Magma recommendations

[WytchCrypt]

I've been into French prog for a long time but had never checked out Magma. Someone referred me to this 1977 video for De Futura and I thought it was fantastic...bought Udu Wudu and really like most of it. I'm looking for recommendations for other Magma albums along those lines. Should say up front that I'm not much into horns/sax and have heard much of their albums are very brass heavy which isn't what I'm looking for. Hoping to get recommendations for other Magma that's more synth/kybd oriented. Thanks!

[zombywoof]

I suggest "Wurdah Itah", "Kohntarkosz", and "Live / Hhai". No horn section to be found on those! Also, their 2000's material is quite good, too, if you like the Fender Rhodes sound. Pretty much the only albums to feature a horn section were the first two, "Kobaia" and "1.001 Degrees Centigrades". Their third (and arguably best), "Mekanik Destrucktiw Kommandoh" (MDK) features a horn section, but it takes a back seat to the vocals.

[Phlakaton]

Kohntarkosz is my all time favorite. I pull that one almost every time. 1.001 Centigrades second

[zombywoof]

Kohntarkosz is my all time favorite. I pull that one almost every time. 1.001 Centigrades second

The studio version is great, but the "Live" version makes it obsolete, in my opinion.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Early Magma still had the post-BST/Chicago-vibe to it, but the quintessential "Zeuhl" thing starts with "Stoäh" from the very first (double) album and grows into something chamber-jazzy like on the second one, 1001* Centigrades.

The cathartian, orchestral/choral onslaught kicks with Mekanïk Destruktïw Komandöh (1973) but is for my money perfected on Köhntarkosz (1974); the latter year also saw the release of the excellent Würdah Ïtah, credited to Vander solo (with him handling drums/piano and some vox) and composed as soundtrack for an art-house movie rendition of Tristan & Isolde. This is as "Magma" as any of the official issues and should be investigated.

Live Hhaï is a double live set (expanded on some CD renditions) and deserves all its credit - this is one of the most profoundly "musical" performances you'll ever hear from a (part) rock group. Theatre du Taur is a soundboard boot from the very same tour and actually features even more powerful playing, but the production isn't quite up to the official double album.

Attahk is good, not great (IMHO), but the juicy bits are REALLY outstanding there! Retrospektïw II & III features "Theusz Ahmtaak", one of their finest moments altogether.

The three later studio works (from 2007 and on) are all very, very good, but start with Köhntarkosz, Würdah Ïtah or Live Hhaï.

[calyx]

It took seeing the band perform live to make me a convert [I've now seen them I guess about 60 times]. So I would suggest getting Volume II of the "Mythes & Légendes @ Le Triton 2005" series, which has arguably their "proggiest" material ("Kohntarkosz" - their best work imho - and the "Emehnteht-Re" suite) with Benoit Widemann sitting in on Minimoog. Superb stuff from beginning to end, and the non-suite material is great too (the intimate "Lihns" and a smokin' "Last Seven Minutes"). A great introduction imho.

I would second the recommendation for 1975's "Live/Hhai", but again, there is a visual dimension to my enjoyment of Magma which I feel is required to really get into them. It's true *performance* music.

[zombywoof]

The Mythes et Legendes DVDs are wonderful and totally exhausting. Essential viewing for progheads in my opinion.

[nosebone]

Start from the beginning and work your way forward.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

MDK (minimal horns)
Retrospektïw I & II
Live/Hhai
KA
Attahk
Wurdah Itah

[mogrooves]

...I'm not much into horns/sax

Don't let the horns put you off MDK; when they come in it's like the twilight of the gods!

Otherwise, go with Kohntarkosz and Live/Hhai....

[GuitarGeek]

Definitely the studio version of Köhntarkösz (note correct spelling, with the little dots over the o's) is one of the all time classics. A lot of people will tell you to check out one of the live versions, but that ending on the studio version, with the descending chords and the "om" chant (as well as the acoustic piano outro on part one and intro on part two) don't really appear in the live arrangement, and to me that's one of the amazing things.

On the other hand, the live version on Live/Hhaï is also quite brilliant (as are most of the other live versions I've heard and/or personally witnessed). And that album also has a great short song that I don't think has been released anywhere else (unless it's on one of the Mythes Et Legendes DVD's), called Lïhns. I was already about levitating about five feet out of my seat (second row, thanks to Cyndee and Jeff!) the second time they played NEARfest, but they came back for the second encore and gave us Lïhns, that was just...WOW!

Steve F is probably sick of hearing me quote something he wrote 20 years ago, but I remember in the old Wayside catalog, he said of this particular version of the Live/Hhaï version of Köhntarkösz, "If you don't see God at some point during the 30 minute Köhntark, you never will". I've kinda adopted that as the basic description I give of the band's music, and in particular the live performance encounter. Certainly, the last time I saw the band, at La Maison Francais in Washington DC, I certainly felt a divine presence in the room.

