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Thread: Best 5 post-1979 Magmas

  1. #1
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    Best 5 post-1979 Magmas

    Magma was a band I never really got deep into and , although it be difficult for an unquestioned master of Prog to admit as such, I herein admit I've lost touch with much of post , say '79 output.

    So, what is the cream?
    Please ,also take into consideration the live stuff. (There was a blog on Magma live boots and seems like he had at least 40 there.) But do not recommend any lives with bad sound.

    The only post '79 Magma I have is "KA".

    Your submissions will be favorably considered.

  2. #2
    1) Retrospektiw I & II - double live album/CD (1980), although parts of it are admittedly recorded in a studio. It features their finest ever work, IMO; "Theusz Hamtaahk", all 37 minutes of it. There was never anything like this in all of "rock" music.

    2) K. A - Finally (2005) a collected instalment of this major opus, with very much of a live-in-the-studio, organic feel to it (acoustic and electric pianos and some analog, monophonic synth, that's about it for the keys!). Another great composition.

    3) Felicite Thosz - A wonderful new piece (2011/12, although I suspect that's somewhat relative), quite raw compared to their last two studio efforts (and infamously short), but interestingly twisted and "different".

    4) Emehntehtt-Re - Again (2009) a very large work; not as immediate and powerful as K. A, much more contemplative and serene than this year's release. But fine all the same, very much so.

    5) Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie - From 2001, this mammoth 3CD box captures Vander's Wagnerian bombast in all its glory. "Theusz Hamtaahk", "Wurdah Itah" and "MDK" performed with about as much vengeance as a transcendent batterist in his 60s will ever cope.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
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  3. #3
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Official stuff:
    Retrospectiw 1 & 2 1980 is a great live album with the classic material, great sound !
    Retrospectiw 3 is a bit too motown'ish for me.
    The live DVD's Mythes and legendes are highly recommendable, especially 2,3,4.

  4. #4
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    Thanks!
    Very informative.

    Looks like Retro I & II & Felicite it is.

  5. #5
    I honesty don't think that ER is "serene" and that FT is "raw." I think you have it backward. ER has some of the most intense playing Magma ever has had, notably in the Grand Zombies segment of ER II. Felicite Thosz is a more quiet piece with a wonderful finale, but it is more harmonic than most Magma ever is. If I could only get one, I would actually get ER. But that is only if the Trilogie at Trianon is not on the list, which is the one that Jymbot really ought to get.
    I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Dana5140 View Post
    I honesty don't think that ER is "serene" and that FT is "raw." I think you have it backward. ER has some of the most intense playing Magma ever has had, notably in the Grand Zombies segment of ER II. Felicite Thosz is a more quiet piece with a wonderful finale, but it is more harmonic than most Magma ever is. If I could only get one, I would actually get ER.
    Christ, you're right! I actually mixed them up and thought of the "green CD" (ER) as the most recent one!

    Listen to Dana 5140 when it comes to this band; the foremost Magmatician in here. But all the other stough (stooph?) I wrote was quite right.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  7. #7
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    1) 5) Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie - From 2001, this mammoth 3CD box captures Vander's Wagnerian bombast in all its glory. "Theusz Hamtaahk", "Wurdah Itah" and "MDK" performed with about as much vengeance as a transcendent batterist in his 60s will ever cope.
    This one has been on my wishlist forever.
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    So I'm starting to feel like the original MDK disc maybe isn't the best recording of the piece?

  9. #9
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Its a matter of taste.
    MDK on Retrospektiw 1-2 is awesome (too) !
    One of the fantastic things about Magma is that their live performances are often rather different, and all have their interesting flavor. Vander experimented. A very good reasons to get the boots especially those from the 70'ties. The beginning of MDK on Opera de Reims 1976 is probably the most impressive MDK start I have heard, but overall its not the best.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by JAMOOL View Post
    So I'm starting to feel like the original MDK disc maybe isn't the best recording of the piece?
    The "alternative" (i.e. earlier) recording of that piece (Mekanïk Komamndöh) offers a quite different take, with a somewhat stripped-down instrumentation and a more "direct" punch. My single fave live version is actually the one on Theatre du Taur 1975, which is two-microphones worth of sound but possibly even more insanely powerful than the legendary Live Hhaï (same year). Paganotti's bass solo alone has to be heard to be believed, and it has the most incredible rendition of "Köhntarkosz" ever, IMHO.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

