the summer, they traveled to Kiev to make a film with Sergei Lysenko called Konets Kanikul, "End of Summer Break," (23 min., IMDb ID 2290966). The film consists of a story line that sequences three of Kino's songs followed by the aforementioned song. In July, they performed at the Moscow Palace of Culture Engineering along with Aquarium and Alisa. Afterwards, the three bands released a compilation called Red Wave. The album sold 10,000 copies in California, becoming the first release of Soviet rock music in the West. Gruppa krovi and critical acclaim (1986–1988) From 1986 to 1988, Tsoi began to act in more movies and continued to write songs for Kino. The film The Needle (), which he starred in, brought the band to even more prominence, and their 1988 album Gruppa krovi () brought them to the pinnacle of their popularity. Kasparyan had married the American Joanna Stingray, who brought the group high-quality equipment from abroad. Thus, the technical equipment Kino used on this album far exceeded the equipment they had access to on their earlier albums, and it was their first record technically on par with European and American recordings. Russian journalist Alexander Zhitinsky called Gruppa krovi one of the best works of Russian music and said that it elevated Russian rock to a new level. The album was also acclaimed in the West, where it was released in 1989 by Capitol Records and lauded by American critic Robert Christgau. Noch was also released on vinyl by Melodiya in 1988. Kino performed on central television in the Soviet Union, and Assa, a 1987 film featuring Russian rock, showed Tsoi performing "Khochu peremen!" () in front of a crowd of thousands. After this, Kino's popularity swept the country, and their music captured the minds of the Soviet youth of the 1980s. Zvezda po imeni Solntse and global popularity (1989–1990) Soon after gaining national fame, Kino began to receive invitations to perform from all over the Eastern Bloc and even from some foreign countries. They participated in a charity contest in Denmark to raise money for relief from the earthquake in Armenia and performed at the largest French rock festival in Bourges and at the Soviet-Italian festival Back in the U.S.S.R. in Melpignano. In 1989, they travelled to New York and held a premiere of The Needle, as well as a small concert. In 1989, they released Zvezda po imeni