Aside from that, I think one of the best versions of MDK can be found on the Reims Opera House release, which also features great versions of Köhntarkösz and Theusz Hamtaahk. But MDK (which has no horn section in this incarnation, incidentally) features that absolutely MOTHER of all fuzz bass solos. Thank you Benard Paganotti! The only downside is it fades out at the end of the "jam" section of the piece. Apparently the tape ran out. (shrug)

Beyond that, Attahk has some good short songs on it, though this was when Christian took over the lead vocals and relegated Klaus Blasquiz to back up vocal duties. Some people don't like it, and I have to admit I do prefer Klaus' voice over Christian's (mainly because Christian has a tendency to lapse into this slightly grating "falsetto" thing), but the music works for me.

Retrospectiw Vol. III is a strange release. A live album, comprising a couple otherwise (at the time anyway) pieces plus a new version of Hhaï (one of the short pieces from side three of Live/Hhaï). Side one is taken up by a piece called Retrovision, which is largely a re-arrangement of several of the musical themes from Attahk. Again, I happen to think this is a really cool track, but I think a lot of people have a "Who are you, and what have you done with the real Magma" reaction. I don't even know how to describe what's going on during the first section, it's like some sort of weird quasi-funk/Broadway/cabaret hybrid. The cabaret impression is strengthened by the photos of the band on the back cover, where the vocalists (Stella Vander, Guy Khalifa, Liza Deluxe and Maria Popiewicz) wearing these garish pink/orange jumpsuits with what look like mirror pieces covering the outfits, like they're covered in shattered mirror bits or something. The other "new" piece is something called La Dawotsin, which fades out, and seems to be a short four minute piece based around the piano and Christian's vocals.

And there's also K.A., aka Köhntarkösz Anteria, a great album from 2004 and was totally one of the best albums of the year (and indeed the decade). So what if KA actually dates back to circa 1973 and it's not really a "new" composition?! It still totally has the zheul fire and totally brings the divine presence when you want it. That's all I ask for.

More recently, there's been Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré, another old piece that along with KA and Köhntarkösz form a trilogy of sort (or at least that was the original plan). If you listened to Live/Hhaï, Üdü Ẁüdü, and Attahk, you'll recognize some of the musical themes, which apparently were originally intended for Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré, but Christian got sidetracked way back in 1975...but anyway, I can't actually recommend the album to you, because I haven't actually heard it yet. I've seen them perform the entire piece twice now, but the CD is very expensive (it actually comes with a "making of" DVD, which apparently is in French), which has prevented me from getting it so far. But if the performance on the album burns like the live versions did, don't be surprised if you "see something out of the corner of your eye", if you know what I mean, while listening.

[GuitarGeek]

Oh and can I humbly suggest that whichever albums you choose to buy, only buy the versions that are on the Seventh Records label. Those are the only ones authorized by the band, and the only ones they actually get paid for. Stella refused to sign a compilation CD that was on one of the "other" labels because of that, I think.

[GuitarGeek]

the latter year also saw the release of the excellent Würdah Ïtah, credited to Vander solo (with him handling drums/piano and some vox) and composed as soundtrack for an art-house movie rendition of Tristan & Isolde. This is as "Magma" as any of the official issues and should be investigated.
.

Was Ẁurdah Ïtah actually composed as the film's soundtrack (that is, it was intended by Christian to be used as such from the get go), or was the music used in that fashion after the fact? I had the understanding that the director used recordings of Magma rehearsing the piece in the film itself, without permission, and there was some legal fracas, which ended up with the recording done by Christian, Stella, Klaus and monster bassist Jannick Top being issued on the soundtrack album.

[zombywoof]

^ yeah, that's the story I've heard, too.

[Progbear]

If you like Üdü Wüdü, go for Attahk next, it's the most similar and their most synth-heavy album. Some days it's my favourite Magma album of all, but few agree with me on that. Köhntarkösz is another good choice: no synths, but very keyboard-heavy (piano and organ).

I like the debut and MDK a lot, but both are quite brass heavy (well, woodwind-heavy in the case of the debut; saxes and flute are the dominant instruments). Their debut may be their most forbidding album; it's a double, the music is quite dark and harsh (even for them) and there's lots of weird vocals/psychotic screaming. It took me forever to get into it, but I love it now.

[calyx]

La Maison Francais

La Maison Française - note correct spelling, with an "e" at the end and the cedilla under the "c".

(Sorry, couldn't help it - I was amused that you were so scrupulous about getting a fictional language exactly right yet seemed to care less about correct spellings in another language that actually exists !)

