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Magma — Théâtre du Taur - Concert 1975 - Toulouse
(Seventh Records AKT IV, 1975/1996, 2CD)

Théâtre du Taur - Concert 1975 - Toulouse Cover art

Recorded in Toulouse roughly three months after the concerts from which Live were taken, this two CD set was released for the first time in 1994 on Christian Vander's AKT label. The band is identical to the lineup on Live except for the replacement of keyboardist Jean Pierre Asseline with Patrick Gauthier. This concert features fantastic performances of "Köhntarkösz," "Hhaï," "Kobaïa," and "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh," with slightly different arrangements from the Live album. "Kobaïa" is extended to nearly twice its earlier length to make room for a Gabriel Federow guitar solo. "Hhaï" is also extended a few minutes, and "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh" is presented in its entirety, not abridged as on Live. A bright soundboard recording, the sound quality is excellent, and does justice to these wonderful performances.

by Rob Walker, Published 1995-11-01

The long awaited fourth release on Christian Vander's AKT label is a legendary concert from September 24th, 1975 in Toulouse. The lineup here includes Christian and Stella Vander on drums and vocals respectively (of course), Klaus Blasquiz (voc), Benoit Widemann and Patrick Gauthier (keys), Bernard Paganotti (bass), Gabriel Federow (guitar) and Didier Lockwood (violin) — which places the recording somewhere between the Live album and Udu Wudu. The first disc opens with a haunting and powerful rendition of "Köhntarkösz" — unique in its guitar prominence, followed by an equally riveting eleven minute version of "Hhaï" and perhaps the best live version of "Kobaïa" I've heard, featuring outstanding performance by Lockwood. Disc two is a single complete 38 minute rendition of "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh," full of the same fire that made the Live album so special. For the uninitiated, a more descriptive account of Magma's sound can be found in the review of Retrospektiw I-II in the reissues section of this issue. The Live sound quality is quite decent, especially considering this was never originally intended for release. There are occasional split-second drops in level (especially on "Köhntarkösz"), but nothing that should bother any true fan, for whom this outstanding 2CD set is a definite must-have.

by Peter Thelen, Published 1994-10-01

By the early 90s, Seventh Records had showed up, started reissuing the original Magma albums along with some offshoots, and began to open Magma's considerable live vaults. The Théâtre du Taur show appears to be out of print now but it was one a lot of Magmaphiles celebrated in 1996, despite its somewhat B-grade sound quality (that is you could hear it all no problem, but it was a bit faded and didn't have much in the way of presence). But it was from 1975 and thus a close cousin to the Hhaï / Live album, which meant that you were going to hear "Köhntakösz," "Hhaï," "Kobaïa," and "Mëkanïk Dëstruktïw Kömmandöh." And while they deliver great versions of all this material — nothing unusual for 1975 — the "MDK" is something uniquely special on his album. It hits the pavement on all cylinders and drives forward with ferocity and completely takes to the air by the time it gets to the jamming with Didier Lockwood, who delivers a solo for the ages. It's so kinetic that you feel like everybody's instruments have caught fire. As great as the band could be through their whole career, I think it would be hard to argue that this still wasn't their best, most fluid line up, and they had gotten to a point where it seemed like playing these compositions was utterly effortless. Maybe the best "MDK" of all time, although perhaps not the clearest.

by Mike McLatchey, Published 2018-02-15

Filed under: New releases, Issue 8, 1996 releases, 1975 recordings

Related artist(s): Magma, Stella Vander, Christian Vander / Offering, Patrick Gauthier, Bernard Paganotti, Didier Lockwood

 

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