A live CD of Magma from 1980 **** ½. Why?
OK, certain reservations. First, most obvious - not even the presence (or overdubbing) of Guy Khalifa and a bevy of beautiful choirgirls can replace the range, conviction and authority of Klaus Blasquiz, even though we do get to hear more of the unique, passionate Christian Vander vocal chords in the gap that's left. Secondly, do I detect flippancy, maybe even a commerciality slipping into the music, where once there was only fierce commitment to the passion of the unorthodox? Vander has never denied that one of his prime sources of influence was Tamla Motown music, and that's just fine so long as you continue to mix in healthy doses of Bartok, Wagner, Orff, Penderecki and Coltrane to the compositional chemistry. But bear in mind, spiritual and ethnic in origin Motown music may have been, its prime aim in life was still to make the ackers - it sold man, it was easy to listen to, it had a BIG audience. It was manufactured for profit, whereas Bela, Carl, John and Co. made the music they felt they had to make.
The
first half of the disc (side one of the 1981 LP) - 'Retrovision' - there's a
little too much Motown, right down to soulful harmonics, a shed full of "be
be's" bubbling forth from Liza Deluxe, and even a burst of forged Stevie Wonder
harmonica from Benoît Widemann's Kobol polyphonic synth.
That said, there is much to be admired and treasured on this disc. Naturally, Vander's impeccable drumming, aided imperceptibly by a couple of ex-NEFFESH MUSIC (Yochk'o Seffer's band) men - François Laizeau and the magical, firm-but-fluid bass of Dominique Bertram who, twinned with Jean-Luc Chevalier provides a sub-surface rhythmic / melodic axis beyond compare. The sound of two basses in unison running up a super-fast passage in a difficult time signature is the kind of thing that grabs you by the neck and shakes your head around. As it happens, Chevalier was quite a find, doubling on guitar. His solo on 'Retrovision' starts on a spiritual high and just keeps on getting higher, its hog-calling exuberance recalling the best of Bill Connor's work with RETURN TO FOREVER. He switches from bass to guitar and back with surprising dexterity, fuzz-phased guitar added in short, telling blasts to the basic melody structure here and there, picking out sharp rhythm chords in other places.
Then Bernard Paganotti adds his unmistakeable rumbling, floor-shuddering sound to the proceedings. His heavyweight aloofness during 'Hhaï' is quite fascinating, never allowing himself to become involved in the excesses practised by Widemann and Lockwood, lifting the rhythm presence of the bass guitar to new heights of respectability. Paganotti is a natural bass player, and a showman, but not a show-off. (After his daunting, manic machine-gun blast at the audience from the stage of the New Victoria Théâtre in October 1975, he returned to the enigmatic confines of his ensemble sound, racing back into 'Mekanïk Zaïn' with his mystique unscathed). Despite its over-lavish treatment here, 'Hhaï' in its basic form is still the beautiful, light-year-spanning love song it ever was, and Christian has used the multiple female voices in this arrangement to particularly striking effect.
The final track is "La" Dawotsin', a treat which just had to be saved until the end, featuring the definitive Vander solo vocal appealing to the people and the stars for a better spiritual life. This song is over-short: it's beautiful, restrained, and could easily have come from Magma circa '73. It still brings tears to my eyes when I listen to it now, evoking reminiscences of Vander onstage at Manchester University, accompanying himself on Rhodes as he sang 'Lïhns', the whole auditorium suddenly transported to some Nirvana, some haven of peace amongst the stars. The only keyboard credited on this track is Vander's own piano, but I swear I can hear two more Rhodes swirling around in the background, one tinkling in its virgin state, the other buzzing organ-like through a tone cabinet. This is still my favourite track on the album; it sends an instinctive shiver down my spine. Delicious.
Before I conclude, I feel I should add that 'Retrovision' contains two other particular moments of excitement, firstly a short rearrangement of a section of 'De Futura', and another tense vocal/bass passage where Vander mocks and scorns those who tried to make out that Magma "est mort": he sounds very assured, and I hope for the sake of the future of music on this planet that assurance is still justified. Vander's music is unique and exemplary: long may it remain so, no matter which musicians he chooses to have as Magma next month, next year, whenever. But my heart does so long for Klaus Blasquiz to return to the fold. Let us pray.
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