Угонщица (The One Who Wins)

Сквозняки (Wind Drafts)

Сама (By Myself)

Над пропастью во ржи (Catch Me in The Rye Fields)

Ключи (Keys)

Войди в меня (Enter Me)

Ты мне нужен (I Need You)

Золото любви (Golden Love)

Нежданный гость (Unwanted Guest)

Я тебя отвоюю (I Shall Win You Over)

Безответная любовь (Unanswered / Unrequited Love)

Привет, Андрей! (Hi, Adrei!)

The album, Угонщица, pronounced Ugonshitza … is in my professional artistic opinion The Best Pop Album of All Time. In the US, and via the Grammys, mostly US or English singing artists are recognized, which is ridiculously unfair. Irina Allegrova (Russian Dramatic Pop Diva, Imperatrizta of Russian Music), like Yma Sumac (Peruvian 5-octave mega-singer) are world class music artists who deserve Lifetime Achievement Awards.

What makes this album a thematic masterpiece are multiple counterparts. This is Irina’s sophomore album, and a collaboration between incredible top writers and producers .. the Super Igors (Krutoi and Nikolaev - of Pugacheva fame), the exceptionally talented Victor Chaika, lady poets Rima Kazakova, Larisa Rubalskaya, the late and great mega poet, Marina Tsvetaeva … and old music greats Dobrinin and Irina’s God-Father of Music, Oscar Feltsman. This incredible mixture of Russia’s best of the best of all ages helped create this organic masterpiece.

The 1994/1995 release was mastered AAD, and thus has an exceptionally warm sound, Irina’s daughter Lala provided background vocals on some of the tracks. The original Jeff Records / Russian Supply releases (4 versions) include different mixes and masters of tracks 1, 6, 8, and 12 than the Warner Music Russia digital release of 2021, which you can enjoy via Spotify, iTunes Music and additional music service platforms.

I would love to one day see a CD and Vinyl reissue, featuring the full original master, along with the varied digital updates of the above mentioned tracks, the vast amount of versions and remixes of the title track, and potential demos.

Tracks 3, 6 & 9 also feature additional spoken / other ad-libs via the original masters.

My favorite song of all time is track 10, which I had the great privilege to ask Irina about. The song was done in 2 takes, the first utilized for the music video (one of my Top 5 favorite music videos of all time), and the second is the one untouched on the album, both the original master and the digital album have the same perfect version (Take 2). Irina was in tears when she went to the studio due to her Dearest Father, Alexander’s (a great stage director and artist) (God Bless His Soul) passing and the meaning she put in was a Soulful, Spiritual, exceptionally deep and platonic one into her performance, and vocal. In fact, it was Irina who asked Igor Krutoi to write the music for the poem she chose which fit her exceptionally strong and heightened emotions of the greatest platonic type of love. Therefore, no cover of this song can ever win over the original … it is encapsulated in pure magic. If you notice, the epilogue of the track is a certain type of magic saying, repeated thrice and the power of it is unparalleled, like a Soul Spell.

- Марина Цветаева

The thematic record moves in the following storyline: first the character wins over her love singlehanded by driving him literally off in a car (a #1 Hit with lots of remixes through the years) … then during a quarrel - she calms her lover by relating to him that instead of adultery (storms) — there are just misunderstandings (wind drafts), next she awaits his return with a phone atop her pillow, later there is a honeymoon period of completely falling in love as if from a rye field which ends abruptly, then a sort of separation delay with keys, an incredibly sensual song, “Enter Me, Enter My Dreams” with a backbeat that sounds like a moving bed truly gets into the heat of things, followed by my second favorite track on the record, I Need You (with a subtle jazz flare), the flakes of golden love come off in the next track (the original version being my favorite of the two), then Feltsman’s playful warning family track, followed by The Song of all time, I Shall Win You Over (“from all land, from all night, plural”). The incredibly melodic and poetic Unrequited Love (see Irina’s incredible Pesnya Goda performance with the flower for this one), completes the album along with the upbeat and super playful, Hi, Andrei! (Now a major Russian TV show features this track as the concept theme / theme instrumental).

The backbone of the record is the concept of spiritually, soulfully, and masterfully winning over what is true and truly beloved, whether on a physical plane (moving symbol, car/materialism), to the God level and the power to win over death, as related in Track 10.

I remember being 15, in 1995, right after Irina winning the Ovation Award for Best Pop Singer in Russia, Allegrova had her first tour in the US. I had a front row seat and met her briefly after. Her last encore song was the one I wrote above about, track 10. Even though I’ve seen many of her exceptional live shows via front row since, that first performance of Ya Tebya Otvouu still lives like a Fire of Inspiration within my Strong Soul.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

10 Stars out of 5

With Great Love,

M. Tank (pictured with The Singer)

MikhailTank.com

@MikhailTank