‘Rainbow Warriors’ Smashes Sales Records in the Soviet Union

“Rainbow Warriors” was one of the biggest-selling albums of the year even before it hit the U.S. record shops this week.

That’s because the collection--a two-record compilation featuring previously released tracks by more than two dozen of today’s most prized rock acts--has sold 4 million copies in the Soviet Union since it was released there on March 6.

The reason for the phenomenal Soviet sales: “Rainbow Warriors” is a breakthrough in a country that has been notoriously slow to accept contemporary rock.

While the collection is still not a total survey of what’s happening today in rock (there’s no heavy metal, rap or post-punk), the album does represent the first time Soviet record stores have carried an album that showcases what might best be described as “up-to-date rock.”

Until now, rock albums--which have to be released in any quantity through Melodiya, the government record label--have either been decade-old collections by the likes of the Beatles or Moody Blues or the special Paul McCartney package of ‘50s rockers.

By contrast, the vinyl and cassette versions of “Rainbow Warriors” offers 27 selections, including such socially conscious works as U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love),” Peter Gabriel’s “Red Rain,” Sting’s “Love Is the Seventh Wave,” R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It,” Lou Reed’s “Last Great American Whale” and Bruce Hornsby’s “Look Out Any Window.” In addition, the CD version contains four additional tracks, including Hothouse Flowers’ “Hard Rain” and Robbie Robertson’s “Somewhere Down the Crazy River.”

That sales explosion--another million copies are expected to be sold in the Soviet Union by Christmas--is exactly the excitement envisioned by the album’s sponsor, Greenpeace, the international environmental advocacy organization.

“We always had a lot of rock artists giving donations, but we hadn’t actually approached them for support before,” Cornelia Durrant, chairman of Greenpeace in England and one of the key figures behind the album, said during a recent interview in London.

“Greenpeace is very keyed to creating our own publicity, so we haven’t needed to use celebrities in the past, but we felt we needed their help this time. These rock artists are literally worshipped by young people in Russia and we saw them as our ticket into the country. It was a way to raise funds for the Greenpeace chapter there and draw attention to our goals.”

Besides contributing tracks to the album, various bands--most notably R.E.M. on its recent arena tour--have been allowing Greenpeace volunteers to distribute informational material at their concerts.

This involvement, in effect, has made Greenpeace the rock community’s new charity of choice, assuming the position held in recent years by Amnesty International. The latter involvement was climaxed by an unprecedented five-continent tour featuring Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and Sting.

Ironically, Durrant said, the rash of rock benefits--from Live Aid through the Amnesty tour--had made Greenpeace wary of turning to the musicians for support.

“The more people use a particular device or method for promoting issues, the less effective it becomes over time. People get a bit bored with it. It’s like, ‘Oh, here come the rock stars again . . . ‘ and they tune out,” she said.

But Ian Flooks, one of England’s leading rock agents and the album’s executive producer, said the rock connection was perfect for what the organization wanted to do in the Soviet Union.

“We wanted to find a way of raising money for Greenpeace outside of any government influence . . . as many individual donations from as large a number of people as possible,” he said.

“Greenpeace had looked into doing a record a few years ago, but it did not seem possible. But this time, we found nothing but cooperation on the part of the Russians. Once we had it approved, we realized there was no reason why we shouldn’t use it in as many countries as possible . . . raising more funds and raising awareness on a worldwide level. My objective is to make this the first record ever released in every country in the world.”

Sales in most countries aren’t expected to match the hot pace of the Soviet Union figures, but they should be strong--given the line-up that also includes such names as Sting, the Grateful Dead, Talking Heads, Simple Minds and John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was released in the United States by Geffen Records, and sales are expected to reach the 1 million level.

DRIVIN’ N’ CRYIN’/LINGERIE--There’s a song (“Honeysuckle Blue”) on the new album by the rock group Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ that is so wonderfully evocative that it alone was enough reason to check out the Atlanta quartet’s appearance Thursday night at the Lingerie, where it opened for the recently reviewed House of Freaks. The song is a bittersweet tale of sad regret about lost ideals and endangered environment that has the fresh breath of a strong, original pop vision.

But Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ showed little of that distinctive style in the opening two-thirds of its hour set at the club, serving up instead some undernourished Led Zeppelin power-rock and some overstated Tom Petty roots-rock.

The colorlessness of the music was underscored when the band, led by singer-songwriter Kevn Kinney, finally got around to “Honeysuckle Blue” and followed it with an equally rewarding “Straight to Hell.” The latter is a country-accented story--reminiscent of the Flying Burrito Brothers in its sense of naked emotion--about a young boy being cast aside by his family and his town.

There is such a gap between these songs and the rest of the band’s set that the band ought to sit down and listen to a tape of the show and see which direction it wants to follow: the mostly colorless hard rock or the more engaging and original tone of “Honeysuckle Blue” and “Straight to Hell.” If the vote ends up a tie, count this as an offer to cast the deciding vote.

LIVE ACTION: Elton John will be at the Forum on Aug. 15 and 16. Tickets go on sale Monday. . . . Tone Loc, Paula Abdul, Milli Vanilli and Was (Not Was) will be part of the Club MTV concert Aug. 13 at the Forum. Tickets go on sale Sunday. . . . Tickets also go on sale Sunday for Ringo Starr’s Sept. 2 stop at the Pacific Amphitheatre and his Sept. 3 date at the Greek Theatre. His band will include Joe Walsh, Nils Lofgren, Jim Keltner and Clarence Clemons. . . . Carole King headlines the Pacific on Aug. 16 and the Universal Amphitheatre on Aug. 17, while Sheena Easton will be there on Aug. 18. Tickets for all three shows go on sale Sunday. . . . Maria McKee will be at Bogart’s on July 29 and at the Coach House on July 30 and 31.