of them was Frank Zappa. "He was a person you could come to at any time. He worked in the studio 24 hours a day, but he could always find time for us."

Of all the celebrities, it was Frank Zappa who most influenced the success of Gorky Park. He began to invite the guys to various holidays, small concerts and shows. Little by little, the group began to attract attention. On the one hand, it was the merit of Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi. They already had a contract with Mercury Records and it was they who recommended the Parkers to go to this campaign. The group sounded original, plus for Americans it was exotic in those days - a rock band from Russia. Anyway, Mercury Records decided to give them a chance.

"We have already worked out our first concert program," recalls Alexei Belov, "we were preparing for the release of our first disc and traveled around America with performances" ("MS", Omsk, 1997).
Initially, the “Parkovites” planned to spend three months in America, but by the will of fate they stayed there for five years. The thing is that suddenly the producer of Gorky Park, the owner of Polygram, who promised to put the whole world at the feet of the musicians, was fired by members of the campaign board, and the group's manager was convicted of some major fraud. That, it would seem, is all: Russian musicians ended up in the States absolutely alone...

Unable to withstand the first difficulty on the path to success, Nikolai Noskov leaves the group. Whether it was a matter of family circumstances (Nikolai had a daughter just at that time in Russia) of a musician, or they didn’t share something among themselves (there are rumors that the matter went right up to the court), but nevertheless ... The group did not maintain any contacts with Noskov, but the historic performance of Noskov as part of the team in August 1999 on Vasilyevsky Spusk in Moscow was a symbol of the ongoing friendship of former bandmates.

The new manager dragged the guys from New York to Los Angeles. Soon, little by little, things in the group began to improve: concert activity resumed, earnings from concerts began ...
Finally, in 1989 the world saw Gorky Park, the first studio album by Gorky Park. Not many predicted great popularity for him, but after a few weeks from his release, "Gorky Park" SHAKED North America and International charts. It received a 5-point rating from "Billboard" - "best in performance". Compositions such as "Вang", "Try to find me", "Peace in our time" paved the way for the musicians to the top of the Billboard charts: "Bang" climbed to third place on the MTV charts, the disc took the 80s place in the list of the two hundred most popular albums of the magazine "Billboard", in three weeks from the start of sales, the circulation of the album exceeded 300 thousand copies.

From the very beginning, "Gorky Park" was emphasized by the Russian group. They even kind of insisted on it, using this image everywhere: in stage costumes (shirts with Russian patterns), lyrics (at the very beginning of "Bang" a shoveled "Meadow Duck" is inserted, and in the song "My Generation" from the repertoire of the group WHO - the theme "Get up Russian people ..." from the cantata "Alexander Nevsky"), in vocals. Up to the famous balalaika guitar, made especially for Alexei Belov by the American company Kramer.

Thus, the group became a symbol of peace between the two countries, the first link connecting the two opposite sides of the ocean. The Gorky Park logo - American and Soviet flags tied to each other as if they were one - symbolized the coming changes. Changes were approaching, and finally, Russia saw world-famous bands at the Leninsky Stadium in Moscow. It was the 1989 Moscow Peace Festival with Gorky Park, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne and The Scorpions. People experienced an unforgettable feeling when they saw how Russian musicians performed with american rock stars on the same stage. Thousands of fans were delighted: heavy metal shocked the crowd. The participation of "Gorky Park" in this festival undoubtedly influenced their popularity in America.

And suddenly ... The manager of the "Park", with whom so many hopes were connected, dies of blood cancer. Nevertheless, interest in the group did not dry up, and, having begun its cooperation with BMG, Gorky Park began recording the second album. Alexey Belov: "We recorded our second album "Moscow calling", like the first one - like soldiers, under pressure. Studio time is very expensive, and we had to meet tight deadlines. No one would pay us even an extra minute in the studio if we didn't meet the deadline" ("MS", Omsk, 1997). I had to rehearse even at night in a half-abandoned house without electricity: the cord was painted green so that it did not stand out on the grass, and they ran in turn to connect it to a neighboring house. Producer Fee Waybill worked on the second album with the guys. Worked - not the right word: the "parkovtsy" worked for slaughter, they could record two songs in a day (and this is taking into account the fact that it took an average of 6-7 hours to record the vocals of one composition). At one of the rehearsals, Alexander Minkov even lost his voice.

"Moscow calling" returned the lost positions to "Gorky Park": popularity, a strictly scheduled schedule of tours around the world ... Again, "Gorky Park" is on hand: they collect thousands of stadiums in Denmark, where the group manages to achieve particular success (the second album reached up to the top five and held out in this way for 9 months), in the homeland. However, in Russia "Moscow calling" was sold mainly in pirated circulation. "Yan" Yanenkov: "We went on tour and everywhere "Gorky Park" was written by hand, cassettes were sold there or reprints of our CDs" (MTV). The international success of "Moscow Calling" made it possible for "Gorky Park" to gain financial independence and to equip its own studio in Los Angeles, as a response to all sound recording companies. Alexander Minkov: "From now on, we ourselves will manage our honestly earned money"; Alexander Lvov: "We don't owe anything to anyone now. We don't have contracts with anyone anymore, they can't shut us down, they can't put us in a debt hole..." ("Andrey", 1994).
The long absence of the group in Russia, tours and recording of albums in English more and more led to the fact that the name of "Gorky Park" was increasingly associated with the foreign rock scene. In their interviews, the musicians refute idle plans about their desire to stay in America for permanent residence. But the English-language texts, musical presentation, infrequent visits to Russia have done their job - "Gorky Park" becomes one's own among strangers, a stranger among one's own...

