Foreign singers on Melodiya records. Vinyl records and attitudes towards music in the USSR

Evgeniy Maksimov ©

There is a lot of controversy and legends on this issue, but before drawing conclusions, let's take an interest in this company.

In this article, I used material from Wikipedia and selected the most significant facts about the enormous work and excellent quality of the Melodiya company.

The foreign trade association "International Book" became the representative of "Melody" abroad. Contracts were concluded and exported through the International Book.

Through mediation, in 1965, Melodiya entered into a contract with Ariola-Eurodisc, a German company Ariola Records (also known as Ariola, Ariola-Eurodisc) - a German record label.

The Ariola-Eurodisc label was founded in 1958. In the 1980s, Ariola Records founded a subsidiary to develop computer programs and video games, Ariolasoft.

By the way, since the late 1980s it has belonged to Bertelsmann Music Group, as its part Ariola entered Sony Music Entertainment.

In accordance with the agreement, Ariola received special rights to publish and distribute classical music from the Melodiya music library.

The success of sales of Soviet recordings in Germany became a factor in the signing of an exclusive contract for Melodiya with the US company Capitol in August 1966.

Capitol Records- large record label USA.

It was founded in 1942. In 1955 it was purchased by the British big record company EMI. In 2001, EMI merged Capitol Records with another label, Priority Records.

According to Capitol president Alan Livingston, most of the material was planned to be recorded in Russia; At the same time, he noted that the high quality of Soviet sound recording is not inferior to American.

By 1970, Capitol planned to release 300 million records of classical music from the Melodiya library.

For this purpose, the joint company Melodiya-Angel was founded. Moreover, expectations from sales in America were justified, and later, in connection with the sale of 250,000 records of Soviet recordings, Melodiya was awarded a Golden Disc from Capitol.

In 1968, a contract was signed with HMV, with HMV Group PLC inheriting its name from the famous “Voice of His Master” logo, featuring a dog, HMV Group PLC is one of the leading UK music, book, and entertainment media retailers, entries from the "Tunes" catalog were in the UK.

The dog at the gramophone - main value HMV Group. The HMV logo, which appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century, is one of the legendary ones. It shows the fox terrier Nipper listening to the recorded voice of his deceased owner. By the way, the name HMV itself stands for “His Master’s Voice” (“His Master’s Voice”), the company was originally called The Gramophone Company.

In due time, for this right image of Nipper, she paid 100 pounds sterling.

(1884-1895) was a dog who served as a model for a painting called His Voice The owner of “His Master’s Voice”. This image was the basis for logos that were used by several audio brands: Victor Talking Machine Company, HMV, EMI, RCA, RCA Victor, Victrola, Electrola, Bluebird, Zonophone, JVC and Deutsche Gramophone.

As of 1970, Soviet gramophone records were exported to more than 65 countries of the world, in including to France, the Netherlands, and even Japan; Moreover, contacts were established with the countries of Eastern Europe.

Since 1973, after the USSR joined the Universal Copyright Convention, licensing agreements began to develop.

The desire to expand production and improve Melodiya products began with the launch of a new enterprise - the Moscow Experimental Plant Gramzapis (MOZG), which came into operation in 1978.

In 1986, a contract was signed with Mobile Fidelity- Founded in 1977 by Brad Miller, MFSL
specializes in remastering major label music for the "" market. became the exclusive distributor of Melodiya recordings in North America.

By 1991, Firma Melodiya owned 21 enterprises, including factories and record stores.

But the circulation of Melodiya products began to gradually decline. This was explained economic situation in Russia, a reduction in orders.

In the early 1990s, the director of Melodiya, Valery Vasilyevich Sukhorado, signed an agreement with the recording concern BMG.

According to the agreement, licenses for phonograms and distribution rights were transferred to BMG for exclusive use, which, according to Troshin, led to the destruction of the entire structure of the Melodiya company. In 2003, the contract with BMG expired. so, what is next????

In terms of recording equipment, the studio had, in particular, a Swiss four-track tape recorder Studer J-87 (1971).

From the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Sound Engineer” Anatoly Weizenfeld.

• The microphones were really tube Neumann 47, 87, etc.
• Both Leningrad and Ekran, now Nevaton, were used
• Consoles – Amek, Neve, Siemens, Valley People
• There was very little processing mainly: Valley People compressors, Klark teknik, Sony, Trace Elliot equalizers.
• sheet reverberators AKG, Tesla.
• Tape recorders - Studer, Sony, Otari, and Telefunken.

