Magma

1973

The piece is largely the same as the final release, though with a stripped down ensemble. The mix is very different than the proper release, with the emphasis on the drums and the vocals, rather than the melodic instruments (horns, guitar, etc.) and the vocals. Also, despite its polarizing effect on listeners, MDK proper doesn't really bring out the haunting power of its story as well as MK. Other small differences with the final release are present: subtle baroque organ flashes, an overall more restrained Klaus Blasquiz, and the omission of the enigmatic outro from the proper release.

This is raw, no-nonsense "zeuhl", free of commercial concerns and band politics (in these respects, making the album similar to Wurdah Itah), and it serves the band's legacy as well as any other album.

Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh: It begins with a doom-leaden (and henceforth discarded) introduction. The piano strikes a menacing bass pedal, and from somewhere deep inside your speakers emerge more pianos, building slowly, until a wall of ivory noise fills the spectrum. It slowly begins to recede, when suddenly Vander begins his announcement. Barely containing himself, he ends with the ultimate zeuhl proclamation of "Kobaia Iss De Hundin!!", and you're off. MDK proper begins at this point. Pounding drums, wirey organ fills, and the soon familiar strains of Vander's motives. Vocals are all over the album, but seem to run out of gas near the very end of the record; after continuous singing for 35 minutes, the singers are easy to forgive.

Klaus Blasquiz:
vocals, percussion

Stella Vander:
vocals

The Choir of Storchhaus

René Garber "STÜNDËHR":
bass clarinet, vocals

Jean-Luc Manderlier:
keyboards

Jean-pierre Lembert:
bass

Christian Vander:
drums, vocals, organ, percussion

1973

Christian Vander, drummer and leader of the band, called his music 'zeuhl.' His music documented the end of the world, and a kind of battle of the planets. He also invented his own language to sing the story because he felt no existing one was strong enough. It was a concept so bombastic, it could only have happened in the 70s in France. This album is the third in an intended 9-album account of the tale.

If you can get past the pretensions (good luck), then you will be treated to some pretty odd music. On MDK, the sound is something like Carmina Burana played by a prog band, or the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" put on by a very serious cult, replete with a backing choir. Vander favors odd-metered, repetitive riffs that also remind of Bartok or Stravinsky. It's pretty dated, but it's atleast as much fun as Syd Barrett or Frank Zappa.

Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh: Although there are technically seven tracks on the CD, you're supposed to listen to it all the way through, as there are no breaks. The fourth section, "Da Zeuhl wortz Mekanik" is a good summation of the entire CD. Pretentious, strange, and just a little bit silly--but endearing in a "Planet of the Apes" kind of way.

1974

Although listed as a Vander solo album, this definitely continues the Magma lineage, and uses the core of that band. The music is in the style of M.D.K., and the last track on the CD even quotes music from that preceding album. Repetitive, odd-metered motives, massed Orff-styled choral voices, and precise drumwork from Vander.

Since there are fewer players than on the last album, the sound is much more crisp and clean. A great introduction to this, the most heralded, Magma style.

Wurdah Itah: Like, M.D.K., you're supposed to listen to this all the way through, as there are no breaks. The sound is slightly lighter than the preceding album, and in general, is more refined. FYI: the title translates to "Dead Earth" in Vander's Kobaien, so keep this off the turntable at the family reunion.

Klotsz ZASPÏAAHK
(Klaus Blasquiz):
vocals, percussions

Thaud ZAÏA
(Stella Vander):
vocals

Wahrgenuhr REUGEHLEMAESTEH
(Jannik Top):
bass

Zëbehn STRAÏN DË GEUSTAAH
(Christian Vander):
piano, electric piano, drums, vocals

1975

While live-doubles from the 70s may seem like a tired cliche, this one lives up to the hype. The band is full form, tearing through all phases of their career with amazing precision and inspiration. For the first time, the players' jazz backgrounds come to the fore, and the overall sound is akin to fusion bands like Return To Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

For newcomers, this is probably the best place to start. The first disc contains the complete "Kohntarkosz," thought by many to be the group's finest piece. On the second disc, tunes like "Hhai" and "Lihns" showcase Vander's melodic side. Throughout, the sound quality is outstanding, so if you only buy one Magma album in your lifetime...