After touring Russia in 1994, the band started recording their third album. The band's financial stability allowed them to experiment and take their time with recording. Belov: "The first name of our album was Facerevers, which we remade in the English manner and turned out like face - this is a face, revers - inside out, as it were. Face inside out. They even made a cover, but the Soyuz company did not like it, it seemed somewhat gloomy that whether or too abstruse ... And so they called "Stare" - after the first perky song, for which a video was later shot. That's how this album appeared ... "(MTV).

Four clips were filmed for the album "Stare": "Stare", "Stop the world I want to get off", "Ocean" and "Scared", which were worked on by fashionable Russian clip makers under the direction of Sergey Bazhenov. All the clips contain elements of computer graphics, especially the "Scared" clip, in which a virtual Las Vegas is created, collapsing under the influence of huge dice: the dice roll and destroy the famous "Mirage", the streets of the city, the Arch - one of the symbols of America... Work the video lasted two years, and if it had been filmed in the States, it would have cost more than a million dollars, because computer graphics are, as you know, not cheap. In May 1998, the fourth album with the simple name "Protivofazza" was released.

"The last two albums - "Stare" and "Protivofazza" - it was, in principle, one big album, - Alexei Belov told the MTV film crew, - we recorded it in the studio. I remember there were twenty-one songs, and we when we did the selection for "Stare" we had a huge number of songs left - ten songs. What do we do with ten songs? Some of them are very strong pieces, there are even ethnic-symphonic ones, such as "Liquid dream" and "Mooving to be still"... Just interesting music! Then we decided to finish just two songs quickly... So we got this double. Protivofazza appeared in the studio. We had a huge console, very good; which they chase in America, and we got it in Russia, oddly enough, then transported it to America.We understood why it was so easily sold to us, although it was priceless in itself, there was such a powerful sound... Just where don't poke, anti-phase is everywhere."

The musicians explain the term "anti-phase" as follows: "There is such a term in radio electronics, when one phase is reversed compared to the other and the sound becomes not what it should be. When a person swims against the current, the same thing happens. Roughly speaking, anti-phase - it's a contradiction to everything." According to the musicians, the name "Antiphase" will suit any of their albums: they are always swimming against the current.

As always, the group swims against the current, using the rocks that everyone stumbles over as a foothold. The group's return to Russia and the forthcoming album in Russian is yet another proof of this. And the one who swims against the current always wins! And even more so if it is "Gorky Park" - the first group in the history of Russian rock that managed to win the love of people all over the world!

But the main springboard for the group was organized by Namin in 1989 "Moscow Music Festival of the World". Stas returned the Gorky Park group to Moscow to participate in the festival and put them on stage with world superstars, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Cinderella, Skid Row, Scorpions and others. The festival was broadcast to 59 countries of the world on MTV. After the Festival, an album was released by Polygram in the USA, and the Gorky Park group made a dizzying career, becoming the only Russian group in history to conquer the charts MTV And Billboard, gaining worldwide fame . In 1990, when Namin sent his Gorky Park group on their first tour of America, a conflict occurred in the group and it broke up.

Left without the main soloist Nikolai Noskov, who was the face and voice of the group, the author and performer of the hit Bang that conquered the world, and without the creator and general producer of the group, Stas Namin, who came up with the name and logo, gathered musicians and promoted the Gorky Park project to the whole world , the rest of the group tried to continue their career, but even the illegal use of the promoted name "Gorky Park" did not help them. Both the management and the record company terminated their contracts with them, and as a result, after unsuccessful attempts to continue their career in the new line-up in America, they returned to Russia in 1998. In Russia, there was an attempt to revive the group - in 2012, but it was not successful.

In fact, the Gorky Park project, created by Stas Namin, actually existed for three and a half years. During this time, the group did what few people in the world of show business succeeded in - they gained immense popularity in Russia, conquering the American and world markets.

The rights to the name and logo of the Gorky Park group belong to the Stas Namin Center.

Background - the idea of ​​​​creation, the name of the group and the logo. The choice of musicians in the group (1986)

Poster of the concert of the Stas Namin Group in the LIME LIGHT rock hall. NY Manhattan October 9, 1986 (US Tour)

In 1986, the Stas Namin group "Flowers" was first released on tour to the West - it was a month and a half tour of the USA and Canada, from September 1 to October 15. The concerts were exclusively for an English-speaking audience and were a huge success. It was then that Stas Namin thought that the success of his group in the States was connected, firstly, with the fact that “Flowers” ​​is the first Russian group in America, that is, to some extent exotic for Americans, so there were full halls and, secondly, with the fact that they are very good musicians, so they received them with a bang. But still, real popularity is something else entirely. The mechanism of popularity in show business involves the release of a disc, clips should be shot for the most hit of them, and if you're lucky, they should spin on the radio and on MTV, and if you're very lucky, then one of these songs can become a super hit. And it is this super hit that can make the group truly popular. This is a long and complicated process, and it consists of different aspects, in each of which not a single mistake can be made. This is the correct name of the group and logo, and competently - both in terms of image and creatively - selected composition, style and repertoire, and, most importantly, the correct promotion strategy - the correct organization of a career.

Stas Namin Band concert on John Lennon's birthday. NY, LIME LIGHT October 9, 1986 (US Tour)

Stas understood that in order to win in America, a fundamentally different group is needed than for Russia. Not only must the soloist sing in pure English, but everything must be done with the commerce of the Western market in mind. In fact, after the group "Flowers", which Namin made for a Russian-speaking audience, this was his second production project, which he planned to create for export in order to try his hand as a musician and producer in the American and world markets. But almost simultaneously with the popularity in the West, the Gorky Park group gained immense popularity at home in the USSR.

