For any Russian, Boris Grebenschikov (BG) will need no introdution: As the governing genius behind the category-defying Russian rock-reggae-blues-folk collective Aquarium (Akvarium), he's been a dominant figure on the Russian music scene for nearly 30 years. For Americans, however--who will probably only be familiar with BG as the "perestroika poster-boy" who released one quickly-forgotten English language album in the U.S. in the late1980's (the Dave Stewart-produced arena-rock travesty "Radio Silence"; easily the worst album in BG's entire, enormous discography)--this new compilation provides a good introduction to Russia's finest songwriter. The tracks on this album (culled from a half dozen albums released during the early-to-mid 1990's) have been chosen to showcase Grebenschikov's riffs on the Russian folk and bardic traditions, and include a handful covers of some of his influences from earlier eras of Russian music, such as Bulat Okudzhava and Alexander Vertinskii. Although the tracks chosen present only one facet of a multi-faceted talent--as adept at blistering rock-n-roll as he is at the mellower, folk-tinged tunes on display here--it's still a great place for neophytes to discover one of Russia's treasures, and the songs chosen are consistent enough in sound that those not in-the-know would never guess that it's a compilation of previously released material from various sources. Liner notes in four languages (Russian, English, French and German) provide guidance for those who don't know Russian: They don't begin to capture the poetry of the Russian originals, but at least they capture the general sense of classics such as "The Fastest Airplane, " "Dubrovskii," and the (awkward-sounding in English) "Mares of Reckless Abandon." Kudos to Naxos for putting BG in print in the U.S. after all these years!