[unclemeat]

The Mythes et Legendes DVDs are wonderful and totally exhausting. Essential viewing for progheads in my opinion.

Exactly.
But then again, all their studio works (+ the main live records Hhai and Retrospektiw I-II, of course) are essential. The only "merely good but not so hot" Magma work in my opinion is the rather bôf side one of Udü Wüdü. This is, incidentally, what a friend made me a tape of, as a young person's initiation to Magma ; at the time, I found it underwhelming, and, as a result, kept on ignoring that band for the next fifteen years ! Well done, chap. And then I heard "Köhntarkösz" from the Hhai album - and the penny dropped.

[Zeuhlmate]

Magma is a live band. And they tend to make lots of different versions/arrangements of their tunes, so boots especially from the seventies are worth getting (eventually try dimeadozen.org). The official live album Inedits gives an idea of this (soundboard quality), musically there are some extreme higlights here - 2 versions of KMX with Tops eartquake bass solos, Sowiloi an expedition in power and suspense, a fantastic rendition of Om Zanka, and if you like the halleluja track (Gamma Anteria) on KA, its even more insane here.
KA and Emehntehtt-re are recorded in 2004 & 2009, but the compositions have been performed live since the early seventies. Even MDK is recorded and released as 2 different studiorecordings (first take from 73 was released in 97), but Jannick Top is not on both.

Generally Magma just uses Rhodes/Würlitzer or acoustic pianos as keyboards, synths are mostly just used for solos.
Wurdah Itah was titled Tristan et Iseult (2. movement of Theusz Ahmtaak) when it came out as LP. In a very different arrangement + different bits and pieces Theusz Ahmtaak also appears on other albums.
On Retrospective 1 & 2, Theusz Ahmtaak is the probably most synth heavy tune they recorded.

Their albums are quite different, but get everything, and dont buy Merci before you have everything else .
For starters:
Live Hhai (probably their most well recorded and best sounding album)
Akt XIII - BBC 1974 Londres (live)
Retrospective 1&2 (live)
Wurdah Itah
KA

[Dana5140]

Self-professed "World's Greatest Magma fan" here. I go with Live/Hhai. But if I can plug myself, I wrote this for Sea of Tranquility and it might give you lots of insight into many of the earlier albums:

http://www.seaoftranquility.org/sect...icle&artid=281

[Dana5140]

And then:

[NogbadTheBad]

Going to see them for the second time this Summer at RIO, I'm still pretty much a newbie as I've only got around 10 albums. The recommendations on Hhai, MDK, Kohntarkosz, KA are spot on, I also love London 74 as another excellent live document

[liam fennell]

The AKT London 1974, Retrospekiw I-III and finally that newer 1979 AKT live Bourges release are the ones for me! I also think Live Bobino 1982 is essential for Zess, which always seemed to me to be the ultimate Magma song - so ultimate that I can't imagine they will ever do a studio version because it is so relentless.

The studio ones are all worthwhile, though for different reasons, (including Merci and the Offerings although beginners should def steer clear of those until they've acquired the taste!) Kohntarkosz and the infectiously hyper-energetic Attahk in particular are excellent to my tastes.

I'm in the super minority in that I'm not crazy about Live/hhai, the violin is not really my thing. Much prefer them with synths in that role. It's still pretty great though!

[Phlakaton]

I always liked the earlier version (it was earlier right?) of Kohntarkosz on AKT London '74. Have it on now... great recording - great version IMO.

[arise_shine]

Magma's a strange enough band as it is, but I don't think they ever did anything else like Udu Wudu. The next studio album, Attahk, is probably the most similar. But still.

MDK is definitely their "classic," and yes, the studio version has horns, but the horns are really more part of the overall sound/texture than its own thing that calls attention to itself.

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but the triple live "Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogy" is pretty killer, too. It contains the aforementioned "MDK," with horns, but .. the other two parts don't have horns.

KA is a more recent album (as in, 10 years ago, not 40) by a sans-horns iteration of the band, and lots of folks 'round here love it. I haven't had enough time with it to fully digest it yet. I think the other newer releases are decently well-liked as well.

Live/Hhai (2-CD version) is another classic. I don't like it as much because I don't care for the in-your-face violin most of the time, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the vast minority on that one.

And if you get a chance, go see them live. Seriously.

[JAMOOL]

I think this thread pretty much covers it - get 'em all! Magma are really a special band; they have been much imitated but I don't know of anyone who can write music the way Vander does.

As has been mentioned a zillion times, Live/Hhai is an awesome jumping point, especially as it doesn't really obsolete any studio album, as the pieces are different enough. I like Wurdah Itah as a starting point too - it's a 'stripped down' version of the band but no less intense. Has anyone actually seen the movie this was supposed to be a soundtrack to?