What good stuff could I find in Riga? Latvian prog? Russian jazz? Baltic grooves?

[Brainbomb]

Going there after the summer with work and have a day off. Proper recordshops seem really improbable to find because I can't find any info on anything on the web. But - there seems to be markets and antique shops abound and that sounds like fun anyway. So in the eventuality I do stumble upon a box of vinyl - how do I know what to pick up? I have absolutely no clue about any Baltic or Russian artists of interest...

[mr sayers]

Looks like a job for Priima, I'm sure he'll come through with some top tips.

[peter sundae]

Maybe some info here-

http://www.verygoodplus.co.uk/showth...ight=slovakian

[blue burt]

No easy route here, I'm afraid, but flipping through the search result for the word "melodiya" on this page would be a good start...been buying this stuff for years now, and my blind buys are still more or less hit-and-miss - the use of generic covers & the cyrillic alphabet isn't going to make the task any easier; one of my guidelines is to pick up anything with the word "джаз" on the sleeve (while avoiding the ones with "петь"...) - happy hunting!...

[mr sayers]

This website may be of some help mate -

http://my.opera.com/sovietgroove/blo...x.dml/tag/funk

[priima]

i have planned trip to Riga this summer. probably it will happen next week, when i'm back, i'll report about spots. though i have heard from people who have been there, it's pointless for records. best bets are flea market in the city and maybe some antique shop. i have also the weapons of knowing cyrillic and bit russian.

what can you expect? a lot of 80s melodiya records, which are awful usually. maybe some good vv classic type records, maybe some unexpected East European records, not so much jazz, but beat/prog would be easier. some good Raimonds Pauls records. maybe Latvian jazz like Gunars Rozenbergs and Egil Straume. latvian disco Eolika and Zodiac. about melodiya titles following some of my find posts or actually this thread would be nice way to get to know something about melodiya records.

[priima]

essential melodiya records you might like (most of them shouldn't be too hard to find)


good raimonds pauls records:
Juras Balss, Nora & Viktors, there's Pauls record with same sleeve but red letters which has good psychy moments, Mirdza Zivere - incredible cosmic disco/funk.
latvian easy listening series: Invitation to Dance, first three volumes are good (1st was repressed with red background), and Deju Ritma is compilation of all good tracks from three volumes: here and here



jazz/instrumental music:
Arsenal - great jazz rock, not very hard to find
Oleg Lundstrem - Duke Ellington songs, good 'Caravan'
Igor Brill "Utro Semli" - nice jazz-fusion
Bumerang - both Bumerang albums are great, this one is less rare
Melodiya ensemble - i think this album is their weakest, but remember name in cyrillic or their faces, they have killer albums
Sase Subota - yugoslavian easy/jazz
Sven Grünberg "Hingus" - estonian solo synth fusion / prog masterpiece
Artemiev - another soviet synth guru, though he was released too late



funky ladies:
Alla Pugacheva with 'Buben Shamana' and 'Sonata'
Maria Kodrianu - three great tracks, from garage to folk funk to breakbeat funk
Sofia Rotaru - all three first albums should be ok for cheap, this one is best
Marju Kuut and Uno Loop - rare estonian bossa lp, just in case
common records:
ABC - yugoslavian group, very common, cover of 'Long Train Running' plus some psychy/funky originals
Skaldy - that's Polish Skaldowie, this was released with many different covers, it should have new versions of Polish released tracks, long track on B-side is great organ-prog
Zodiac "Disco Alliance" - most famous latvian record, cosmic disco
Samotsvety - some ok moments. i put it there because if you see cover with cool group photo like this, it might as well be quite good. some examples on next picture too.



vocal-instrumental groups, these might be trickier, because many of these are available with generic sleeves in this area:
OST with psychy tracks, Ariel with sunshine pop (avoid 80s records), Orera ('Summertime'), Pesniary 1st and 2nd (with generic sleeve) album - both mixing Belorussian folk songs with popsike/prog etc, Kola Beldy - crazy siberian.



Gunars Rozenbergs - trompete. it's jazz fusion from Latvia, quite uptempo, almost goes close to disco
REO - Džesa Ritma. Raimonds Pauls is playing piano and conducts on this early 70s jazz album. it's available on different sleeeves
Raimonds Pauls 7". there's album with same picture, but I don't think LP is good at all. this ep has non-LP track, which is pretty nice. should be picked up for cheap.

[jakartajive]

Priima -
What a top poster you are, mate.
Super generous sharing of deep knowledge.
Really really nice of you to do this, man.
Hope the karma comes back round and the world repays you.
H

[Brainbomb]

Yes - thank you very much!!

[KESSAKUSHU]

second that! well done Priima, some great records there and still some wants on my part. I also really like that Orera record, first side is all quality anyway.

here are some more i also really like. these 3 have been out again on the turntable of late



maybe the one with the trumpets is a generic cover??
but what a cover!

[Brainbomb]

Yes - maybe I can figure out how to secretly access the colour printer at work and just print this page for reference?

Nice work, much appreciated!

[priima]

no problem! that's something i know, and also i learn here a lot!

maybe the one with the trumpets is a generic cover??
but what a cover!

yes, it is and i have never seen it, looks cool! text reads "estrada" which means 'pop music'. "for you women" is also generic sleeve, though it has tracklist. i wonder what the trumpet one could be

[KESSAKUSHU]

yes, it is and i have never seen it, looks cool! text reads "estrada" which means 'pop music'. "for you women" is also generic sleeve, though it has tracklist. i wonder what the trumpet one could be

oh i didn't realise the "for you women" was a generic cover, seen it around a few times, some killers on there, cheap too.
i'll take a photo of the trumpet one and post it up later when i'm at home, i would be interested in knowing what it is alright.

[Tommo of Sprowston]

Just adding my thanks to Priima for that post - wonderful stuff, and a fair few records in the photos I've scratched my head over online before now.

Re: Pesnyary, their first two LPs came out in a multitude of different sleeves, but this site is very helpful in unpicking which is which:

http://http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.pesnyary.com/&ei=gB6-SfPTC9zFjAfejOiUCA&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=r esult&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpesnyary%26hl%3Den

- click on the link to 'Discography' on the left-hand side.

I've only got the second LP, which is an odd but chirpy listen, so am keeping 'em peeled for the first.

[priima]

i updated Riga thread with some spots i found last week.

i should take pictures of few other good latvian records i saw there. most of records i posted here were available, though not jazz ones. i left some behind too

[Brainbomb]

i updated Riga thread with some spots i found last week.

i should take pictures of few other good latvian records i saw there. most of records i posted here were available, though not jazz ones. i left some behind too

Thank you!

I can also see that most places are around the Old Town where our hotel is, that's good. So how scary was the thieves market?

[priima]

I can also see that most places are around the Old Town where our hotel is, that's good. So how scary was the thieves market?

Latgale market is just full of mostly stolen stuff, when i arrived there, policeman left and when i left market, another police van came. so there's two halves, one is full of tools, there you can't find records, it's better not to spend too much time in those tight stalls, though sight of so much stuff is crazy. in other half you see electronics etc and some stalls with records.
i'd say it wasn't so scary, but being bit careful would be good. these people there still want to sell. i guess fairly lot tourists go there anyway. i heard someone talk in german with seller.
there's one (smaller) like that in tallinn too, which i go through every week and just plain headshake, if someone's talks to me in russian and i have nothing with him, helps.

Re: Pesnyary, their first two LPs came out in a multitude of different sleeves, but this site is very helpful in unpicking which is which:

yes, that's so. 2nd LP i pictured has generic sleeve, which reads on it "Belorussian estrada", but i have seen it used on Pesniary records. this sleeve is most commonly seen here in Estonia.
i think 1st album is also full of different sounds, not so prog as 2nd. i like it.

oh i didn't realise the "for you women" was a generic cover, seen it around a few times, some killers on there, cheap too.
i'll take a photo of the trumpet one and post it up later when i'm at home, i would be interested in knowing what it is alright.

"for you women" is compilation with many volumes. i remember your find post with it. i haven't got one myself yet "from field", have seen it with different picture cover, though record was scratched. i guess sleeve you have is export one.
yes, i'd help to identify record you have, if you want.