The cold wind brings back memories, ruffles the fur on the back of his neck. He whispers terrible spells: glasnost-perestroyka. It’s 1987 outside the Delorean window, Teddy Bear is just preparing a sledgehammer for the Berlin Wall, the Simpsons is being shown for the first time on the American box, and in Moscow four young men are gathering in a quartet with the romantic name Grease Dream. Having brushed their pompadours, grown sideburns and a double bass, these dashing loaches seem to be going to play rockabilly, for God’s sake! Although the Lord is still forbidden in the USSR; I wonder if the USSR is forbidden in heaven?..
Ancient tablets have revealed the names of the daredevils: Grigory Filippov – guitar, Nikolai Vtorov – bass violin, Vatan Zhelenkov – piano, the name of the drummer is lost… Our dudes did not become pioneers of rock and roll, having disbanded in 1992, their story swept across the firmament and brains like a comet. They never released a single record. They never competed with Bravo. But we remember! And we’re listening to favorites.:
Вокалом фарцовщика, мечтающего стать Эдуардом Хилем, открывается “Moscow Boogie”, a dense twist with a good saxophone, which is blown by Pasha Verenchikov. The veteran crushes cigarette butts with enthusiasm and grace. “She Works At McDonald’s” is rock with an unexpected banjo and vocal intonations that anticipate the manner of “Chaifa”. In a way, it’s an innovative and very groovy song about the days when it was still prestigious to work in this eatery. Free Cash register, guys…
The teddy-fighting thriller “Sweetheart” is quite funny with its witty text and drives into a rage with the tempo of the refrain “mi-mi-mi-mi-sweetheart”. The words and music are relevant to this day, a true masterpiece! And, as one doctor said, everything we read about America in the newspaper Pravda turned out to be true. Donald Duck elegantly waltzes to Daisy to the intro of “Far Beyond the Sea,” but the duck romance quickly breaks off, turning into an unbridled twist with lofty verses about the Bulwark of World Imperialism. That’s what I thought… I barely made out three words…
In the voice of a pimp dreaming of fame, Muslim Magomayev, the vocalist encourages the girls with phrases about “The Best City on Earth,” aka “Moscow.” How diverse is the talent of this singer! Arno Babajanyan is delighted! We are in awe! Another nostalgic melody, “Night Windows”, differs from the Soviet version only in its accelerated tempo and unrestrained saxophone. It seems that our heroes have completely confused twist and rockabilly. Nevertheless, the song does not lose its charm, but it gains unexpected courage.
“Spy Gadyukin” walks down the street, swinging and swinging his hips. In those days, a man with wads of currency in his pockets was considered a spy, now he is a humble oligarch. Well, or a deputy coming from an oligarch… The factory number. “The Jungle Is A Complete Mess.” The gorillas were sitting around playing the blues… Suddenly, the monkeys broke into rock and boogie so that even the crocodiles went to the bottom. In the middle of a witty guitar solo, the witty alpha male wittily declares, “Just don’t Stray Cats!” I share this mature position.
Link Ray himself would have been jealous of the infernal guitar sound in the song “Crimean Twist”. No, seriously, how did they get that sound? Don’t turn it on in the cemetery, the dead will rise up and show a better dance lesson than Morgunov. The ultra-fast hooligan swing “Kingdom of the Moscow Punks” completes my brief overview of the band’s preserved archive.
The band’s line-up has changed over the course of its existence. The best, according to many, was the following line-up: Egor Dorofeev (guitar), Nikolai Vtorov (double bass), Viktor Kostrov (drums), Andrey Yakushin (guitar), Pavel Verenchikov (saxophone).
It’s a damn pity that the “Grease Dream” has remained just a dream. It’s a damn pity that they never released a record on Melodies. It would be a pity for Goebbels if you missed this magnificent artifact, a genuine monument to an era where there was a place for truly intelligent, beautiful creativity. A brooding wind tugs at the scruff of the Moon Dogs…
Download the entire archive of Grease Dream recordings (rar, mp3, 123 MB)
In 1987-1989, the Grease Dream performed every Wednesday at the Prospekt Cafe, which was located in the now demolished Olympic.