If you have myspace profile, probably you have recieved friend request from some Gagarin Brothers and even more probably afterwords you got a comment from them, saying “From Russia with Love”. Well, they seem to be a little bit too annoying, but they ARE certainly a very good band. And they didn’t pay me to say that!

To be honest, I was not in that optimistic mood, when I turned their cd on and heard the introduction (in Russian language, naturally), which says that Yuri Gagarin is an astronaut, who became the first human in outer space.

But my attitude changed when I heard the first song. Wow, what a voice; and what a quality of playing! The main vocal is accompanied by guitar, upright bass, drums and… bayan (kind of Russian accordeon)! So it doesn’t sound rockabilly, maybe jazzy pop… and for those who want to argue with me and say that it is not twist, I am pretty sure it is! It is Soviet Russian Twist. Like the name of the cd, just to the point calls it “Twist Behind The Iron Curtain”.

The list of songs, known to any Russian speaking person, is a nostalgic collection of music from 1960’s movies. I was not even born then, but it happens that I was raised while those movies were on tv. Beautiful stories, full of romantism and patriotism, will touch your heart (if you can understand anything out of it… because all songs are exclusively in Russian) and maybe even bring some tears in your eyes.

I don’t know if this CD can cause any interest of non-former Soviet Union inhabitants, especially rockabillies, but it must attract attention of those, who are interested in the culture of the 60's “behind the iron curtain”. Fifty years ago you were not allowed to look behind it, now you finally have a chance to do that… and do that through Russian “eyes”. So good luck and I am sure you will enjoy it!

P.S. Kalashnikov and vodka are not included!