In 1980, in the Soviet Union, a new star lit up in the musical sky. Moreover, judging by the genre direction of the works and the name of the team, both literally and figuratively.
We are talking about the Baltic group under the "space" name "Zodiac".
The debut of the group Zodiac
Their debut program was recorded at the Melodiya All-Union Recording Studio and released in the year of the Olympic Games. For many inexperienced Soviet listeners, this was a slight cultural shock - such a "proprietary", "Western" sound at that time was not given out, perhaps, by any Soviet ensemble, perhaps with rare exceptions.
Of course, there are no comparisons. Musical snobs accused the Balts of imitating the French and Germans - Space, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre. However, to the credit of the young and daring Latvian musicians, it is worth recognizing that although they followed the beaten path, borrowed and interpreted a lot, the product was given out quite original, original.
At the end of the seventies, two people met at the Latvian Conservatory - a young student Janis Lusens and a well-known sound engineer in the republic, Alexander Griva, who records classics at the studio.
A talented guy attracted an experienced specialist with non-standard ideas and good taste, and therefore they quickly found a common language. Both had a desire to create something similar to what Didier Marouani was doing at that time in France - electronic, rhythmic, synth.
Janis was assigned the task of composing compositions and performing them on keyboards. Alexander became, in fact, a producer in the modern sense of the word. Then this term was not widespread in the USSR, and therefore on the cover of the album he was listed as an artistic director, and Lusens was a musical one.
By the way, the guys released the record for a big pull. If it weren’t for Janis’s dad (at that time he headed the Riga branch of Melodiya), then we might not have met this musical phenomenon ...
In addition to the leader Lusens, the first composition of the Zodiac rock group included his fellow students and friends from the conservatory: guitarist Andris Silis, bassist Ainars Ashmanis, drummer Andris Reinis and 18-year-old daughter of Alexander Griva - Zane, who played the piano and performed on the first disc few vocal parts.
From the very beginning, the musicians of the newly appeared ensemble focused on studio work. The compositions were based on the passages of Lusens, who used a bunch of polyphonic synthesizers, as well as a celesta, to implement his ideas.
The following is noteworthy: the fact that many Western colleagues of the Zodiac performed on synthesizers and drum machines, the Latvians tried to display with electronics mixed with "live" instruments - and this was captivating.
On the first disc of "Disco Alliance" only 7 pieces were recorded, but what! In fact, it turned out to be a collection of hits, where each track is a real gem.
On the wave of popularity
In the Soviet Union in the early eighties, the Zodiac sounded "from every iron": from the windows of apartments, at dances, in television and radio programs, in documentary and feature films. Naturally, popular science films about space exploration were accompanied by Baltic synth-rock.
Well, the musicians themselves were brought to Star City, where they communicated with astronauts, engineers and other specialists. As Janis Lusens admitted, these meetings became a kind of creative stimulus for himself and his comrades.
In the first year, the disc "Disco Alliance" was the best-selling in Latvia, and then numerous re-releases of "Melody" brought the circulation to several million copies. And already the number of self-made recordings on cassettes and reels was beyond counting! The album was sold not only in the Union, but also in Japan, Austria, Finland ...
In the wake of the success of the debut work, it was decided to immediately take up writing the next program. At the same time, there were changes in the composition: only Lusens and drummer Andris Reinis remained from the original. And in 1982, the second disc of the Zodiac, Music in the Universe, with the traditional seven tracks, appeared on the shelves of stores.
Although the musical material turned out to be more serious than the previous one, in the style of space rock, the elements of danceability were preserved. However, the initial enthusiasm, present on the debut album, disappeared somewhere on the second disc. That did not prevent publishers from selling a circulation of one and a half million layers in a year.
In the same 82, the ensemble arrived with performances in Moscow as part of the pop program "Youth of the Baltic". This performance was held as an integral part of the Moscow Stars festival in honor of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the USSR.
After that, Lusens was offered to start an all-Union tour, but he refused. After all, for this it was necessary to leave the conservatory, which, in turn, threatened to be drafted into the army. Such a prospect did not appeal to the refined nature of the young musician and composer.
Stylistic searches
And the group disappeared after that. Nothing was heard from her for three years. Then "Melody" put out a record for sale under the brand name "Zodiac", but with the music of Viktor Vlasov for films with a military theme. Only one familiar name was listed on the cover - Alexander Griva. What it was is still unknown. Janis Lusens himself vaguely explains that this has nothing to do with the true "Zodiac" ...
Well, as for the "natural" ensemble, its next "coming" took place in 1989. The time has come when Janis got tired of making cosmic sounds from his keyboards. He turned to art rock and recorded an album with completely different musicians - a dedication to his beloved Riga and its architectural sights.
By the way, on the cover, in addition to the names of the album and the group, the number 3 was clearly depicted.
Two years later, the ensemble presented to the audience the following work - "Clouds". It was already a completely different "Zodiac", with male and female singing, violin. The public remained indifferent to him.
Return of the Zodiac
Eighteen years after the announcement of the dissolution, Janis decided to resume the activities of the once popular group. Nostalgia is not only homesickness, but also sadness for bygone carefree times.
The 50-year-old man united his friends in the revived Zodiac, in addition, his son joined the team. The team began to roll around the former republics of the Soviet Union with concerts, which performed old, but beloved by the people, material.
In 2015, the Pacific Time disc was released - with several painfully familiar militants in fresh processing and two new releases.
Band discography
- "Disco Alliance (1980);
- "Music in the Universe" (1982);
- "Music from the Films" (1985) - entry into the official discography is a big question;
- In memoriam ("For memory") (1989);
- Mākoņi ("Clouds") (1991);
- Dedication ("Initiation") (1996);
- Mirušais gadsimts ("Dead Century") (2006);
- Best ("Best") (2008);
- Pacific Time ("Pacific Time") (2015).