Song "I don't give up", dedicated to John Lennon. NY, LIME LIGHT October 9, 1986 (US Tour)

Already in September 1986, in America, he began to think about the name of the group, and the first thing that came to his mind was to name it after the "place of residence" of the Stas Namin Group - "Gorky Park" - since 1985 there was a rehearsal base and the recording studio "Flowers",.

Yoko Ona at the press conference of Stas Namin and the Flowers band at the Hard Rock Cafe. New York, 1986

The idea for the name came to Stas Namin when Yoko Ona came to his press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York and invited him to visit the apartment where they lived with John Lennon. There she showed him the book "Gorky Park", well-known in America. It was then that Stas Namin decided to use this name in the name of his new band, and Yoko Ona confirmed that such a name is especially suitable for a rock band from Russia.

Besides Gorky Park was already a well-known brand thanks to the famous book of the same name and the film based on it, see Interview with Alexander Solich.

Concert of the Stas Namin Group. Special Guests: Big Brother Musicians, Quicksilver (Johm Cipollina), Jefferson Airplane & More San Francisco, September 28, 1986 (US Tour)

Namin began to think about which musicians to take in his new project. At that time, Stas Namin's production center did not yet exist, so the first candidates for the future Gorky Park were the musicians of the Flowers group, whom he knew well.

Group of Stas Namin "Flowers". 1986 A.Malinin, A.Losev, S.Namin, Yu.Gorkov, A.Solich, S.Voronov (with the same balalaika from which the idea of ​​KRAMER guitar design came)

Then, in September 1986, while touring in the United States, Namin had not yet imagined the exact musical direction in which the new group would work. He shared his idea with the musicians of "Flowers", and Alexander Solich offered to think about the possibility of becoming a bass player in the Gorky Park group. Solich for five years (1983-1988) played in the Stas Namin's "Flowers" Group, brought him to Stas Vladimir Belousov, who was pianist and arranger in Flowers (1982–1986). Alexander Solich is an ethnic Hungarian from Transcarpathia, a world-class musician - a fundamental bass player of the highest professionalism, also plays the piano and guitar and writes arrangements, see "Interview with Alexander Solich" .

Upon arrival in Moscow, Namin immediately contacted his old friend, artist and designer Pavel Shegeryan, with whom he worked since the mid-1970s and who created the logo, several posters and covers for all the albums of the Stas Namin Group "Flowers". They, as usual, met in Shegeryan's studio, developed Namin's idea to make a logo in the form of letters GP, stylized as a hammer and sickle, and Shegeryan embodied this on paper, see "Interview with Pavel Shegeryan".

In December 1986, by personal invitation Peter Gabriel Stas Namin's group went to the festival in Tokyo. There they performed Gabriel,Little Stephen,Howard Jones,Lou Reed and others. The musicians talked a lot with each other both during performances backstage and in the hotel. There, Namin shared his idea for an export band with Peter Gabriel, and Gabriel, in turn, told Namin about his idea to start a record label. real world where he planned to gather ethnic musicians. Then the idea came to him to create a production center and gather young, talented musicians banned in the USSR. It was there, during the festival in Japan, after talking with Gabriel, Tony Levin, Little Stephen and Stephen Jordan (drummer), Namin decided in which musical direction the Gorky Park group should be developed - this is glam hard rock, a kind middle of the road in rock music, the most popular style in the US at the time.

In January 1987, he began recruiting musicians for his new project Gorky Park.

Group "Flowers", 1982. S. Namin, V. Belousov, A. Losev, N. Zaitsev, A. Minkov (Marshal)

For the chosen style, according to Namin, not Solich, but Alexander Minkov, with whom Stas was introduced in the early eighties by the same Vladimir Belousov and who arranged and played the keys in Flowers from 1983 to 1985. Minkov then played the bass guitar and sang in the Belgrade restaurant on Smolenskaya Square, and from Namin's point of view, he was very professional and stylish.

VIA "Hope" (Y. Gorkov, M. Plotkin and A. Belov), 1981

For the role of a solo guitarist in this style, Namin had two candidates - Valery Gaina from the group "Cruise"(who also rehearsed then at the Stas Namin Center) and Alexey Belov, who has actually worked with Stas Namin's group. For the first time he got to the rehearsal of the Stas Namin Group through his friend Yuri Gorkov, with whom they played until 1981 in VIA "Hope". Stas liked him as a guitarist, and since 1983 Belov often came to the rehearsals of "Flowers", because. didn't work anywhere. Working in the studio of Stas Namin, he wrote several arrangements for new songs by Stas ("I do not give up", "I walked without any purpose", "Elegy"). Namin liked them, so Belov in 1986 was already actually a member of the group, but worked only in the studio. It was precisely the fact that Belov was also an arranger that decided the issue in his favor when choosing musicians for Gorky Park, see Interview with Yuri Gorkov.

Group "Flowers" on tour in Africa, 1987 (Mozambique). Top row: V.Zernikov, A.Lvov, Y.Gorkov, A.Solich. Bottom row: S. Voronov, Y. Yanenkov, A. Losev, S. Namin

The second guitarist in the group Namin decided to take Alexandra Yanenkova, who also worked for several years in the Stas Namin Group (1983-1987) see the section "Interview with Yuri Gorkov". He played the guitar weaker than Belov, but on stage he was very charming, attracting fans. For the image of such a group, which Namin decided to create, such a character plays an important role, since the main contingent of glam hard rock consumers are teenage girls. Belov offered Stas to take another guitarist - Alexey Glyzin, since he also sang, but, according to Stas, the manner of singing and the image of Glyzin, according to Stas, did not suit the group, and he opted for Yanenkov.