Kohntarkosz, pts. 1&2: Another Magma epic, but this one is a little less doom-leaden than MDK. Begins with the cry, "Hamatai!," and from then commences an inspired performance of a piece with many climaxes. If you aren't really into long prog-rock songs, or think the idea of French people with guitars is just a little "fruity," then this probably isn't for you. Truthfully, the operatic singing, frantic, wailing violin, and spaztic, growling bass put off more than a few prog fans. This piece is something like Can with more chops, and a flare for the dramatic: much extended grooving, impressionistic, celestial keyboard washes, and an overall feeling of fantasy and science fiction. In a word, Magma.

Hhai: Much more down-to-earth tune that encapsules the apparent joy with which the group performs. Up-tempo fusionoid 6/8 groove with Ponty-esque violin melody, but the real attraction here is Vander's own operatic warbling which leads off the tune. If you're not turned off at his point, you're hooked.

Christian Vander:
drums, vocals

Klaus Blasquiz:
vocals

Stella Vander:
vocals

Bernard Paganotti:
bass

Gabriel Federow:
guitar

Didier Lockwood:
violin

Benoît Widemann:
keyboards

Jean-Pol Asseline:
keyboards

1976

Vander relinquished some control over the group for this album, only writing about half the music. From the start, you know things are different, to which the Casio-generated, psuedo-Latin beat peppering the title track attests. Also, synthesizers are used throughout the album, to varying degrees of success.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the album lies in the compositions of bassist Jannick Top. "Soleil D'Ork" and especially "De Futura" perfectly capture the simultaneous joy and doom of all the best Magma music.

Weidorje: Written by bassist Bernard Paganotti. Much use of synthesizers dates this tune, and the rather mellow, optimistic vibe (which it shares with the title track) does seem uncharacteristic of a band known for singing about the end of the world.

De Futura: 18-minute, funky tour-de-force from Jannik Top. This piece practically invents today's metal-zeuhl scene (a la groups like Happy Family and Ruins) with its crushing bass and heavy, syncopated drums. That is not to say that it's chaotic or disjunct, but there is defintely a primal aggression at work here that Magma rarely approached. Fierce and fun.

Christian Vander:
percussion, vocals, keyboards, drums, piano

Jannik Top:
bass, brass arrangements, vocals, synthesizer

Klaus Blasquiz, Stella Vander, "Lisa", Lucille Cullaz, Catherine Szpira:
vocals

Pierre Dutour:
trumpet

Alain Hatot:
saxophone, flutes

Bernard Paganotti:
bass, vocals, percussion

Patrick Gauthier, Michel Graillier, Benoît Widemann:
keyboards

1977

The music on this album is brighter than the previous album, emphasizing rhythm, lead vocals, and a fat bass sound over murky group vocals and extended zeuhl suites. Lead vocals, in fact, are handled exclusively by Vander, with usual Magma frontman Klaus Blasquiz vastly underutilized. Fans of the earlier material tend to criticize this album for its lack of a 'traditional' zeuhl sound in favor of a funk/fusion/zeuhl hybrid, and while it is markedly different than the preceding albums, it is one of the most exciting, and is certainly one of the most accessible.

The Last Seven Minutes: Burning zeuhl-funk, with some of Christian Vander's most explosive drumming on record. Although they weren't singing about interplanetary war anymore (although it sounds like they're still in Kobaien), the band never lost its intensity. This is getting closer to hard-edged fusion, a la groups such as Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever, but nothing that features Vander's idiosyncratic wail is going to sound derivative. Fast, furious, and funky.

Dondaï: Slow jam, Magma style -- if Barry White had sung this, nobody would blink an eye. Seriously, this is fairly calm by the group's standards, and for a while, they actually seem capable of presenting relatively straightforward stuff. Some nicely restrained drum work, soothing piano and backing vocals, and the omnipresent trill of Christian Vander.

