Black Album (Kino album)

The eighth and final studio album of the Soviet rock group Kino was released in December 1990 by Metadigital on vinyl, without a title. It has become known colloquially as the Black Album (Russian: Чёрный альбом, romanized: Chornyy al'bom), and sometimes just Kino. The rough demo version was recorded in the Latvian village Plieņciems and according to the guitarist of the group Yuri Kasparyan, finished on the 14th of August that year – the day before the death of the frontman Viktor Tsoi in a car crash. The remaining members of Kino completed the album as a tribute to Tsoi.^[3]

The album's producer Yuri Aizenshpis said that the demo tape survived inside Tsoi's car when he crashed fatally, however the band's guitarist, Yuri Kasparyan, has disputed this and stated that it was in his own car and not Tsoi's.^[4] It was later revealed in a Russian forum that there were 2 copies of the demo, and the surviving tape from Tsoi's car were later used for release by Maschina Records in 2021, an Estonian-based label.^[5]

The song "Cuckoo" ("Кукушка") is considered by many fans to be an unwitting swan song 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: Yuri 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 by Moroz.^[6] In 2021, the original album was remastered and reissued by Maschina Records;^[7] Yuri Kasparyan, Igor Tikhomirov, and Viktor Tsoi's son, Alexander, were involved in the production and approval process.

1. "Кончится лето" (Summer is Ending) – 5:55
2. "Красно-жёлтые дни" (Red-Yellow Days) – 5:49
3. "Нам с тобой" ((For) You and Me) – 4:49
4. "Звезда" (A Star) – 4:29
5. "Кукушка" (Cuckoo) – 6:39
6. "Когда твоя девушка больна" (When Your Girlfriend is Sick) – 4:20
7. "Муравейник" (Anthill) – 5:17
8. "Следи за собой" (Watch Yourself) – 4:59
9. "Сосны на морском берегу" (Pinetrees on the Seashore) – 5:16
10. "Завтра война" (Tomorrow's War) – 0:35

Tracks 9 and 10 were added to the 1996 remaster by Moroz Records. As stated above, the tracks did not have names until 1994, so fans made up their own names for these songs.

1. "Жду ответа" (Waiting for a Reply) – 5:56
2. "Красно-жёлтые дни" (Red-Yellow Days) – 5:51
3. "Нам с тобой" ((For) You and Me) – 4:50
4. "Волчий вой" (Wolf's Howl) – 4:30
5. "Кукушка" (Cuckoo) – 6:40
6. "Когда твоя девушка больна" (When Your Girlfriend is Sick) – 4:20
7. "Я не люблю когда мне врут" (I Don't Like Being Lied To) – 5:18
8. "Следи за собой" (Watch Yourself) – 4:59

• Viktor Tsoi – vocals, guitar
• Yuri Kasparyan – lead guitar
• Igor Tikhomirov – bass guitar
• Georgy Guryanov – drum machine