The master disc was cut on an Ortofon machine from the so-called “corrected take”; the equipment in the studios was the best that existed then, but not all operators were allowed to use such high-quality equipment and not all were able to work - and the quality of the Melody records is on sale was very different. Hence there are many questions about the differences between records by labels, factories - .

The studio's sound engineer, Rafik Ragimov, talked about working on the first albums of the Pesnyary group in 1979-1980, mentioning 24-track Studer and Otari, an English Amec console, and German Neumann U47 microphones. Since the early 1960s, all VSG recordings were made only in , and in the 1970s, the development of quadraphonic recording began. In 1966-1976, WASH received about 50 international awards. not bad for those times!!!

In the 1980s there was also a mobile studio "Tonvagen", also known as "MCI", manufactured in London and
demonstrated at the Moscow exhibition “Svyaz-80”. Some groups used it underground: they followed the studio and worked in it at night.

So in 1983 the groups Aquarium and Strange Games recorded their albums, and in the period from 1987 to 1989 the albums “Block of Hell” and “The Sixth Forester” by the group Alice were recorded. Of those officially recorded at the studio, the first one is known on disc. studio album group "Master".

The All-Union Recording Studio (VSG) was organized on November 5, 1957, recordings took place in a specially equipped building of the former Anglican Church, with large (on the first floor) and small (on the second floor) studio halls.

There were also special equipment rooms for editing recordings and taking takes, which were equipped with numerous devices for recording on magnetic tape and copying onto discs, and a restoration equipment room for restoring particularly old recordings from archives, as well as private collections. Available for recording from Great Hall Moscow Conservatory and Bolshoi Theater. The editorial and management of the VSG was located in the parsonage at the church.

The Leningrad recording studio was opened on April 29, 1959. In 1964, the studio became part of Melodiya as an independent structure.

All recordings took place in the building of the Academic Chapel, and since 1988 in the premises of the Lutheran Church on Bolshoy Prospekt of Vasilievsky Island. Initially, the studio was equipped with equipment developed by the Leningrad Optical-Mechanical Association, then with Czech equipment from Tesla - I have such layers - very good. good ones. And again )))

In 1964, together with the Riga plant, it became part of Melodiya. From the first days of its foundation, the permanent editor-in-chief John Juštšuk (Estonian: Joann Juštšuk) worked in the studio. In 1967, the studio already had 8 people on staff. Sound engineer and music researcher Heino Pedusaar enhanced the high quality of the recordings.

Main part cultural heritage Melodiya studio began working on a series of recordings organ music. I want this series for myself)))

In 1978-1986, musicologist Ruta Skudienė (lit. Rūta Skudienė), a compiler of collections of Lithuanian jazz, worked as the editor of the studio.

Over time, the studio was equipped with the most modern equipment, stereo and multi-channel recording methods were mastered: in 1987, the studio had an 8-channel Studer mixing console, 2-channel Studer A-80 and C37 tape recorders and 8-channel Ampex 440B, sound speakers.

The Leningrad plant of gramophone records was put into operation under the leadership of director and innovator Yu. Kh. Tsomaev in 1948 at Tsvetochnaya street, building 11. The equipment of this plant was assembled on the basis of the expropriated German gramophone plant Tempo.

In 1956, they began producing long-playing gramophone records, and in 1962, stereophonic records. Since August 1957, it began to be called “Accord” and came under the control of the chemical industry department of Lensovnarkhoz.

On July 11, 1964, the plant was included in the Melodiya company under the name “Leningrad Record Plant of the All-Union Company of Gramophone Records “Melodiya”. He released records at 78 (grands) and 33 rpm. (flexible, minions, grandees, giants). In 1972, the plant began producing color records. In the mid-1980s, in addition to the main ones, he printed records for the Polish company Tonpress.

Of course, it’s up to you, gentlemen, to draw your own conclusions, but based on this material we can judge that the Melodiya company was equipped with excellent imported equipment and could compete well with the well-known record labels of those years.

Many people are already interested in the highest sound quality of their loved ones. musical performers who have performed and are performing on various concert stages. According to many, vinyl records from the USSR era have the best sound quality, which are still available in a fairly wide and varied range. Such high-tech products do not lose their original quality over time if used correctly. They are in quite high demand among connoisseurs and at the same time cost very little.

