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]

Black Album
Studio album by Kino
Released	December 1990
Recorded	Summer 1990 (demo) September–October 1990
Studio	Guest house in Plieņciems, Latvia (demo)
Genre	Pop, indie rock, folk rock, New wave, post-punk[1][2]
Length	48:08
Label	Metadigital Moroz Records (1999 remaster) Maschina Records
Producer	Yury Kasparyan Igor Tikhomirov
Kino chronology
Zvezda po imeni Solntse (1989) Black Album (1990)

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]

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: 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.^[5] In 2021, the original album was remastered and reissued by Maschina Records;^[6] Yuri Kasparyan, Igor Tikhomirov [ru], and Viktor Tsoi's son, Alexander, were involved in the production and approval process.

Track listing

1. "Кончится лето" (Summer is Ending) – 5:55
2. "Красно-жёлтые дни" (Reddish-Yellow Days) – 5:49
3. "Нам с тобой" ((For) You and Me) – 4:49
4. "Звезда" (Star) – 4:29
5. "Кукушка" (Cuckoo) – 6:39
6. "Когда твоя девушка больна" (When Your Girlfriend is Ill) – 4:20
7. "Муравейник" (Anthill) – 5:17
8. "Следи за собой" (Watch Yourself) – 4:59
9. "Сосны на морском берегу" (Pines at the Sea Shore) – 5:16
10. "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

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