21-01-94 Bataclan, Paris (50, bld Voltaire, Paris) 22-01-94 Bataclan, Paris 23-01-94 Bataclan, ParisCHRISTIAN VANDER TRIO
28-01-94 Olivet (near Orléans)LES VOIX DE MAGMA
05-02-94 Centre Culturel, BobignyCHRISTIAN VANDER TRIO
27-10-93 Cafe des Anges, 47 rue Krutenau, Strasbourg 28-10-93 Cafe des Anges, 30-10-93 Les Trinitaires, 10 rue des Trinitaires, Metz
The Seventh Records Seventh anniversary concerts have been confirmed for the Bataclan in January, the event will be known as "Tambourines, trumpets and everything". We understand that Magma (i.e. the electric ensemble) will not be performing, but Christian has chosen to showcase: LES VOIX DE MAGMA, OFFERING. CHRISTIAN VANDER TRIO, STELLA VANDER, SIMON GOUBERT QUINTET & PATRICK GAUTHIER SEPTET.
The Richard Pinhas concert at the Shaw Théâtre, London on the 25th September 1993 was an exhibition of his Fripp-like guitar virtuosity. John Livengood supplied assistance by directing the computers and tweaking the mix and repetition rates for the digital sequences, but in the main, the show consisted of a series of guitar solos at maximum overdrive. In the final twenty minutes Richard really let rip and Livengood's digital consort got funky, in a "Heldonesque boogie" sort of way that was a perfect finale. Expect the video to be available from Future Age Music Express in a month or two.
Recommended Megacorp (the mail order company) have moved. One of the releases planned for later this year is the reissue of ZNR's marvellous album 'Barricades 3' (ReR ZNR 1). They have also got PAL copies of Christian Vander's video 'Un Homme une batterie'
Gilbert Artrnan's LARD FREE album 'I'm around about midnight' is available now as a CD on the Spalax label. Ultima Thule say "The rarest Lard Free, with Richard Pinhas. Sounds like Heldon with a bit of Urban Sax and systems music mixed in. Another classic!" As well as this, Ultima Thule have got the long awaited HELDON album 'Agneta Nilsson' on CD (Spalax again) but be warned that this release is taken direct from a vinyl record. "Classic heavy Heldon, with great space treks, mellotron, guitars and synths".
Happy Birthday to Stella Vander on the 12th of December.
Lucien Zabuski (nicknamed "ZABU") was the original vocalist with Magma prior to Klaus Blasquiz. Initially a straightforward rock and roller, after many years in R'n'R/psychedelic/progressive ensembles he cut a couple of albums that are highly collectable for their curiosity value alone. His first solo album 'My Coffin's Ready' exhibits his blues influences with some glorious vocals and fine musicianship for that genre. It was recorded for Laurent Thibault's Thélème label at the Château d'Hérouville in January 1972 with the help of his friends Teddy Lasry, Francis Moze, Jeff (Yochk'o) Seffer and Christian Vander on some tracks. The second album was recorded in 1975 with a different collection of friends for Sonopresse. 'Zabu & Co' was eventually released in 1976 and featured Richard Raux and Francis Moze, but it was an uninspiring R'n'R release. Zabu's next venture was a Reggae album with Lee Perry producing, but this Jamaican project was aborted. Then at the end of the seventies he released some reggae singles under the name IMMIGRATION ACT. The early eighties saw Zabu working as a backing singer on many sessions at Thibault's studio. At last Musea have reissued the first album on a picture CD: 'My Coffin's Ready' (Musea FGBG 4088). As with their reissue of Laurent Thibault's solo album, the CD comes with an extremely informative booklet, detailing (in English) the progression of Christian Vander's groups. From his early excursions with Paganotti in a band called THE CHINESE, through a brief period as Charlotte Leslie's backing group, swiftly becoming THE CARNABY STREET SWINGERS (a pseudo-English pop group, who sang in an early form of Kobaïan!). As the Kobaïan language matured, they evolved into MAGMA.... Meanwhile Zabu is still performing in Paris with Laurent Thibault in a line-up called THE BLACKOIDS OF DR. MEUR, and hopes to record another solo album this year.
I still have not seen these in the shops, but apparently the catalogue numbers for the following Musea CD releases are as follows: UNIWERÏA ZEKT 'The Unnamables' FGBG 4086, VARIOUS ARTISTS 'Puissance 13+2' FGBG 4087, UNIWERÏA ZEKT, MAGMA, ZABU, ERGO SUM, etc 'BOX THELEME' FGBG 6001.
The Simon Goubert Quintet have gigs in Meaux on the third of December, and at the Sunset in Paris on the 24th and 25th of November.
Still no news on why the reissue on CD of MAGMA 'Retrospektïw I et II' has been delayed again, but I assume Seventh Records want to tie the release in with a major concert.
METABOLIST (the early 80's British band who were heavily influenced by Magma and Can) expect to be able to announce a reissue on CD quite soon.
The SONO magazine article about the Christopher Columbus spectacular in Reims (mentioned in Ork Alarm! #16) was in SONO #170.
