“A HUNGRY WOLF RUNNING ACROSS THE FROZEN STEPPE AT NIGHT COULD ONLY UNDERSTAND ME…”
ARTICLES
THE EXPERIMENT LASTED THE WHOLE LIFE

Yuri Morozov “The red glade.”
The editor Burlaka A

In 1975 or later I could get an old and wrinkled tape. One side of it had “Sabotage” and another side had something unknown. But It was very unexpected and interesting. It was sticky and powerful hard-rock with straight rhythm section, rather generous blouse guitar, harmonica and Russian vocal. It was impossible to tell that nobody sang in Russian. Of course a lot of sang. They were rekshan, Korzinin, Ilchenko, Danilov and Barihnovskiy. The last two were already well-known. They sang only their own songs. However, this recording doesn’t belong to one of the leaders “saitonskiy “hit- parade. And it has been recorded in a professional studio. The trick was only in it. Up to that period our rockers’ equipment was “ Yaus” or “ Comet” . Some brave rockers tried to record and rerecord from one tape-recorder to another. The y tried to create their albums but they were very primitive. It was like first Addison’s experience. But on this tape the sound was plastic respectable.

“Who is it”, asked I returning the recording in some days to its owner. “You have never heard about”. He shook with perplexity his head. “Heir, it’s Morozov!” other questions were without any results. My friend told something about pschycodelia and Buddhism, “Abby Road”, Ameri-can strings,. Nothing more he could add to this mysterious composer.

I tried to remember all of the Morozovs. I guessed for a long time. But to my sorry I could not decide who might compose such songs. Then I took a decision of my friend’s mistake. But less than a year one more tape appeared in my studio. He author was on it. His name was Yuri Moro-zov.

The difference was enormous. The first album presented the guitar played the gloomy gothic songs. They were like awful Gogol’s stories or like irrational world of Kafka’s stories. Later I found out the name of this album. It was “ The wedding of doomed”. The second album was a set of romantic and lyrical songs. They sounded without acoustic sound and any taste. At the same time the common spirit, the playing manner, vocal style united them. After having heard other Morozov’s works such as instrumental plays, electronic collages, the set of different styles music, and traditional rock-albums I have realized they were united not only with stylistics methods or favorite author’s clichés, but they were united special perception of the world, his own ideas, and views on the things.

In the second half of 70s when it was not rather good period for rock. On one side it was “Mash-ina vremeni’s influence on another it was temptation of professional variety. Morozov’s albums were one of those which were keeping independence and isolation of mass, tendencies and fash-ion.

His creative power biography is unique. It is like an experiment where he is a researcher and he is a researchable object.

Yuri Morozov was keen on rock music like many of his age friends. In the middle of 60s he could hear on the radio “The Beatles”‘s songs. As many other boys he tried to play the guitar and imitated their songs. At the same time he realized that it was possible not only to imitate but to create something new. At first he tried to make up Russwian texts to Lennon and Makartni’s songs. Later his own songs appeared. They were simple, naïve, romantic as all of that epoch of rock-revolution.

Somewhere at the late of 60s Yura organized his own first band. “Bosiaki” was given a name because of their image. This band had overcome traditional way from hand-made instruments and for the whole day rehearsals for “eight days in a week” to resort cafes and dancing grounds. It was up to the splitting up of the band in 1971. The members of the band finished school and became partly adults.

At that time Yura Morozov began to record his musical experience on the tape. This idea was not new because most of the bands were keeping their records, rehearsals and the concerts. But only Morozov was the first man who tried to do this process as valuable creative power act but not as mechanical fixation of the sound. His works began to have album unity and the conception. There was records’ character, the row of the songs, the methods of arrangement, vocal tech-niques. Even the list of songs had got an idea, the plot idea or the main idea of an album.

