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Out of print for more than 30 years, The Bolshoi’s debut, 1986’s, Friends is being reissued via Beggars Arkive and pressed on white vinyl. Available from 12 July it can be preordered here
Based in London, the band consisted of Trevor Tanner (vocals, guitar), Nick Chown (bass), Jan Kalicki (drums), and Paul Clark (keyboards). With powerful live shows The Bolshoi built a substantial following before disbanding in 1988. The debut album Friends contains some of the band’s best known work, including hits Sunday Morning and Away (that latter a staple of many student discos).
Althought often categorised plainly as goth, The Bolshoi were different. Their songs were dark and subversive, but on debut album Friends – they combined genres and styles to find a sound which was entirely their own. Whilst Trevor Tanner oozed dark, pensive lyrics, he was backed up by inventive pop-goth guitar, the band were nearly impossible to categorise. althought that didn’t stop the music press; Melody Maker saying, “The Bolshoi’s strength lies not only in the clever use of knobs and strings and keys and things, the juxtaposition of profanity and purity, innocence and lies, but also in the dank, darkly secret passages of their will.”
The 10 tracks on Friends have been remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road. Sean is celebrated for his remastering work for artists such as The Beatles, The Ramones, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Tina Turner and The Sex Pistols.
Released by Beggars Arkive, the catalogue and archive department for past and present Beggars Group labels and artists, including 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade, XL Recordings along with legacy labels including Beggars Banquet, too pure, Wiiija, Situation Two and more.
The Beggars label began in 1977 and has over 40 years of catalogue to work with. Over the last ten years, Beggars Arkive have reissued albums by Bauhaus, Gary Numan, The Cult, The Fall, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, The Mortal Coil, Freeez, Buffalo Tom, The Charlatans and many, many more. Beggars Arkive releases are done in full cooperation with the artists, oftentimes with them leading the charge. The Arkive itself is also a physical archive space, containing a wealth of Beggars Group musical and visual history. The Arkive as a label are continually working on maintaining, growing and cataloguing the archive, now a great source of materials and a perfect space for research.
You can preorder the album here
All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him on X (Twitter) as @iainkey
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