Zebëhn Straïn De Geustah Stoht Wurdah Glao
(Christian Vander):
Lead vocals, drums, percussion, piano, Rhodes, Chamberlin

Stoht Ürgon
(Guy Delacroix):
Earth bass

Wurd Gorgo
(Guy Delacroix):
Air bass

Klotsz Zaspiaahk:
(Klaus Blasquiz):
vocals

Kahal Negumuraaht
(Benoit Widemann):
piano, Rhodes, mini moog, Oberheim polyphonic

Thaud Zaïa
(Stella Vander):
vocals

Sïhnn Daeweless
(Lisa Bois):
vocals

Tony Russo:
trumpet

Jacques Bolgnesi:
trombone

1998

Unbelievably enough, Magma did release a few singles during their heyday, presumably to drum up interest in more commercial corners than underground prog circles could muster. The band edited a couple of album epics down to radio-length, and offered some otherwise unavailable short tracks. Despite their efforts, mass popularity was not Magma's fate, and this collection serves mostly as an odd, pseudo-schizophrenic sampling of the band's sound.

Perhaps the strangest music on the album is the embryonic version of "MDK". It begins as a lounge-y bossanova (no kidding), with ultra-mellow zeuhl-scat by Blasquiz -- maybe it's a joke, but in this piece? by this band? Anyways, after a short exposition, the more familiar strains of the epic appear, but the damage has already been done. It's apparent that "MDK" needed a considerable amount of midwifing before its final realization.

Tendeï Kobah: The first three minutes of "Rïah Sahïltaahk" from the 1971 LP 1001° Centigrade. The actual piece contained glimpses of the martial, alien zeuhlscapes that would be the group's signature. Why they thought it had pop potential is another story.

Mekanik Machine: Easily the best track here, this is an uptempo funk-zeuhl workout from 1974. Jannik Top's bass takes center stage, growling and gutteral, and Vander hammers down the beat like there's no tomorrow. Add a pinch of stinging electric guitar and some major operatic wail, and you've got a jam that almost redeems the disc.

Christian Vander:
drums, vocals

Louis Toesca:
trumpet

François Cahen, Gérard Bikialo, Michel Graillier:
piano

Francis Moze, Jannik Top:
bass

Teddy Lasry:
soprano sax

Jerry Seffer:
tenor sax

Brian Godding:
guitar

Klaus Blasquiz:
vocals

Stella Vander:
vocals

1998

Magma reformed in the late 90s to perform several concerts (mostly in Europe and Japan). These concerts culminated in early 2000 with shows celebrating the band's 30th anniversary. The songs on this set were recorded in November of '98, and document that version of the touring band.

While Magma was dormant for most of the 90s, Offering (Christian Vander's post-Magma project) was not. The music here (particularly "Ëktah") is reminiscent of Offering in that it eschews the dynamic repetition and dark overtones of the band's 70s work in favor of light melodicism and generally straight-forward instrumental textures. In short, Vander seems to have favored the more upbeat, inspirational aspects of Magma this time around.

Floë Ëssi: Written by bassist Philippe Bussonnet. Uptempo, zeuhl-fusion tune featuring classic group vocals that are unfortunately buried in the mix. Bass and guitar are emphasized, playing nimble countermelody to a tune that could have easily fit on the first half of Üdü Wüdü, or Attahk. The song is very short (under three minutes), and seems to stop in midstream at an apparent climax. Was it a sampling of a longer piece?

Ëktah: Christian Vander-penned piece featuring his distinctive lead vocal (now a strong tenor, down from his 70s soprano trill). Again, this piece seemingly lies closer to the Offering tradition than to Magma. Generally simple rhythm, structured melody, Fender Rhodes (bringing out Vander's beloved modal figures), and perhaps most suprising, loose, relatively passive drumming from Vander. Highpoints are the textured vocal intro (very Philip Glass-ian), and the classic odd-meter breakdown in the middle. Although it's not quite an interplanetary overture of yore, it would be difficult to imagine this music coming from anyone else.

Christian Vander:
drums, vocal (Ëktah), keyboards

Stella Vander:
vocal

Isabelle Feuillebois:
vocal

Bertrand Cardiet:
vocal (Floë Ëssi)

James MacGraw:
guitar

Emmanuel Borghi:
Fender Rhodes piano

Philippe Bussonnet:
bass