For trivia buffs: "Hippy-dippy space rockers" ASTRALASIA have a new CD called 'Pitched up at the edge of reality' on Magick Eye records (eye cd/lp 4) which includes a crude sample from the Vander/Top piece 'Soleil d'Ork (Ork' Sun)'. The ambient-techno-pop style of the album should deter most of you from purchasing this curiosity. I don't expect that Astralasia will notice the drop in sales, because Ork Alarm! thinks the album suffers from too much commercial potential. Apparently the Vander/Top track does not feature on the limited edition vinyl version of the album. This ritual dance by the sun-worshipping people of the planet Ork, invented & composed by Jannick Top, also features (entitled 'Le Hatura') on an album, which the French group SPEED LIMIT recorded in 1976 (presumably prior to the 'Üdü Wüdü' recording). Speed Limit circa 1976 included Jannick (bass & vocals), Yochk'o Seffer and J-L Bucchi (keyboards). The Speed Limit version is 33 seconds longer (4:23) than the Magma version, and the version of this song on the Jannick Top / Serge Perathoner album 'Music Film Scoring' is longer still at 5 minutes 25 seconds, this 1990 version was entitled 'Ork's Sun'. On the ASTRALASIA album it has been re-titled again as 'Unveria Zect' (sic) but the most insulting part of the production is that the song is credited to Swordfish and Hayne - the bands programmers. Presumably Jannick's royalty cheque is in the post? 'Music Film Scoring' (Baillemont CD 918) is available from Baillemont Productions Distribution. The second album by Speed Limit '1976' (RCA FPL1 0101) was deleted long ago.
The October 1993 issue of the French magazine LES GENIES DU ROCK contains an excellent CD with extracts from MAGMA and ART ZOYD albums.
LUCA PIGHI, would like to form a "Zeuhl" group, with the additional possibility of performing cover versions. He needs help with obtaining transcriptions and musical scores for this music. ZUKUNFT and DON'T DIE have managed it and I hear that there was a German group called GESTALT that once played covers of Magma songs, anyway this is what Luca has to say: "I'd like to form a group with a strong Magma-Univers Zero-Art Zoyd approach, with an almost completely acoustic line-up (sax, trumpet, trombone, electric bass and - of course - drums). The idea is the 'usual' mixture of heavily perverted themes, strange harmonies, continuously changing rhythms and so on. It would also be nice to play 'covers' of these groups, does anyone know if the scores are available? In fact, it's quite impossible to obtain a consistent score with a simple 'listen to the record and write down the notes' approach, (I haven't got a Ph. D. in musicology!). Generally speaking, a lot of stuff (bootlegs, interviews, discographies..) is available, but at the same time if you want to go deeper into the structure of this music, it is so difficult... Apparently, nobody has ever studied this music starting from the scores, but I think this would be really enlightening. Can anyone help in any way?"
Two pieces from the Christian Vander Trio set at the New Morning on 25-10-93 were broadcast on Antenne 2 TV in France a few days later. The programme was called "Le Cercie de Minuit", and although I have not yet seen a video of this, I suspect the tracks chosen were 'The Coaster' and 'Giant Steps', since I was sitting just behind the A2 TV crew when they recorded those. Actually, I think the crew arrived during 'Brazilia' and left during 'Lonnie's Lament' but there could possibly be a third piece in the A2 TV archives.
Didier Lockwood has a new CD with the virtuoso jazz pianist Martial Solal.
Michel Graillier recorded two CD's in 1991, one with bebop pianist Alain Jean-Marie called 'Portrait in Black and White' (Musidisc) and the other is a Parisian solo concert from October 1991 entitled 'Fairly'.
Contrary to what we said in Ork Alarm! #16, YOCHK'O SEFFER has not released the PERCEPTION album 'Mestari' on CD. Please accept my grovelling apologies for the cock-up. What happened was, we heard that Seffer had a new album out on CD called 'Mestari', which is indeed true. But the review was based around the LP of that name, since the CD was hard to find in England. Then to my horror, when I tracked down a copy it turned out to be a completely new album with different musicians and so on. The Perception album however is so amazing that it will surely be re-released one day so please treat the "review" in #16 as advance promotion! The CD MESTARI: 'Mestari' (Gimini CD590131) will be reviewed in OA#18.
The new album by PAGA GROUP is called 'Gnosis' (Bleu Citron BLC D 016) and features Eric Séva (sax), François Laizeau (drums), Bertrand Lajudie (keyboards), Bernard Paganotti (bass and vocals) and Klaus Blasquiz (vocals and percussion). This is technically the group's second album (since 'Paga' is a solo album by Bernard Paganotti). It begins with a new version of 'Urantia', which has evolved into a blend of Weidorje and Weather Report. The new mid-section sounds to me a bit like a commercial sell-out, but I'm sure there are plenty who would disagree. Similarly, on other tracks there are times when I really wish Klaus would sing in French rather than English. His delivery is fine, but the lyrical content is not impressive. 'Caravan' is an example, my initial reaction was one of horror, but by the time the track had ended it had me hooked and I wanted to play it again immediately. On subsequent re-evaluations, while I find that the lyrics still grate, somehow the melody has subtly entwined me. Bernard's bass playing has mellowed over the years yet he still retains a mesmerising tone. 'Nicklaw' is another piece that begins by echoing some of the softer aspects of Weather Report. Paganotti has a persistent talent for composing long themes that shift emphasis very slowly until they transmogrify into a Zeuhl sound, 'Nicklaw' is such a tune, which gradually melts away my prejudices. The final track 'Zigzag' written by Lajudie has none of the above alienations, I guess what I like about it is the vague influence of ZAO. On the whole, it's a commercial success perhaps, but for me it's a jazz-rock album that only reflects a fraction of the live Paga group sound.