In 1971 Morozov moved to Leningrad and he began to create. He perfected himself from album to album. He got an experience of studio work. He made up his own studio using tape-recorders and the device from the shop“Young Technician”. Opening new layers of world musical culture Yura had created own and individual manner by the end of the decade. It characterized only his kind of work and made each work special. He was like an inquisitive researcher of the sound. He has overworked his works for many times. He transformed them a lot according to his new ar-rangement ideas. It is curious to know some of his songs and instrumental songs are par of dif-ferent albums in different arrangement. So he applied for everything him to have been recorded as in a studio so in some of rare concerts of the middle of 70s. In 1975-76 he worked as a mem-ber of popular Leningrad jazz rock band “Nu Pogodi!” He had changed Alexander Lyapin and in some time united his own trio. He gave a concert with them in 1977. It was one of his last concerts. Sorry to say but it was very modest equipment used in the most of his rock concerts. As the result he let down in a sound and tried not to give alive concerts any more. So he had changed his attitude to Leningradskiy rock.

Yura hid himself in a studio for long decade. It was easy because Morozov began to work in a studio of Leningrad department of “Melody” in a state Capella. He created only his own works. From time to time he surprised the listeners with his new works, showing his interests to the me-dieval Poets of China ( the album , “ Chinese poetry”, 1980 ) or to Indian philosophical studies (“ Brahma Astra’ 1979) or to Gospel plots ( “ The Gospel from Mathew”, 1981) or to Russian folk songs ( “ Three Russian songs”, 1981).At that time Morozov created his best albums. They were “The songs about life and death” (1981). They touched the eternal questions of our world. They were shown from rather unexpected points of view. “Legend about Maya” (1981) showed the future nuclear catastrophe. It was opposed to idealistically naïve but rather nice ideas of 60s about the unity of human beings through music.

Without exaggeration Morozov was one of the greatest people in Russian in rock- culture before the appearance of Leningrad rock –club in 1981 and annual rock festivals’ tradition was set. His creative power had influenced on many famous musicians. But at the same time it was the first socio-cultural phenomenon of “tape –recording boom of the beginning and the middle of 80s. An active movement of new rock trend and an activity of “independent” studio “Antrop” re-duced an interest to new Morozov’s works. His own isolation also led to isolation of his works. Andrew Tropillo was a creator of “Anrtop”. Nowadays he is also a director of Leningrad studio “Melody”.

Morozov’s albums of the muddle of 80s are private, introspective researches of himself as a painter. These were such kind of albums as “Another World”, “Auto de Fait”, “Anti-love”, “And the Golden Age”. By the way all of these works were released on his first record released by “Melody”. It was called “The Performance” in 1988.

At this period of time he was known as a sound director too. He got the experience while he was working with his own music. It helped him to find the sound for other musicians’ works. In dif-ferent time he recorded the recording such as “ DDT” , “ Apple”, “ Tamburina” , “ the clouded area”, “ The delta of an operator”, “ Avgusta” . he also took part in the recording of tape-recording albums of Nikolay Korzininm. The bands” Pochta”, “ Puatina” and others.

A new turn in his life happened in summer of 1987. During the first video- festival “Rock-87”. His returning on the stage took place. After a number of concerts where he was accompanied by members of young band “ Pochta” he found real company from “ DDT”. He began to go with them accompanying their rhythm- section (Kurylev V, Dotsenko I). He proved that his time had not passed yet. He recorded new music in a studio. And he was applauded during the Six Lenin-grad Rock-Festival at winter stadium in July 1988. At the same time Yura became one the char-acters of a documentary “The game with strangers” by Peter Soldatenkov, the film- director.

In 1988-1989 Morozov refused to work with electrical programmes. He worked a lot with acous-tic guitar and duets. An at the end of 1989 after the presentation at the magazine “Avrora” he gathered his own band. They were Victor Miheev ( the bass guitar). Vadim Kurylev ( the flute and the guitar), Sergey Agapov ( the drums, the percussion). In the spring of 80s his second al-bum “Troubled days’ was released. Besides his discography was added with some of his cas-settes released by “ Antrop” . Two more recordings were going to be released. They were “The red alarm’ and “ Idioteka”. The first was a set of his latest works. And the second was a set of music of the middle of 70s.

So, new waves come and go away but rock-n-roll is forever. An old rock- movement is full of energy and ideas. They have got experience and skills. All of this is very, very important.

Andrew Burlaka
“Melody” ¹4’ 1990


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