MAGMA
515278
3CD
THEUSZ HAMTAAHK-TRILOGIE (3CD BOX SET)
CLASSIC (EURO-ROCK)The are three good reasons to buy this triple disc boxed set: Firstly: It’s a ‘live’ triple CD recorded on their 30th anniversary concerts in Paris in 2000 – Secondly: The sound quality is perfect – absolutely perfect! – And Thirdly: It is a lavishly packaged solid Black box with the Magma name and logo embossed on the front in gold - Inside, the set comes complete with each of the 3 CD’s housed in their own fold-out card digi-paks, plus a thick booklet of photos and – get this – a complete lyric booklet in Kobaian, allowing all of you who speak the lingo to follow all the proceedings and join in the fun! This band have remained unique for thirty years, and on the strength of the music recorded here, they may just hang around for another three decades. Either way, this is one musical landmark that all of you Magma converts out there in Kobaian land must own and enjoy for years to come.
Disc 1 features the line-up of Stella Vander (vocal, keyboards, Fender piano), Isabelle Feuillebois (vocal), Antoine Paganotti (vocal, Fender piano), Jean-Christophe Gamet (vocal), James Mac Gaw (electric guitar), Emmanuel Borghi (Fender piano), Philippe Bussonnet (electric bass) and Christian Vander (drums). It’s a line-up that proceeds to play the whole of movement one; ‘Theusz Hamtaahk’ itself and produce one of the most storming, darkest versions of the piece that you’ll hear, with some remarkable ensemble work from Fender, bass and drums, but vocally, it’s a richness of voices getting it spot on. Vander keeps to drums and the composition positively thunders – Superb! Each of the three CD’s consists of just one track, and CD #2 gives us ‘Wurdah Itah’, the second movement, where the band are joined by Julie Vander (vocals) and Claude Lamamy (vocals) while Mac Gaw moves to Fender piano and vocals, Stella substitutes percussion for the Fender and keyboards and Paganotti drops the Fender also, for a rendition that climbs even higher than before. As before, and indeed for the whole set, Christian Vander keeps to just drums, a fact that will amaze many, but with a composition featuring seven vocalists, and a line-up of just two Fender pianos, electric bass, drums and percussion, you can see why he does this, and the result is vintage Magma the likes of which you won’t have heard in such a pure form since 1971, as the band cruises through a track that simply no other band in the world could be capable of creating and delivering with such feeling, power and passion - Breathtaking! It will come as no surprise to learn that the final movement and the third CD is given over to the mighty ‘Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh’, and for this, the first disc line-up is joined by a brass section of Benoit Gaudiche & Yannick Neveu on trumpets and Fred Burgazzi & Ronan Simon on trombones. A fourteen piece band then proceeds to blow the roof off, as the towering spectacle and auditory experience that is this massive opus explodes into life, with all its twists and turns, rarely sounding so fresh, alive and energetic, featuring sinuous interweaving passages that are absolute dynamite – Unbelievable! Overall, this is the sound of a mature band at the peak of their performance. Magma are a unique entity – There are, and probably never will be, any other bands quite like them. After all, if no-one has equalled them over the past thirty years, what chance is there of anyone doing it in the future, so expect this team to be around for another thirty at least!
Weight: 350.00 g
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