Namin had several candidates for the role of drummer. And first of all it was the drummer of the same "Cruise" Sergey Efimov- at that time the brightest in Moscow. But at some point, the sound engineer of the Flowers group approached Stas Alexander Lvov and asked to try it on drums in the Gorky Park group. He used to work as a drummer in various Soviet VIA. From February to October 1985 he worked in a group "Aria". In the group with Stas, he worked on drums Alexander Kryukov, who was much more talented and professional than Lvov, so Lvov was sitting at the sound control panel. Namin gave him a few weeks to restore the equipment and show what he is capable of, see Interview with Yuri Gorkov. As a result, Lvov really worked day and night and played pretty well at the audition. Stas made a choice in favor of him, because in the Gorky Park group the drummer had to play to the click (metronome), and therefore it was not so important to keep the rhythm stable. In addition, the style of glam hard rock does not imply special improvisations and musicality - this is a rather specific style in which the main thing is sound and drive, and Lvov did it well. At the same time, the Cruise drummer, although he was much stronger, was very emotional and unrestrained by nature, and Stas knew Lvov from his work in Flowers as calm and stable.

From the point of view of Stas, only one person could become the leader-vocalist of the group, and there was no competition for him. This Nikolay Noskov. True, if for some reason he could not, then Namin had a fallback option - Sergey Mazaev, who also sang superbly at the world level, but in a different style. And then it was necessary to rebuild the entire group and direction for him. Actually, "Moral Code" was a perfectly matched group for Mazaev's style, which, by the way, included Alexander Solich as a bass player.

Noskov had never worked with Stas before, but from Namin's point of view, he was the only world-class Russian vocalist with not only a unique voice, but also amazing energy and charisma. Noskov then worked in the Rus restaurant near Moscow, since at that time his manner and style were not in demand in the country. Namin called him and offered to become the lead vocalist of a new group, telling him about his ambitious plans. Noskov, of course, was very interested, but when he found out that Namin had already taken Alexei Belov to the group, with whom Nikolai played in the group "Moscow", he refused the offer, saying that he had experience working with him and knew his price. Stas had to persuade him for a long time, convincing him that Belov could not harm the project and ruin the group. And Nicholas agreed. But Namin underestimated Belov - it turned out to be easier to break than to build. Noskov later recalled: “Even when I didn’t want to participate, even then I probably felt how it would all end.”

As a result, the Gorky Park group included five musicians, four of whom worked for several years in the Stas Namin Flowers Group: Alexander Minkov(Bas-guitar), Alexey Belov(solo guitar) Alexander Yanenkov(guitar), Alexander Lvov(drums) and Nikolay Noskov(lead vocals).

“... I wanted to create musical project, which could compete, break through the iron curtain of the American, and hence the world's show business. It was, it seemed, absolutely unrealistic, but a very tempting and reckless task for me. Not a single mistake could be made. First he came up with the name - according to the place of residence, then the logo - the hammer and sickle GP, and only then began to collect musicians. I took everyone except for Kolya Noskov from Flowers - Stas Namin.

Work in the studio of the Stas Namin Center - demo recordings and meetings with American show business figures and musicians (1987–1988)

Since 1985, the Stas Namin Group has rented only three small rooms in the Green Theater of Gorky Park, and not only the Flowers group itself, but also created on its basis, rehearsed and recorded there "Blues League". In 1987, the Gorky Park group, also created from the musicians of the Stas Namin Group, began to rehearse here. At the same time, Stas began to organize a production center, and they were joined by "Brigade C", "Moral Code", "Night Avenue", "Kalinov Bridge", "Center", "Rondo" and others, who rehearsed and recorded there. To create a recording studio, Namin invited Vitaly Bogdanov, who agreed to supply equipment for the Center, primarily because he was attracted by the prospect of the Gorky Park project.

A little later, when the Stas Namin Center became legal entity, Namin rented the whole Green theater. The center gave a roof and helped develop not only young rock musicians banned at that time, but also young poets, artists, designers - all those who were not accepted by the Soviet regime. The musicians used the rehearsal, recording equipment and instruments used by the Stas Namin group.

In total, about fifty teams gradually gathered in the Center, see "Interview with Dmitry Revyakin". The Stas Namin Group itself also turned into a kind of creative laboratory, which included three groups:

- the Stas Namin Group itself "Flowers": Alexander Losev(vocals) Alexander Solich(bass guitar, piano, guitar) Yuri Gorkov(bass guitar, vocals) Vlad Petrovsky(keyboards), Alexander Yanenkov(guitar), Alexander Kryukov(drums), Alexander Lvov(sound engineer) see Interview with Yuri Gorkov;

– "Blues League", which Namin specially recreated for those who worked in "Flowers" Sergei Voronov And Nikolai Arutyunov. They started under this name in 1979, so Namin suggested that they restore the old name. Subsequently, they were divided into the Blues League itself (Nikolai Arutyunov remained in it) and "Crossroads"(Sergei Voronov became the leader);

– "Gorky Park", which included Nikolay Noskov(vocals) Alexey Belov(solo guitar) Alexander Minkov(Bas-guitar), Alexander Yanenkov(guitar), Alexander Lvov(drums) .

All these musicians were officially listed in the Stas Namin Group, but in reality both the Blues League and Gorky Park only rehearsed and worked in the studio, and only the Stas Namin Flowers Group performed with concerts. Thus, some musicians of the League of Blues and Gorky Park went on tour with Flowers for a long time, see Interview with Vladislav Petrovsky.

