100 Tape Albums of Soviet Rock // Chapter 3: The Great Combinator (Pt. 5)

Final part of our translation of Chapter 3 from Alexandr Kushnir’s book 100 Tapes of Soviet Rock (100 Магнитоальбомов Советского Рока). Archives can be found here.

Thanks to everyone supportive of this venture.

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Tropillo‘s home had somewhat decent stereo equipment. There was one small matter left to resolve – finding a place for a studio.  First attempt took place in 77 when Andrei decided to create a studio in the building of the psychological faculty of LGU. Сalculation made by the engineer of human souls went deep.

Annual university budget had an expenditure chapter tied to scientific research in the psychology field. It would  be a death sentence for a University to not spend the money  – next year’s budget would’ve been cut exactly to the sum unspent. Situation was rather delicate: how to move cashless currency in the direction that got even a bit of a relation to psychology? This issue was solved by Tropillo at the level of  math problem involving verbal count.

In order to get involved somehow with the long-suffering treasury of the psych department, Tropillo started working at the faculty where he carrying out hard-to-pronounce tasks such as “research into safety of war operators”. Using such scientific innovations as a shield Andrei Vladimirovich gained the trust of University administration and systematically proceeded to collect money from the accounting.

Tropillo was counting not on his demonic charm alone. With the help of specialists from Giprokino institute he designed the studio and came up with the business plan for its furnishing. The only thing he couldn’t handle was the monetary section necessary to buy Hungarian STM magnetophones. Tropillo repeatedly went to Moscow in order to meet the right people, took them out to restaurants and plied them with cognac, but he was unable to extort the foreign currency out of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education.

Later Andrei will repeatedly take advantage of chaos at the University Treasury, directing state money towards the matter of global importance – the development of Soviet rock. For now, however, following the psych department fiasco Tropillo decided he can start his own studio outside the University.

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End of Chapter 3