The Best High

Vladimir Rekshan’s work (formerly the creator of what was arguably one of the first rock bands that sang in Russian—the band was called “Saint Petersburg”) is divided into two parts. The first—“Kайф”—is memoirs stretched out across time and pages; the second—no “kayf”—is thrillers, which in one way or another still revolve around rock ’n’ roll.

After appearing in the March issue of the magazine “Neva” in 1988, the small novel “Kayf” became the first of its kind in which rock music was spoken about from the inside. And this look was honest and uncompromising.

Everything was called by its proper names—there was no romance in the story, but behind the boundless love for rock music, broken destinies could be seen. Also, a second meaning of the word “kayf” was revealed to the fullest: drugs, alcohol—and, as a consequence, a long martyrology. At that time, the novella became almost a cult text, and many provincial rockers, in one way or another, checked their feelings and their world against “Kayf.”