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    Member zravkapt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JAMOOL View Post
    So I'm starting to feel like the original MDK disc maybe isn't the best recording of the piece?
    The studio version of MDK is just shit. Where are Vander's drums?? Easily their worst 70s studio album, all live versions use it as a doormat. I feel sorry for anyone who uses the studio MDK as their Magma/Zeuhl starting point.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by zravkapt View Post
    The studio version of MDK is just shit. Where are Vander's drums??
    yeah, its not technically the best recording, and especially Vanders drums sounds distant, but the music . . . !

  13. #13
    Member mellotron storm's Avatar
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    My favourite studio album post 1979 is ER and my favourite live would be BBC 1974-Londres released in 1999.
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  14. #14
    SS, whew! Okay, makes sense now, that mix-up. :-)

    Jymbot, in the end, get any of these, since they are all good. I sort of feel about Magma like I once saw the Rolling Stone review of jazz say about John Coltrane: "Coltrane is so far above everyone else that you have to start with 5 stars and go up from there." Of course, I feel that about Coltrane as well, but the link between Coltrane and Magma is, shall we say, pretty strong.

    Get the Trilogie triple set. Better yet, just get all 4 DVDs, so you can follow their entire history from beginning to the (near) present.

    I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.

  15. #15
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dana5140 View Post
    But that is only if the Trilogie at Trianon is not on the list, which is the one that Jymbot really ought to get.
    Bingo! Ladies & gentlemen, we have a winner.

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    the link between Coltrane and Magma



    I have heard this one before but I can't relate to it seeing as how I am more than indifferent to Coltrane - I actually despise the three ( probably better-known) works of his.

  17. #17
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Why did this thread end up on "Off-Topic (OT) - Music And Arts" ?
    It isn't exactly Bieber or Bolton.


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    Yeah I wonder the same thing. To me zeuhl is basically an offspring of prog so I dunno why you'd seperate the two.

  19. #19
    jymbot- but Christian Vander is not. To him, Coltrane is his primary influence. His singing oftens attempts to make his voice do what the sax does in the mid to late 60's energy jazz movement. And Vander suffered through a major depression when Coltrane died.
    I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.

  20. #20
    Just skip Merci, and own everything else. But do grab a live version of Otis, because that song is too beautiful to skip. Magma minus Merci is all worth having imho.

  21. #21
    Here ya go, a live version of Otis. :-)



    And another:

    I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.

  22. #22
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie - From 2001, this mammoth 3CD box captures Vander's Wagnerian bombast in all its glory. "Theusz Hamtaahk", "Wurdah Itah" and "MDK" performed with about as much vengeance as a transcendent batterist in his 60s will ever cope.
    I love this set. Sometimes you know when you get hold of the genuine article, the true lore, this set is it.
    Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by jupiter0rjapan View Post
    Just skip Merci, and own everything else. But do grab a live version of Otis, because that song is too beautiful to skip. Magma minus Merci is all worth having imho.
    Ah but then you'd be missing out on I Must Return, which I think is also a great song. To tell you the truth, the only tracks on Merci I'm not that crazy about is Call From The Dark (Ooh Ooh Baby), and Do The Music. I think side two overall is quite good, if a bit different from what normally associates with Magma. My main kvetch with that record is the very 1984 production. As with a lot of records from that decade that I like, I can't help wishing I could remix it with live acoustic drums. I used to think Phil Collins using a drum machine was the definition of redundant, but now I realize I was mistaken. It's actually Christian Vander using a drum machine that is the height of redundant.

    As for Retrospectiw, I love the Motown influence on side one. It was a shock the first time I heard Retrovision (especially Maria P's Janis Joplin impression), but then I thought "Ya know, I actually kinda like this". I'm still bummed that La Dawotsin still fades out the CD.

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