The unnamed album (known colloquially as Black Album (russian: Чёрный альбом, links=no, translit=Chorny albom), and sometimes just named ''Kino'') is the eighth and final studio album of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

rock group

Kino Kino may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters * KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S. * Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station * KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel Fictional entities ...

. It was released in December 1990 by Metadigital on vinyl. The rough demo version was recorded in the

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n village Plieņciems shortly before the death of the frontman

Viktor Tsoi Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (russian: Виктор Робертович Цой; ; 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Soviet singer and songwriter who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and musically influential bands in the history of ...

in a car crash. The remaining members of Kino completed the album as a tribute to Tsoi. The album's producer

Yuri Aizenshpis Yuri Shmilevich Ayzenshpis (russian: Ю́рий Шми́льевич Айзеншпи́с; July 15, 1945 in Chelyabinsk, Soviet Union – September 20, 2005 in Moscow, Russia) was a Russian music manager and producer. He graduated from the Mo ...

said that the demo tape survived inside Tsoi's car when he crashed fatally, however the band's guitarist,

Yuri Kasparyan Yuri Dmitriyevich Kasparyan (russian: Ю́рий Дми́триевич Каспаря́н, born 24 June 1963) is a Russian and former Soviet musician best known for his time as the guitarist of the Soviet rock band Kino and as a member of ...

, has disputed this and stated that it was in his own car and not Tsoi's. The song "Cuckoo" ("Кукушка") is considered by many fans to be an unwitting

swan song The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...

for the band. The song's themes range from mortality to existential guilt. It became one of the band's most well-known songs. It was originally released on vinyl by the studio Metadigital in December 1990. On this original vinyl issue, no track names were given, just the text ''Producer: Yu. Aizenshpis'' and a photo of the band. A lyric sheet was included, but the songs were just titled 1 to 8. The track names were revealed on the 1994 CD reissue on Moroz. In 2021, the original album was remastered and reissued by Maschina Records;CD: КИНО — «Кино» (1990/2021) 3CD Limited Edition
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, , and Viktor Tsoi's son, Alexander, were involved in the production and approval process.

Track listing

#"Кончится лето" (Summer is Ending) – 5:55 #"Красно-жёлтые дни" (Reddish-Yellow Days) – 5:49 #"Нам с тобой" ((For) You and Me) – 4:49 #"Звезда" (Star) – 4:29 #"Кукушка" (Cuckoo) – 6:39 #"Когда твоя девушка больна" (When Your Girlfriend is Ill) – 4:20 #"Муравейник" (Anthill) – 5:17 #"Следи за собой" (Watch Yourself) – 4:59 #"Сосны на морском берегу" (Pines at the Sea Shore) – 5:16 #"Завтра война" (War Tomorrow) – 0:35 Tracks 9 and 10 were added to the 1998 remaster by Moroz. As stated above, the tracks did not have names until 1994, so fans made up their own names for these songs.

Personnel

(Виктор Цой) – Vocals, Guitar *

(Юрий Каспарян) – Lead Guitar *

Igor Tikhomirov Igor Tikhomirov (russian: Игорь Тихомиров) (born 4 May 1963) is a Canadians, Canadian (formerly Soviet Union, Soviet) épée fencing, fencer. He competed for the Soviet Union, Soviets at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze m ...

(Игорь Тихомиров) – Bass Guitar *

Georgy Guryanov Georgy (Gustav) Konstantinovich Guryanov (; 27 February 1961 – 20 July 2013) was a Soviet and Russian musician and artist. From 1984 to 1990, Guryanov was the drummer, arranger, and backing vocalist in Kino and participant in Sergey Kuryokhin's ...

(Георгий Гурьянов) – Drum Machine

Covers

The song was covered by Olga Kormukhina, by

Polina Gagarina Polina Sergeyevna Gagarina ( rus, Поли́на Серге́евна Гага́рина, p=pɐˈlʲinə sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈɡarʲɪnə; born 27 March 1987) is a Russian singer and songwriter. She Russia in the Eurovision Song Contes ...

(for the 2015 movie ''

Battle for Sevastopol ''Battle for Sevastopol'' (russian: Битва за Севастополь, lit=Battle for Sevastopol; uk, Незламна, lit=Indestructible) is a 2015 Biographical film, biographical war film about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a young Soviet Union, ...

'') and by

Zemfira Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova (russian: Земфира Талгатовна Рамазанова, tt-Cyrl, Земфира Тәлгать кызы Рамазанова; born 26 August 1976) is a Russian rock musician. She has been performing si ...

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Kino (band) albums Albums produced by Yuri Aizenshpis 1990 in the Soviet Union Albums published posthumously