Stas announced to the musicians that he was going to stop the activities of the Stas Namin group "Flowers" immediately after the end of the world tour in 1990 and completely switch to Gorky Park. Therefore, Namin helped musicians who were not included in Gorky Park and the Blues League to prepare solo projects: Solich joined the Moral Code group; Alexander Malinin, using the connections that appeared during the American tour with "Flowers", traveled to the USA for recordings and performances for a long time, successfully performed in Jurmala and made a successful solo career, etc.

The musicians of Gorky Park naturally spent more time in the studio, as Stas concentrated on this project, see "Interview with Dmitry Revyakin". Noskov and Belov wrote new songs, Belov was mainly engaged in arrangements, they rehearsed a lot, creating their own style and repertoire, making demo recordings. Stas constantly controlled the process so that everything developed as he planned, see "Interview with Nikolai Noskov".

“... Stas did not directly participate directly in the arrangements. We did it ourselves. But he listened and gave some advice ... Stas found people who wrote the lyrics. After all, it was necessary, without knowing the language, to write poetry in English. And how to do it? But Stas knows the language. So it all happened like this. There were a lot of things on his part, thanks to which Gorky Park became what it became, in fact ... "

Stas Namin introduces his new group "Gorky Park" to Don King. Studio SNC, 1987 (left Sergei Mazaev)
Stas Namin invited Don King to Moscow, 1987

Stas Namin invited poets who wrote lyrics in English, and when the first recordings appeared, Stas began to invite famous American promoters and show business figures to his Center and showed them his new group. So, at the invitation of Namin, he came to get acquainted with his new project Don King. This is a world famous promoter and manager who worked with Michael Jackson, but more famous in the area professional boxing. He was the manager Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and other super boxers. He had his own television program broadcast throughout the United States - Only in America. He came to Moscow with his film crew and filmed a program about the Stas Namin Center and its Gorky Park project. Then he shot the first video clip of the group for the song Fortress that entered the transmission. In fact, it was the television debut of Gorky Park for the American audience.

“We met with Stas. Now I have come to Moscow to specially select groups in his music center for showing in America and conclude a long-term contract with him"

Stas also invited Steve Leber who was the group manager Scorpions. After seeing the group, he was not very impressed and asked Stas to show him something from a different genre. Then Namin took him to the Moscow circus and introduced him to the management. The circus turned out to be more interesting to Steve, and in the early 1990s he invited him to the United States on tour.

At the invitation of Stas, his friends also came to the Center - famous musicians Quincy Jones, Frank Zappa and many others. Namin and Zappa became close friends, and Zappa came to visit Namin several times. On one of his visits, Zappa brought a film crew with him - he was so impressed with the idea of ​​​​the Stas Namin Center, where there were musicians, poets, and artists, that he compared it with The Factory by Andy Warhol and made a movie about it.

Quincy Jones in the studio of Stas Namin with the musicians of the Center and guests, 1987. Top row: A. Solich, P. Mamonov, V. Petrovsky, V. Shumov, V. Presnyakov (senior), V. Belousov, V. Mikhalin, A. Losev, Y. Yanenkov, L. Gutkin, N. Arutyunov, C. Jones, S. Voronov, A. Aleksandrov (Bassoon), A. Zinchuk, A. Troitsky. Bottom row: friend of V. Belousov, A. Lvov, A. Belov, S. Namin, producer S. Manukyan, S. Manukyan
Quincy Jones at the Stas Namin Center, 1987

The Gorky Park group also did not make much impression on Zappa, but he was ready to help Namin in all his projects.

When Vitaly Bogdanov, who provided recording equipment at the Stas Namin Center, became disillusioned with the success of the Gorky Park project (for over a year Stas could not find partners in the USA who would take on the band's career with him), he announced to Stas that leaves and retrieved his studio equipment. Then Namin had to assemble a studio on his own. Frank Zappa brought his own mixing console for him, and later planned to donate a super-professional studio mounted in a mobile trailer, see "Interview with Dmitry Revyakin" .

Many famous personalities from Russia and from all over the world came to Stas at the Center. I even looked Arnold Schwarzenegger who was filming at the time "Red Heat".

Stas Namin introduces the musicians of the Center to Quincy Jones from the studio of the Stas Namin Center, 1987. V. Mikhalin (Autograph), V. Shumov (Centre), P. Mamonov (Sounds of Mu), Y. Yanenkov (Gorky Park)

First public appearances: Musicians for Peace festival at the Green Theater (1988) and concerts with the Scorpions in Leningrad (1988)

Festival at the Green Theater "Musicians for Peace", 1988 (Left N. Noskov)

Stas Namin did not release the Gorky Park group to the public until the demo repertoire was completely ready. He introduced the group once - at the festival "Musicians for Peace" at the Green Theater in 1988, but they did not play their own things, but only participated in a general jam in the final, along with the American singer invited by Stas, a participant in the legendary festival woodstock Melanie and a popular singer at the time Howard Jones, "Brigade C", "Cruise" and other groups rehearsing at the Center. But we can assume that for the first time Namin fully presented his new project to the public only in 1988. He decided that it was necessary to start a career immediately from the international level and organized ten concerts for them with Scorpions In Petersburg . Stas arranged so that Gorky Park performed alone in the first part, and it was more like not a regular warm-up, but a joint concert, although it was obvious that the Scorpions were world superstars, and Gorky Park was not for anyone famous name even in Russia, moreover, it was their first concert in public. Taking advantage of personal friendly relations with the Scorpions, Stas also agreed that at the end of the concert they would play rock and roll together, this certainly does not happen with bands that play as an opening act. Moreover, he organized a friendly Soccer game between the Scorpions and Gorky Park, where, as usual, friendship won. After Leningrad, concerts were also planned in Moscow, but at that time the Soviet regime was still strong, and the authorities banned Moscow concerts.

