Are there any more recent Magma albums that are any good?

I'm a big fan of the "classic" mid-70s period stuff, but was turned off by the (as I saw it) lameness of 'Retrospectiw III' and the horror of 'Merci' (bad disco music with 'S Club 7'-type "positive attitude" lyrics). After that, I didn't follow much of Vander's stuff, except that it just seemed to pay hommage to Elvin Jones a lot. I read a couple of reviews of the early 90s stuff that kind of praised it as being a decent imtation of their classic years; plus a lot of their CDs at this point were either albums of drum solos or reinterpretations of the older songs. None of which enouraged me enough to mail-order any of their newer albums.

Is there anything significant in their recent offerings that I'm missing?

 

K.A. is excellent - fits right in with their prime period stuff (but then much of it was written back then - you can hear bits which finally ended up there on the "Inedits" odds and sods album and on the 1974 BBC sessions disc). You really owe it to yourself to get that one. And for what it's worth I think the Triannon version of the TH/WI/MDK trilogy (available on both CD and DVD) is pretty great as well, with to my mind the best recording any of these oft-recorded pieces has ever enjoyed. Now they're in the midst of a four-DVD release of much of the old material yet again, but this time with many guests from the past (Top, Klaus, etc.) from a month-long stand in Paris. Word on the street is that these are great but a tad too pricey for me at this point.

 

Definitely check out K.A., full-on alien bombast!

 

Just necro'ing this thread to ask the same question a few years later. The only Magma I have is the 40 Years boxed set but I see a whole load of other recordings on Amazon. Which of these count as 'must-have'?

 

Talk about a delayed reaction! I really like K.A. and particularly Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré, though sometimes the live performances trump the studio versions. Of course, in the case of the latter, they were rehashing a lot of the ideas from the 70s, but I enjoy the way that they put it all together there on the extended suite from on the first side of the album. I guess I tend to prefer the Köhntarkösz trilogy over the Theusz Hamtaahk cycle, but I may be in the minority.

That one covers quite a bit. I'm a big fan of their live work, so I'd say Live Hhai would be a great place to start. If you're into watching live DVD's, their Mythes & Legends series was also excellent, a very well done retrospective covering the different phases of their career.

 

their last album
Felicité Thosz is my favourite , but K.A. and
Emehntehtt-Ré are both very good too

 

Just to make things clear:

2004 - K.A.
2009 - Ëmëhntëtt-Ré
2012 - Félicité Thösz
2014 - Rïah sahïltaahk (new recording/remake of the 1971 song)

All are must haves

 

K.A. is in the box ... and my favourite Magma album. I'll see if I can check out the others: all the Magma releases seem to be fairly pricey and there is rarely any explanation to them.

 

Explanation for what: the high price ? or the releases themselves ?

I can help you with the latter.

 

And there's a brand new album now :

2015 - Slag tanz



Can't wait to receive it in the mail

http://www.seventhrecords.com/indexuk.html

 

Explanation for the releases really (although explanation for the prices wouldn't be out of order!) Some of the recent releases seem to be rehashes of earlier pieces, and the CDs are sometimes quite short (don't ask for specifics ... that's just the impression I get every time I look at them on Amazon). So I formed the idea that Christian was effectively out of ideas and that K.A. was something of a fluke. I'd be delighted to find out that I was wrong.

 

Well, you're not totally wrong.
The last three albums ARE short. (from "Félicité Thösz" to "Slag tanz"). They range between 25 and 32 minutes each !
I find this to be short too, but then the music is really good so perhaps it's better to have 25 minutes of really good music than 45 minutes of filler material, I don't know. I suppose that's the path they've chosen to take.

Then there's the "inspiration" aspect:

-I talked to Christian after a show some years ago, and he explained that K.A. was in fact written in the 70s. He said that he wrote it after MDK, but they finally didn't use it because he wrote Köhntarkösz soon after that, and he and Jannick Top were eager to commit Köhntarkösz to disc. So K.A. got neglected..... only to be resurected in 2004.

-The 2009 album Ëmëhntëtt-Ré contained parts of music that were previously released. (Notably Rindoë from Attahk and Zombies from Üdü wüdü). It can be seen as a rehash of earlier pieces (that would indicate a lack of ideas), but I think it has more to do with the will of seeking completion: Christian in the 70s and early 80s always said that there was a larger piece called Ëmëhntëtt-Ré that he hasn't finished yet. But parts of it was played in concerts, and parts were recorded and published "as is". The 2009 album is the realisation of that piece, and it would have been strange imho if the final piece didn't include the previously composed parts. So this album is half composed of old pieces finally joined, and half composed of new music (especially the ending).

-It appears that from all the albums issued between 2004 and 2015, the only NEW music are in fact the two pieces called Félicité Thösz and Slag tanz. (and parts of Ëmëhntëtt-Ré). And they last respectively 24 and 21 minutes !

That's why I said you weren't totally wrong. I don't think that Christian is out of ideas, but it's clear that the massive flow of ideas of the earlier years of the band is gone. Let's just be thankful that some new music is still coming out, because I think it is quite good, as short as it is. And let's not forget the band still smokes on stage today, and that Christian, at 66, is still the incredible drummer and singer he was all these years. Whenever you have the opportunity to see them, don't hesitate.

The music is shorter (on records), but the energy is intact !

 

Just like pretty much every other band/songwriter ever in fact.

 

I guess it's a good thing that Vander stockpiled so much unfinished material.