In 1983, in Moscow, Armen Grigoryan founded the iconic Soviet and Russian rock band Crematorium. The discography of the collective has seventeen major albums. In addition, there are more than ten collections, rare recordings and live albums. This article presents the history, discography and best songs of the Crematorium group.
Team History
The guitarist, vocalist and permanent leader - Armen Grigoryan, created a group called "Crematorium" in 1983. The group became popular within the Moscow rock laboratory, by 1988 having acquired the status of one of the most popular representatives of the Soviet rock scene.
Over the history of the group, the crematorium team has often undergone changes. At the source, in addition to Grigoryan, were musicians Viktor Troegubov, Mikhail Rossovsky, Alexander Sevastyanov. At the moment, the composition, unchanged since 2012, includes Armen Grigoryan (guitar, vocals, harmonica and authorship of all the songs of âCrematoriumâ), Maxim Guselschikov (mainly violin, as well as keys and percussion), Nikolai Korshunov (bass and double bass ), Andrei Yermola (drums) and Vladimir Kulikov (additional guitar).
The group is distinguished by a special stylistic orientation. From the beginning of its existence to this day, decadence, death, the futility of being, debauchery, lust, alcoholism and vicious women are the themes of all songs of the Crematorium.
List of main albums
The so-called numbered discography of the group includes 17 albums released from 1983 to 2016. The album âWine Memoirsâ, recorded with the participation of two people - Grigoryan and Troegubov, during the week was the first in the discography of âCrematoriaâ. It contains some of the most popular songs of the whole work of the collective, such as âYou were that womanâ, âStremp shipâ and âTanyaâ. All these compositions are still performed at all concerts.
The next album, released in 1984 under the name âCrematorium 2â, partly repeats the composition of âMemoirsâ, but in a well-arranged arrangement and in a cleaner performance.
The release of the third album, âCrematoriumâ, the album âIllusory Worldâ in 1986 brought the collective the long-awaited all-Union fame. After him, the group first went on tour to other cities.
From 1988 to 1991, three major albums were released in the discography of the group âCrematorium: Comaâ (1988), âStrawberry with Iceâ (1989) and âZombieâ (1991). To this day, they remain the most popular. It was for the first time that such famous songs were sung in them as ugly Elsa, garbage wind, strawberries with ice, and critters.
In 1994, the album "Tango on the Cloud" was released, which did not gain much popularity, in contrast to the disc Tequila Dreams that followed, released in 1995. He was praised by critics and named the best in recent years. Released in 1996, Micronesia and Gigantomania again went unnoticed. The last in the 20th century was the disc "Botany" (1997), also poorly received by both critics and listeners.
New millennium
In 2000, the album âCrematoriaâ appeared the album âThree sourcesâ, rehabilitating the former popularity of the team. The song "Kathmandu" was included in the soundtrack for the film "Brother-2", and the compositions "Fiery Hell" and "African" also gained fame.
In 2002 the world saw the disk "Mythology", the content of which caused a lot of controversy among fans of "Crematorium". Someone believed that the updated sound was good for the group, someone, on the contrary, was unhappy with the changes. Despite popular opinions, not a single song from this album has gained much popularity.
The 2003 disc entitled âRock and Rollâ became special. It included only old songs written before 1984, but never before officially unreleased. In 2008, the modern discography of the group was adorned by the Amsterdam album, which became gold according to the results of sales in Russia.
Current composition
In the list of license plates of âCrematoriaâ, created in a modern composition, today there are only two - âPresidentâs Suitcaseâ (2013) and âInvisible Peopleâ (2016). Songs from Suitcase, such as City of the Sun, Overture, and Marilyn, became hits among fans of the bandâs work. The concept album "Invisible People", like all of the latest Crematorium discs, was highly praised by critics and named the best over the past ten years.
Collections
In addition to seventeen major albums, the crematorium discography also contains collections. The main among them is "Double Album", released in 1993, which includes all the best songs of the group, rewritten with the participation of new musicians. This includes today's classic versions of popular songs - "Tanya", "Kondraty", "Little Girl", "Strawberry with Ice", "Ugly Elsa", "Trashy Wind", "Sexy Cat".
Also included in the official collections are the Living and the Dead (1989), Fan-Tom (2000), and Titanium Sirens (2002).
Rare and live recordings
Of particular interest to fans are rare records in the crematorium discography. These are two albums that have sold in small print runs. The first is a collection of unreleased songs from 1983 to 1998. It is called âUnreleasedâ. It was released in 1999, and has different song arrangements than Double Album.
The second is the disc Requiem for a Headless Horseman, released in 2001. It contains the oldest songs that were not recorded before, performed in the style of a garage rock.
Also curious is the fact that when recording almost all the songs, Grigoryan acted as a bass player, in addition to his main functions. It is not known why the musicians themselves did not rank âRequiemâ in their number albums, however, many of the songs included in it could well have become independent hits.
The discography of concert recordings includes three discs: Unplugged in 1992, Concert in Gorbushka (1996) and Jubilee in 1994.