Klaus Meine and Nikolai Noskov at a joint concert of Scorpions and Gorky Park. Leningrad, April 1988
Klaus Meine and Stas Namin at a joint concert of Scorpions and Gorky Park. Leningrad, April 1988

“Stas Namin carefully selected the group’s repertoire, he himself came up with the image and style of the musicians . Before the band took to the big stage for the first time, rehearsals at Namin's studio lasted two years. ». - From the documentary "Color Music of Stas Namin", TK TVC, 11/16/2011

Invitation to Moscow Bon Jovi and PolyGram Records. Contract with PolyGram Records (1988)

World tour of the group "Flowers". Press conference and jam at the Hard Rock Cafe, New York, 1986. S. Voronov (with a balalaika donated to the Hard Rock Cafe museum, which became the prototype of the new KRAMER guitar design) and D. Berrardi (KRAMER president, future manager of the Gorky Park band)

In September 1986, in New York, during a tour of the United States and Canada with the Flowers group, Namin met the president of the American guitar firm Kramer, Dennis Berardi. They became friends, and Dennis came to Moscow in 1987, brought and presented several guitars of his company to the Namin Center. Stas showed him his new project - the Gorky Park group and offered to become its American manager.

In 1989, they created one of the first Soviet-American enterprises in the country, the goals of which were to develop not only Gorky Park, but later other groups of the Center. At his press conference as part of the tour with the "Flowers" in September 1986 in Hard Rock Cafe In New York, Namin donated a real balalaika to the Hard Rock Cafe Museum, which they hung on the wall there. In this regard, the idea came up to release a series of guitars in the form of balalaikas at the company KRAMER, which were sold in the USA, and one of these balalaikas became the symbol of Gorky Park.

Before the festival in Luzhniki, Namin agreed with the group Bon Jovi, who also used Kramer guitars, on writing the song Peace in Our Time for Gorky Park. A video was also filmed for the song, where Bon Jovi and "Park" sang together.

PolyGram President Dick Asher and American group manager Dennis Berardi (far), signing an agreement with the Gorky Park group » restaurant "Victoria" » Stas Namin Center, December 1988 (photo by Stas Namin)

Then Namin along with Dennis Berardi agreed with the President Polygram USA Dick Escher that he and his deputy will fly to Namin to visit Gorky Park, watch his new group, sign a contract and release her album. In December 1988, the management of Polygram and the Bon Jovi group with their manager, a friend of Stas Doc McGee, came to Moscow, to the Stas Namin Center. In the same place, in the Center, in the first private restaurant "Victoria", which gathered all the celebrities of Russia and the world, the first direct contract in the history of the USSR was signed by the largest American label with Soviet musicians. And in Stas Namin's studio there was a unique jam session, which was played by Bon Jovi, Gorky Park, Stas Namin's Band and other musicians of the Center.

“Stas Namin played a key role in bringing Bon Jovi to the USSR. As the leader of the Stas Namin Group, banned by the party of Soviet rock superstars, Namin has sold 40 million records in his country. Now he manages the Soviet metal band Gorky Park. While in New Jersey last April, Namin asked Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambor to help Gorky Park write lyrics in English. John and Richie, who were responsible for the creative work in the Bon Jovi band, were perfect for this role - they produced Cher, wrote songs for Ted Nugent, Aerosmith and Loverboy, and also introduced Cinderella to PolyGram management. They have agreed to provide Gorky Park with their assistance." - Rob Tannenbaum

"I met Stas last summer in New Jersey at Berardi's house and I wanted to meet his Gorky Park band." I had just returned from a promotional shoot for New Jersey, where I was wearing a Russian T-shirt. I didn't think about it, it was just a clean T-shirt for me. But Stas thought that it would be very good if he showed these photos in Russia, he believed that it would help us, the American group, gain popularity there. So we said, "Of course, go ahead, yes, great," thinking that nothing would come of it. But everything worked out.

Thanks to Kramer, our manager Doc McGee, PolyGram, and thanks to the trust in Stas, Gorky Park signed a record deal. Richie and I agreed and helped them write some stuff."

Namin suggested that Doc McGee organize a world-class rock festival in Moscow, and they began to think about the place and time for it and the stars they could invite. Preparations for the festival took them eight months. The festival was scheduled for August 1989 .

Trip to America on demos and album master (1988-1989)

Stas Namin with the Gorky Park group visiting Dennis Berardi (USA) with Little Stephen and Jon Bon Jovi, 1988

The preliminary demo album of the Gorky Park group was recorded in 1988 in the studio of Stas Namin. The Namin Center then sent the Gorky Park band on a business trip to the US to record a better demo at Dennis Berardi's studio in New Jersey.

Dennis brought in former lawyer Trez Thomas to help him and named his management company for the Gorky Park group Berardi Thomas.

The band made almost clean recordings there, and then they continued recording for the album in a studio in Vancouver with a well-known sound producer Bruce Farber.

Three of the recorded songs received rotation and video clips: a remake of the song My generation groups The Who, Peace in Our Time, written by Bon Jovi at the request of Namin especially for Gorky Park and performed together, and a song by Nikolai Noskov Bang which eventually became a super hit.

Participation of the Gorky Park group in the Musical Peace Festival in Luzhniki (1989)

The official poster of the "Moscow Musical Peace Festival" in Luzhniki. 1989
Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora present Stas Namin at Moscow music festival peace", 1989

"The Luzhniki festival I did in 1989 with Bon Jovi, Ozzy, Scorpions, Motley Crew became a springboard for Park."

