VANDER / TOP / BLASQUIZ / GARBER

"SONS" DOCUMENT 1973 - AKT II

Steve Ashworth

Recorded at the Manor at 1:00 am on 15-04-73 (the night after 'Mekanïk' was recorded) by the above named musicians, this CD consists of only one piece: "Nëhêh (Këhr)', which must be a contender for the longest continuous track on a CD, running in at 70'06". Firstly, Jannick is sans bass! With only voices, percussions, organ, bass clarinet, trumpet and Christian's batterie being used. A high percentage, if not all of this sounds to have been freely improvised - a document of a moment or seventy where this quartet abandoned the compositional restraints of 'MDK'.

The first three minutes consist of eerie vocal chords - perhaps, like Univers Zero, they had read H.P. Lovecraft's story of Erich Zann and the unimaginable harmonies he created - it has that atmosphere. Then; spooky horror movie organ, joined later by bells, glockenspiel and other percussion. The vocals disappear, re-emerging after twelve minutes. After this it gets a bit difficult, and a tad tiresome. Klaus has a shout, tension rises then lapses. Some piano string bashing, lapse, cymbal bashing, lapse; then at 21 minutes, Christian's drums add some form, at 26 minutes this starts to take shape and interest is regained. It subsides again at 29 minutes, but between the 32nd and 39th minutes, the best part appears. Something recognisable as Magma, followed by a fierce Vander backbeat aided by cowbell, organ sustained and grumbling and high pitched trumpet wailing, forming a high powered segment. Hot stuff. After this, it dies down markedly. At the 49 minute mark, it livens up a bit for two or three minutes with more weird vocals, clarinet and percussion, fading into an American Indian type drumbeat, then more one-note chanting and jingle bells. From 54 minutes onwards, not much happens. At 69 minutes, Christian starts to hammer out a familiar two-beat drum motif ('Ptäh'?) that fades away, ending the disc. At this point I was left wondering if there was more to come, or whether there will be a "SONS" part 2.

This is indeed a brave, uncompromising if not totally successful release, but having said that, there are a few points to ponder. If the best 8-10 minutes had been released separately, tacked onto another disc, we would have wanted the rest. If this had turned up on the tape trading network, we would no doubt have been delighted at finding such a piece of Magma esoterica. It does have that otherworldly ambience that can be such an attraction towards Magma's music. So, all things considered, AKT has provided an intriguing set from the Vander archives. It's hard to listen to, but I don't think we'd want to be without it.