The price of records can vary quite significantly - from hundreds of rubles to hundreds of thousands. Of course, this only applies to those records that were released not on the territory of the USSR, but, for example, in the USA. It is not always possible to find out the real cost of a particular product on your own - in some cases it would be a good idea to consult with specialists who can give a realistic estimate and help you purchase the desired record at an affordable price. In some cases it is necessary to compare different variants and only after that purchase the desired gramophone record.

If we talk briefly about the cost of Soviet vinyl records, I dare to assure you that 99 percent of all records stored by our citizens do not cost even 50 rubles apiece. The price will be approximately 100 rubles if the record is in excellent condition and, at a minimum, is not unpacked. Sometimes you can try to sell some copies that were produced in small quantities for up to 300 rubles. This is, for example, Soviet rock, or the Beatles record released by Melodiya.

Someone might say, I saw a Beatles record on sale worth 20,000 rubles. Everything is simple here - the concepts of “made in the USSR” and “branded record” are different. Or another example - a record with Vysotsky’s recordings from any Soviet factory today costs 20-30 rubles, but if the plastic with Vysotsky’s recordings was made somewhere in France or the USA, then its price increases 100-200 times. Maybe you have one too, if someone brought it to you from abroad. They may also say that on some resources ordinary Soviet gramophone records are sold at a price of 500-1000 rubles apiece. Remember, just because they are being sold does not mean they are being bought. For example, on collector forums, sets of vinyl Soviet records (100-200 pieces) can be bought for literally 1000-2000 rubles.

People who are far from collecting may ask a reasonable question: why then are records so cheap, since they are no longer available? The answer is simple - at one time there were records in every Soviet family Accordingly, hundreds of millions of them have survived to this day. But there are not so many vinyl record collectors. For example, I know about 50-60 coin collectors, but not a single record collector.

There are a number of different high quality and interesting Soviet vinyl records that were released in limited editions, which is why they are in high demand and have high artistic value. Every year they become more and more difficult to obtain, which is why their cost is constantly increasing. It is easy to really verify this by comparing the cost of certain records by different years release. total cost records depends on a number of factors, namely:

Manufacturing company;
- year of issue;
- number of records in circulation;
- popularity and demand for musical recordings;
- general condition of the vinyl;
- label on the record;
- presence of the envelope and its condition;
- dedicatory inscription of the performer, etc.

The most famous factories producing various vinyl records during the USSR were the following: the Melodiya company, Moskovsky experienced worker Recording", "Aprelevsky Order of Lenin plant of gramophone records" " Leningradsky plant gramophone records", "Riga Order of Honor gramophone record factory", "Tbilisi recording studio" and some others. Such manufacturers produced products of the very highest quality, which fully met the standards of quality and reliability. You can easily verify this if you start listening to existing recordings. When choosing one or another record, you need to check its quality, since there are cases when you come across fakes or the product has become seriously worn out.

It is possible to find and select the desired record, both in relevant music stores, boutiques, and on specialized portals and forums. At the same time, preference should be given to those who have already proven themselves and offer products of the highest level in terms of quality. Soviet records- although this is not the most profitable investment, many modern collectors choose them for their collections.

On September 1, 1910, a factory for the production of domestic gramophone records was opened in Aprelevka near Moscow. Over time, it became the largest record producer in Russia, and then in the USSR. The first record released at the factory was a record with the gypsy song “Tramp”; this record weighed about 400 grams. Now record collectors are willing to pay a lot of money for such a rarity. During the first year of operation of the factory, 400 thousand gramophone discs were produced. And within several years the factory occupied one of the leading places in Russia in the production of gramophone records.

New life factories began after the revolution, when production was nationalized. In those years, gramophone records were used for propaganda and agitation; recordings of speeches by new Russian leaders, including V.I. Lenin, were released on them.
By the early 1930s, the factory began producing records again, and was soon transformed into a plant where the annual production of records reached 19 million.
During the war years, the production of records decreased significantly. And after the war, in the late 40s, the factory began producing long-playing records. The first stereo records were released in 1961, but regular 78 rpm records continued to be produced until 1971.
In 1964, the Melodiya recording company was created in the USSR and began new stage life of the plant and record production. The plant began to produce not only music recordings, but also a significant number of records for children. Entire generations grew up in the USSR on fairy tales recorded on April records. But the main shortage in the 60-80s was records pop singers.
In the early 90s, the production of records began to decline and in 1995 the production of records completely ceased and the plant switched to producing tape cassettes.
I would like to believe that the age of gramophone records is not over. And old recordings, many of which were made in Aprelevka, will delight true music connoisseurs for a long time.