First and last US tour and breakup (1990)

After performing at the festival, which was broadcast on MTV in 59 countries of the world, and releasing an album on Polygram Records, in 1989 the Stas Namin Center again sent the Gorky Park group on a business trip to the USA, see "Interview with Dmitry Revyakin" - on the first tour . There, on the initiative of Alexei Belov, the musicians of the group decided to leave their creator and general producer Stas Namin and stay in America. At that time, Stas Namin had no experience in drawing up and signing professional contracts in the field of show business, and few people understood the intricacies of the meaning and legal importance of the terms "producer", "manager", "agent", etc. IN Soviet time it was not even possible to register the group name as intellectual property. The Stas Namin Center registered the name "Gorky Park" only in 1992. Before the "Park" was sent to America, a formal piece of paper was signed on the demo recording, which actually had no legal force, because. was drawn up on one page and signed without the involvement of lawyers. In it, Namin was called an agent, i.e. who he never was. And his real work as the creator, manager and producer of the project was not mentioned at all. Yes, in general, Stas did not have professional contracts with other groups of the Center, and his Center helped all the musicians free of charge. Everything was built on human relationships and love for music. At the moment when Belov took the initiative to break off relations with Namin by contacting other managers who wanted to take over the promoted group, the only one who did not agree to step over these human relations was Nikolai Noskov. It happened right before the festival "Farm Aid", where Belov wanted to go already without Stas Namin and Thomas Berrardi, independently starting relationships with other managers. Noskov did not agree to the betrayal, refused to participate in the festival and returned to Russia. Organizers "Farm Aid" at that time they did not yet know that the group had changed and it actually broke up, but this was the last performance at a serious event by musicians who illegally use the name, because. the news quickly spread around the American show business. On this, the successful career of the Gorky Park group created by Namin actually ended.

Attempts by musicians left in America to pursue careers (1992–1993)

After 1990, the musicians who remained in America, illegally using the name "Gorky Park", tried to continue their career, but without the main soloist and songwriter, including the main hit - Bang- Nikolai Noskov and without the founder and general producer of the group Stas Namin, on whose connections their entire successful career was built, this did not work out. They were terminated by their American manager Dennis Berardi and the record label Polygram Records. In 1992, the remnants of the Gorky Park, now led by Alexei Belov, released a CD with the song Moscow Calling. In the US, he came out on a small unknown company MIR and went unnoticed. Belov replenished the band with other musicians, and in fact it was already a completely different group that used the name, partly the repertoire, trying to copy the style of the original "Gorky Park" and Noskov's vocals, see "Interview with Alexander Marshal".

Group resuscitation attempt (2012)

Some active representatives Russian show business, having commercial interests, took the initiative to restore the group and tried, despite all the disagreements among the musicians, to collect the original composition of the group and restore it. The hardest thing was to persuade Noskov to participate in this concert. As a result, out of respect for the leadership of Avtoradio, with whom he is friends, he agreed to sing only one song "Bang"

In the spring of 1987, the Stas Namin Center (SNC) formed the American-oriented "export" hard rock band Gorky Park. It was named after the place of creation, since the Stas Namin Center was located on the territory of the Moscow Park of Culture and Recreation. Gorky, and also at that time in the West the novel of the same name by Martin Cruz Smith was very popular.

The final composition of this group included fairly well-known musicians: Nikolai Noskov (ex-Moscow, VIA Singing Hearts, Sergey Markin's group) - vocals, Alexei "White" Belov (ex-VIA Nadezhda, Time Machine, Moscow) - guitar, Alexander "Yan " Yanenkov (ex-group of Stas Namin) - guitar, Alexander "Big Sasha" Minkov (ex-Araks, Phoenix, 7th Ocean, Flowers) - bass guitar and Alexander "Little Sasha" Lvov (ex-Aria, Sergey's group Markina) - drums. It is worth noting that at different times Stas Namin planned to involve such musicians as Andrey Bolshakov (ex-Zigzag, Aria), Igor Molchanov (ex-Alpha, Aria) and others. Then, he will become the Russian manager of "Park" in 1996- 98 years

After several months of hard rehearsals, in the autumn of 1987 the band made their stage debut, and a video clip for the song "Fortress" was shot, which was shown on television in the popular American program "Don King Show".

The first biggest concerts were in the spring of 1988, when Gorky Park acted as an opening act in a series of Scorpions performances in Leningrad (see the Scorpions video film "To Russia With Love").

After that, in the summer of the same year, Gorky Park went on a promotional trip to the United States, during which the Make-A-Difference Foundation invited the group to participate in the recording of a charity album in support of the program to combat alcoholism and drug addiction. For this, a cover version of the song was recorded bands The Who "My Generation". This version of the song, performed by Gorky Park, was a rather big success, mostly due to an insert from Prokofiev's classic "Get up, Russian people." In the West at that moment there was a fashion for everything Russian, and soviet group, which took the style of "sickle, hammer, rock and roll" (only Belov's balalaika guitar is worth something) was quite on occasion, because already in the autumn of 1988 an agreement was signed with one of the largest recording companies "POLYGRAM". After that, the group accompanied Bon Jovi during their Soviet promotional tour.

Throughout the spring and almost half of the summer of 1989, Gorky Park spent in the studios of Vancouver, Philadelphia and New Jersey, where, under the patronage of producer Bruce Fairbairn (known for working with such stars as: Scorpions, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc.) they worked on the debut album, which eventually appeared in August of that year. It should be noted that the song "Peace In Our Time" was co-written with Jon Bon Jovi and the guitarist of his band Richie Sambora, who also participated in its recording.

