Снова в СССР

Снова в СССР (a transliteration of the record name as on the cover, the phonetic transcription is "Snova V SSSR", it is also known as "The Russian Album") is the seventh solo studio album by Paul McCartney ("Пол Маккартни" on the cover), originally released in 1988 exclusively in the Soviet Union. The album consists entirely of covers, mainly of rock and roll oldies (similar to John Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll). With the addition of an extra track, the album was released internationally in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Background and recording
Following the tepid reaction to his 1986 studio album Press to Play, McCartney spent much of the first half of 1987 plotting his next album. In July, he got the urge to get back to his roots by singing some of his favourite hits from the 1950s and over the course of two days, with three other session musicians, McCartney recorded twenty-two songs, thirteen of which would be chosen for the eventual album release in the USSR the following year.

During the recording sessions 22 songs were recorded, but originally only 11 were put on the album. A second Soviet pressing, released in December 1988, increased the song total to 13 by adding "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday" and "Summertime". The 1991 worldwide CD release contained 14 tracks by including "I'm in Love Again" (first released in 1989 as one of the B-sides to McCartney's "This One" single) as a bonus track. Two more tracks from the sessions saw official release: the blues jam "I Wanna Cry" as another of the "This One" B-sides and "It's Now or Never" on the NME double-LP/CD The Last Temptation of Elvis in England in February 1990.

Six songs from the sessions remain unreleased: "I Saw Her Standing There" (Beatles song), "Take This Hammer" (Lonnie Donegan), "Cut Across Shorty" (Eddie Cochran), "Poor Boy" (Elvis Presley), "Lend Me Your Comb" (Carl Perkins) and "No Other Baby" (The Vipers). The last of these would be re-recorded by McCartney for 1999's Run Devil Run.

Album title and cover
The title Снова в СССР is Russian for "Back in the U.S.S.R." – a famous Lennon–McCartney song from the Beatles' 1968 double album commonly known as the White Album. The title is often taken as if written in Latin letters ("choba b cccp"), but it is Russian, written in Cyrillic, transliterated Snova v SSSR, and pronounced in Russian roughly snova v ess-ess-ess-er.

The cover of the album was designed by Michael Ross. McCartney's photograph in a red star, the USSR's symbol, was taken by his wife Linda and was first featured inside the gatefold album cover of Ram.

Release
McCartney intended CHOBA B CCCP as a present for Soviet fans who were generally unable to obtain his legitimate recordings, often having to make do with copies; they would, for a change, have an album that people in other countries would be unable to obtain. Accordingly, McCartney never intended the album to be sold outside the USSR, and mirroring the situation as it had been within the Soviet Union, it was a popular import or bootleg album in other countries. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Choba B CCCP was given a worldwide release in 1991, reaching number 63 in the UK and number 109 in the US. Curiously, the title is misprinted on this release as СНОВА Б СССР (Б is the Cyrillic equivalent of the letter B in the Latin alphabet, rather than the B, equivalent to V, of the original).

The Russian album includes liner notes in Russian, from text that was originally in English by Roy Car of the NME.

Rhapsody praised the album, calling it one of their favourite cover albums.

Track listing

 * 11-track edition


 * 13-track edition


 * CD edition

The digital download edition has the same track listing and running order as the original 11-track vinyl release.
 * Digital download edition

Personnel

 * Paul McCartney – bass guitar, guitars, vocals
 * Mick Gallagher – keyboards, piano
 * Nick Garvey – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Mick Green – guitar
 * Henry Spinetti – drums and percussion
 * Chris Whitten – drums