TSENTR - "SDELANO V PARIZHE" [aka "TSENTR"] (1989)

Original band name: Центр
Original album title: Сделано в Париже (aka Центр)

Led by singer and songwriter Vasily Shumov, Tsentr is definitely a cult act of the former Soviet Union. The project is stilly active today, after dozens of albums, despite never breaking into the mainstream.

Tsentr had already relased thirteen magnetic tape albums in 1989, but their sound quality was not so good, as the band was not allowed to use professional studios. Finally they found a good contact in the person of Maxim Schmitt, a French producer who invited them to Paris, to record their songs with decent equipment.

This album is the result of the above mentioned French sessions. It basically contains Shumov's favourite tracks from his previous tapes, re-recorded and finally competitive with the international standards of new wave bands. Ten beautiful songs pumped by frantic guitars, echoes, samples, crystal sounding keyboards, and half spoken half sung vocals.

The album was titled "Tsentr" and released in France by Nord Sud Records. After some months it was released in the USSR by state label Melodiya, under the title "Sdelano v Parizhe" (Made in Paris). For Shumov it was the first legal release in his homeland, and despite the lack of any kind of promotion, it was able to sell 40.000 copies in one year.

DOWNLOAD (kbps: 320)