The release of the album of the same name anticipated the single for the song "Bang", which at that moment became the hallmark of the group. The video for this song hit the Top 15 on MTV. Prior to that, not a single Soviet group had achieved even a hundredth of this. Gorky Park's debut work itself instantly took a place in the "Top 100" list of the authoritative (but by no means fatal) Billboard magazine. For the 1st week sales, only in the US the circulation of the disc exceeded 300 thousand copies (then this figure increased several times), which was a very impressive result for the 1st album, and even more so for a non-American group.

After recording the 1st album, the Gorky Park group returns to the USSR, where they take part on an equal footing in the two-day "Festival of Peace" organized by Stas Namin with world hard 'n' heavy stars such as: Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Cinderella, Motley Crue and is included in the final documentary filmed during this festival.

After that, Gorky Park goes on a long world tour, during which the vocalist Nikolai Noskov left the band. A huge scandal broke out, where both sides "poured" a large amount of dirt on each other. However, be that as it may, the band did not look for a new vocalist, and bassist Alexander Minkov took the place at the microphone stand (on some songs Alexei Belov replaces him).

As for Nikolai Noskov, he soon returned to Russia ( Soviet Union ceased to exist by that time) where he suggested Stas Namin to dial new version Gorky park. However, having received a refusal, he gathered his group "Nicolay", with which he released the album "Mother Russia" (1995), which in style corresponds to the work of "Park", but without finding proper help both in the Russian Federation and in the West, this project subsided and soon Nikolai Noskov reoriented himself to other music, which had almost nothing to do with rock.

At the end of the tour, the musicians of Gorky Park, having already settled securely in the USA, founded their own studio and record label "M.I.R. Records". It was on it that in 1992 the group recorded their second album "Moscow Calling" (in many countries, in particular in the Russian Federation, it was released under the name "Gorky Park II"). In Europe, this disc was represented by BMG, in Scandinavia by CNR, in Japan by Crown, in Southeast Asia by Pony Cennen, in the Russian Federation by Soyuz.

"Moscow Calling" continued the hard-rock line of the 1st album, only the Russian direction was somewhat diminished. The "rock and roll - Soviet Union" style lost its former importance and Gorky Park gradually abandoned it. However, in spite of all this, the album "Moscow Calling" had a phenomenal success, winning the "gold" and "platinum" statuses in many countries of the world from Scandinavia to Southeast Asia. And this time, many famous musicians participated in the recording of the album, such as: vocalists Richard Marks and Phi Vabil (Tubes), guitarists Steve Lukather (Toto), Steve Farris (Mr. Mister), Dweezil Zappa and Pink Floyd live saxophonist Scott Page , mixed by Ervin Musper. In support of the album, videos were shot for the following songs: "Moscow Calling", "Stranger", "I'm Going Down" and "Tell Me Why", which were repeatedly shown on television. After the release of the album, the group again went on a long world tour, during which, after a long break, the Russian Federation was also covered.

1995 marked the band's transition from commercial hard rock to progressive. This was evident from the results of the new recording, which, like the previous work, took place at the studio "M.I.R. Records" in Los Angeles. This time among the invited stars was the famous American guitarist Allan Holdsworth and one of the best percussionists in the world, Ron Powell. In addition, the group recorded with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra(studio GDRZ Studio-5, Moscow). A major work on orchestral arrangements was done by the keyboard player, who at one time played with Alexei Belov in the Moskva group - Nikolai Kuzminykh, who shortly before the start of recording was accepted into the group.

Before the release of the album "Stare" a sudden scandal erupted. Stas Namin, who has not been the group's general producer for a long time, said his rights to the name "Gorky Park", which was officially registered by his company "SNC". It happened just at the moment when the album was already being printed at the music factories. However, soon an understanding was reached and the name "Gorky Park" was bought out and left for the group.

In the winter of 1996, the 3rd album of the group "Stare" was released, and in 1998 IV - "Protivofazza". The songs, which were recorded in almost one session (there was additional studio work for the fourth album), were divided into 2 albums on the principle of less experimental things went to "Stare", maximum to "Protivofazza". This was due to the fact that the group did not dare to make a sharp jump from one style to another, but prepared a gradual transition for the listeners. Such a division into 2 albums was by no means in all countries, and the recorded material was released on one disc. For example, the title track of the 3rd album "Stare" was described by the musicians as "transitional", and this song is not in the American release of the album at all, the same thing happened with several other compositions that did not make it into a single album.

In support of the new albums (album), the group also held a big tour, as before, but this time a huge emphasis was placed on Russia. In addition, clips were shot for the following songs: "Stare", "Stop The World I Want To Get Off", "Jenny Loses Me", "Liar". Soon, many of the band's musicians, after living in the United States, returned to permanent residence back to their homeland. The band's plans also included recording a "live" (live) album, however...

1998 was characterized by the departure of most of the musicians from the group: Alexander "Marshall" Minkov, Alexander "Jan" Yanenkov and Alexander Lvov. In their place were invited Alexey Nelidov (ex-Angels&Demons) - vocals, bass guitar and Alexander Makin - drums. In this composition, at one time, under the name "Park Belova", the group prepared new program. A video clip was shot for the song "Made in the Russian Federation", which was presented on April 19, 2001, but things did not go further. Alexey Nelidov left the group, leaving for permanent residence in Germany. After that, the Gorky Park group ceased their own activities.

In addition to the group's discography, it is worth noting that in 1996 "Moroz Records" released a collection of the best songs of the group in the "Legends of Russian Rock" series (just in the interval between the third and fourth releases). It included previously unreleased songs "Nitti Gritti" (album "Gorky Park") and "Do What You Want" (album "Moscow Calling"). The band's first disc was also re-released by this company.