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Anyone know this Bass? Russia circa 1982
- Thread starter getBAK
- Start date
Looks a lot like a Roadstar
And holy mother of God that’s awful
And holy mother of God that’s awful
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Maybe not the exact model, Ibanez made like 20 thousand different Roadstars with different headstocks and controls and necks.
That bass has 2 octaves and 2x2 and PJ.
Compare those tuners too. Do I win?
That bass has 2 octaves and 2x2 and PJ.
Compare those tuners too. Do I win?
You DO win. 30000 plays of above song
I have an '81 Roadster. It's one of my favorite basses.
I think the song sounds pretty good, if you like that kinda thing. I know you Americans are programmed to hate everything Soviet, but for what they were going for they nailed it.
The harmony reminds me of From Russia with Love, so well done John Barry for capturing the vibe.
The harmony reminds me of From Russia with Love, so well done John Barry for capturing the vibe.
I came here to make a similar comment. For Russian pop/folk music this sounds very good.
Very in line with cultural music of that area. Sad to see people disparaging an inoffensive song.
Who is the group?/song?
lol “you Americans”.
This American digs his bass....and his haircut!
And his uniform. 1960s gas station attendant chic!
Go Comrade Go!!!
And his uniform. 1960s gas station attendant chic!
Go Comrade Go!!!
D
I don't think any Soviet manufacturers made any basses that looked like this. It looks like an ash body Ibanez Roadster or Roadstar (whatever they were called at the time) from the MIJ era. If I had to guess... probably made my Fujigen.
Ash body Roadster basses are possibly the heaviest basses I've ever played! They're good quality instruments though, if they've been treated nicely and still in good condition (which for some reason they often haven't and aren't...).
As for the song... It's not really THAT bad, for what it is. Not really my cup of tea, but I kinda like it.
Ash body Roadster basses are possibly the heaviest basses I've ever played! They're good quality instruments though, if they've been treated nicely and still in good condition (which for some reason they often haven't and aren't...).
As for the song... It's not really THAT bad, for what it is. Not really my cup of tea, but I kinda like it.
The band's "Verasy" from Belarus (White Russia). The year is probably between 1981 and 1985. They were quite typical for Soviet official pop music. This band had a handful of Soviet official hits in the early '80s. This song, obviously, wasn't among them.
It was called "My love". I think I never heard it before, but it's, again, a typical representation of the Soviet official love song genre. I've heard an awful lot of such songs in my youth, and for me they all are indiscernible crap. May be it's just me.This band was favored by Soviet authorities, they even were allowed to tour some Eastern bloc countries outside the Soviet Union. Probably that's why they had all these shiny capitalist guitars. I remember the bass player boasting Fender Jazz Bass (or some Japanese copy of it) as well.
The band's "Verasy" from Belarus (White Russia). The year is probably between 1981 and 1985. They were quite typical for Soviet official pop music. This band had a handful of Soviet official hits in the early '80s. This song, obviously, wasn't among them.
This band was favored by Soviet authorities, they even were allowed to tour some Eastern bloc countries outside the Soviet Union. Probably that's why they had all these shiny capitalist guitars. I remember the bass player boasting Fender Jazz Bass (or some Japanese copy of it) as well.
I appreciate you had to suffer through that era of state controlled media etc, but there was also some really cool stuff coming out of the Eastern Bloc (and we didn't even have to press bootlegs up on discarded hospital X-rays).
Here's one I discovered by accident in a thrift store, in the mid-90's (and by the sound of it, Liquid Liquid / Melle Mel / Doug Wimbish heard it about 15 years earlier) :
Man - I wish that was still around. 24 fret PJ's with actually neck access are hard to come by. Now I need a 5-er
I wonder how Russian's got their hands on Ibanez instruments in the early 80's?
I wonder how Russian's got their hands on Ibanez instruments in the early 80's?
It reminds me somewhat of a bad immitation of 60's American pop like The Association or this:
I don't like either but would much prefer to listen to It's a Beautiful Day than the Russian song, nothing to do with politics and I doubt it is with anyone here., the Russian song is so cloying it's like aural marmalade. Crap is crap no matter where it's from.
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That one lady singing looks like Thelma from Scooby Doo with a new outfit.
Omega was one of the greatest bands of the whole Eastern bloc. Their most famous song, a great ballad "Pearls in her hair", was even covered by Scorpions in 1994.
Some of Eastern bloc countries had more freedom than others. Usually this meant more good pop and rock music. As for me, the best in this regard were Poland and Hungary. I'm sure some people won't agree, but that's what I remember.
In Soviet Union, unlike most of Eastern bloc counties, there were two kinds of pop music - official and unofficial. Official was 99% crap, unofficial was better but musicians weren't allowed to release records, tour big venues or, basically, to get paid for the shows. Of course there were ways and workarounds, but overall it was this way.
Well, somehow they did. When I was playing bass in my college band in 1982, an assistant professor offered me a P-bass (maybe even Fender, I don't remember) for "just" 1500 roubles. It was an equivalent of my mom's accumulated salary for 8 months. I politely declined.
I know that some people bought Western or Japanese instruments from foreing musicians/bands that were touring Soviet Union. Some chosen others visited capitalist countries for a business trips and brought guitars etc. from there. Also there were foreign students, mostly from 3rd world countries, who visited their home countries on vacations and brought some instruments back.
Yep.
Her name is Yadviga Poplavskaya, she's now 75 and still alive. The moustached bass player, Aleksandr Tikhanovich, was her husband, he died in 2017.
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I was expecting something bad but it was a great song! It has a more Italian/French vibe than Russian.
