Альянс - "Звуки на заре" [1987]

Artist: Альянс

Title: Звуки на заре

Genre: Synthpop, New Wave

Country: USSR
Year: 1987

Track List:

1. Фальстарт
2. На заре
3. День освобождения
4. Порабощённые трудом
5. Дайте огня!
6. Падение - взлёт
7. Вальс
8. Когда печаль пройдёт...

So far this year was really terrible when it come to deaths of many important musicians, such as Genesis P-Orridge, Konstantin Ryabinov of GrOb, Gabi Delgado of DAF, Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk, and now Oleg Parastaev of Alliance.

The band was formed in 1981 and initially played ska and reggae, but later became more and more influenced by new wave, which was quickly gaining popularity in the mid-1980s Soviet Union. In 1984, Alliance among many other bands fell victim to the Chernenko's anti-rock campaign and were banned from any public performances. However, in 1986 they have reformed as a synthpop/new wave outfit, with Oleg Parastaev on keyboards. That was their "golden" lineup, but unfortunately it was short-lived: Parastaev left the band in 1988 and started his own new wave project called NRG, while Alliance became a female-fronted folk-rock band before finally splitting up in 1993.

They have reformed in 2008, but didn't gain much publicity until a decade later, when Oleg Parastaev has uploaded a live video of their most famous song "На заре" on his YouTube channel. By a coincidence, it happened during the Venezuelan crisis, and two of the band members in the video looked like younger Putin and Maduro to some viewers. Due to that, the video first went viral in Latin America, and later it became popular at their home in ex-USSR, since it fitted perfectly in the current wave of 80s synthpop nostalgia. After that, the band has released their first new album after 25 years of silence, and in February 2020 - another one, with mostly space-themed lyrics.

Sadly, both of their most important members are dead by now (their founding member Sergei Volodin died in 2017), and to most listeners they'll remain an one-hit wonder, but at least they finally got the recognition they deserve. R.I.P. Oleg Parastaev. He died at 5AM, right according to the lyrics of his best known song: "At dawn, the voices are calling me..." Well, let's say he hasn't died but called to leave the Earth and return to the cosmos he belongs to: