Kino’s first album was recorded at the Pioneers’ Palace, which later became the AnTrop studio. Andrei Tropillo put together the studio by collecting equipment from different places. Tropillo had already seen Tsoi and Rybin at an apartment concert, so right after mixing Aquarium’s Triangle album, and on Boris Grebenshchikov’s recommendation, he invited the musicians to start recording their material.

Kino was a two-person band. Grebenshchikov asked his colleagues from the Aquarium to help. His colleagues were Vsevolod Gakkel (cello), Andrei Romanov (flute), and Mikhail Feinshtein-Vasiliev (bass). There was no drummer, so they used a drum machine called the Soviet rhythm box Elektronika.

The resulting tape album had 13 songs on it and was named 45, after its planned total length in minutes. The album wasn’t widely noticed by music critics, but it helped the band become more popular, even outside of Leningrad. Tsoi later said that the recording was not finished and should not have been released.

Recording of 45 — Kino’s Debut Album

The album was recorded in unusual conditions. It was mixed secretly at the House of Pioneers. Andrey Tropillo was the sound engineer. He ran a studio there called “AnTrop.” This studio was not fully legal.

It’s interesting that 45 was one of the first Soviet rock albums to use a drum machine instead of a real drum set. The band also used flute, cello, and bells along with acoustic, electric, and bass guitars.

The album’s lyrics and themes were different from the usual Soviet music of the time. Their songs were not very political or ideological. They were happy and full of feeling, so the musician duo was called “new romantics.”

The album is important in history, but critics did not like it. 45 was the only studio album that featured Alexey Rybin. There were ideological disagreements, and he left shortly after the album was released. Rybin and Tsoi never spoke to each other again, except at multi-artist concerts where they did not talk.

For over 10 years, until the mid-1990s, the album was only available on magnetic tape.

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Full album

Tracklist

• Time, But No Money – 4:10
• Aluminum Cucumbers – 3:03
• Idler No. 1 – 3:14
• You Just Want to Know – 3:29
• Sunny Days – 3:24
• The Train (Elektrichka) – 2:39
• Idler No. 2 – 3:18
• Asphalt – 3:25
• The Tree – 1:49
• Eighth-Grader (Vosmiklassnitsa) – 2:51
• Once You Were a Beatnik – 3:51
• My Friends – 4:30
• The Sitar Played – 1:35
• In the Kitchen – 4:00

Another reel version

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Source: Discogs