So I decided to create an excursion into the past, delving into the “Foreign Variety” published by the Melodiya company in the period from 1964 (the year of the merger of the factories into a “company”) to 1991 (the year of the collapse of the Country). Personally, after many years, I was interested to learn about the publications themselves (I didn’t know about some of them at all) and to see the original covers (I haven’t seen most of them, because “the music is not mine,” I wasn’t interested until now). Don’t blame me, I ignored the “democrats” published on Melodiya, they weren’t interesting to me, but about them I really good music I learned from their own “democratically branded” group records. Anyone who wants to remember and feel nostalgic, I advise you to visit this site: Eastalgia, in the catalogs there all the published records of the “fraternal socialist countries” are listed!
I also recommend the following sites, about gramophone records and others like them, a lot of interesting information:
"Melody" - a company or “only fools sitting there?” and this one From the history of Soviet recording, and the site itself is interesting: Musical World

All information, of course, was gleaned from the Internet, in particular from 1964 to 1970 Discogs "Melody"(probably not everything published was uploaded there, there is not enough information), most of photos of envelopes were downloaded from the same place, and from 1971 to 1991 I used information from Catalog of vinyl records of the USSR and Russia 1971-95(compiled by Alexander “aka Alder, Alder47”, I express my sincere gratitude to him for the work done!)
I also used information and pictures from this site Catalog of Soviet Gramophone Records and from this: 45worlds: Vinyl Albums
In search of what was missing, I scoured the Internet. Alas, a small part of the pictures of “apples” and “backdrops” could not be found...

First, let's remember what formats of records were published:
17.5 cm vinyl disc (Vinyl, EP, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, Mono & Stereo)- “minion”, in the Western classification “Extended Play (EP)”, but in Soviet ones from 3 to 5 songs were recorded, while Western “singles” were published with one or two songs, one on each side and with larger center hole for playing on jukeboxes. The recordings on such media will be discussed for the sake of a full story because some of the foreign performers were published by Melodiya exclusively on this format and that’s all...

17.5 cm floppy disk (Flexi-disc, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, Mono)– basically “cheap duplicates” of what was published on 7” “vinyl minions”, with poor sound quality (neither “low” nor “high”), but it was recorded on them and never repeated, I’ll only mention a few such publications. Yes, there was also the “Monthly socio-political literary and musical illustrated audio magazine “Krugozor”” and we must pay tribute to its creators - in separate issues you could read about foreign musicians and even see those musicians in high-quality photos!

25 cm vinyl disc (Vinyl, Mini LP 10", 33 ⅓ & 45 RPM, Mono & Stereo)- “disc grand”.
Publications on such media will be mentioned only a couple of times.

30 cm vinyl disc (Vinyl, LP 12", 33 ⅓ RPM & 45 Mono & Stereo)- “giant disk”,
aka “Long-Playing (LP)” - the main part about publishing on such record formats.

So: the chronology of the 1st pressing of publications is basically observed (for some publications, “plus or minus a year”, the “Catalogue” sins of discrepancy with in real years publication, as well as other sources, confidence was only in the specifically indicated years on the “nickel” disks (but the years were not always written down)! If I was sure, I eliminated the chronology errors!) The catalog numbers of one side of the plastic sheet are indicated so as not to clutter up with numbers. (p.s. because a third of the cat. no. from the “Catalog” did not make it through the search on Discogs.com(mostly - alphabetic Cyrillic (changed to Latin), errors in numbers (unfinished or extra), and where is correct - where is not correct - h.z.?!), all numbers are given under the search engine Discogs.com, there are a lot of pictures, tracklists and other information, in short, for ease of searching, if you wish, take a look for fun).
The “excursion” includes almost the entire (a couple of dozen publications in the “Catalog” are missing, supplemented from other sources, found purely by chance, probably something else was missed...?!), “Foreign Stage of Capitalist Countries”, published on gramophone records by “ Melody”, as it was classified - “Foreign Pop” (classification according to catalog numbers with the letter “60” (Pop)), without division into genres “chanson, pop, rock, jazz, etc.”

Year 1964
Not a lot at all, just two minions and a grand - all chanson:
Edith Piaf(33D-00014111 / 7” Mono)
Marlene Dietrich(33D-00014217 / 7” Mono)
Renard Collet(33D-13991 / C 000199-200 / 10” Stereo)