Customer Reviews

kobaia

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From the beginning, you can clearly tell that it is Magma (I was acquainted with their later work, like _MDK_ and _Üdü Wüdü_ before I had ever heard this, their debut) - the trademark choral-like vocals, Christian Vander's fluid and dexterous jazzy drumming, the experimental aesthetic and engrossing atmosphere. What makes this album much different from any other Magma I have heard is that it is basically full-on JAZZ FUSION with their experimental trademarks and nuances. But not fusion in a "rock band with saxophone" kinda way; they use saxophone, flutes, trumpet, and contrabass more effectively and in a more engaging manner than 99% of all straight-up jazz bands.

AND IT IS PLAYED FIERCELY. The pacing of this album is crazy. _Magma_ announces to the world an incredibly original, innovative, and f---ing amazing band that is bursting with energy and ideas. This album is just so fun to listen to because of the pacing, but it has such depth to it that it is so easy to get lost in by analyzing the instrumentation and complexity of the arrangements.

Basically, if you enjoy Magma at all, this is among their best work (in fact, the only other Magma album I like more is _Mëkanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh_). If you don't know too much about Magma, here's what this album kinda sounds like: Miles Davis _Dark Magus_ (the dark, thick, funky fusion) bred with Godspeed You Black Emperor _Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada_ (the intensity and emotional weight it carries) bred with King Crimson _Red_ (the basic aesthetic and metal-ness that KC has) - but this album predates all of those. This is totally and completely essential.

You love Magma or you don't. No half measure. If you are in the first category, then you need the complete collection. This double album is somewhat calmer that their usual music, more melodious, with fully developed pieces.

I have been listening to the music of Christian Vander for many years now, and it is difficult to remember back to how and when I was first really exposed to his life vivifying music. But I do know that this was the first album of his work that I ever owned.

And what an album it is! This is the very first album of Vander's most well known band Magma and it remains to this day an incredible and powerful listening experience. There are other Magma CD's (and indeed, other Vander related projects) which move me even more than this one does, but this one will always hold a special place with me due to the fact that it is the first I owned and the real birth of Vander's exhaustive and wonderful musical output.

For the uninitiated who are truly seeking a rigorous and wonderful musical listening adventure, I do recommend starting here and then continuing on through Vander's incredible body of work.

A must have for all who like Rock in Opposition. A good place to start listening to Magma, which at this point had not reached it's full particularity in it's compositions and still retained many jazz elements.

The cd came in great condition, ant the music is amazing, this band is a very important part of prog rock's history and is probably underrated, this music and concept, even singing in a new language created by Christian Vander the drummer, is totally from another galaxy.

A fantastically rare item, Magama's debut from 1971 frightened and puzzled many upon its release. A bit like Electric Flag channeled through Coltrane's Impulse era with Dolphy, this is a fairly unique milestone debut. Barring some quick English lyrics, the album is entirely in Kobaiian, a language made up by founder Christian Vander. This is a large part of the charm and all subsequent important releases are exclusively sung in this well thought out and fully realized artificial language. The result can be a bit harsh to some ears, an angry mid 30's Nuremburg rally set to 'A Love Supreme' comes close to capturing some of the feel.
The packaging is impeccable. The re-issue meticulously reproduces the album, even down to the flaps that fold around the cover to protect the double LP sleeves. A beautiful piece that sounds incredible. Hats off to everyone involved in the re-issue. Still insanely rare today as it was back in the day. But well worth the search.

Am I crazy, or do the vocals on the opening track of Kobaia sound VERY similar to the lead singer of Pearl Jam? That's really quite bizarre. And all this time I thought Eddie Vedder was unique. Besides that, the album is quite like typically jammy early 70's rock, probably more laidback than I'd like in spots, but quite intense in other areas, such as the way the band has an ability to build their songs into themes, slowly and surely. An album I have to recommend.

I discovered Magma in rather an interesting fashion...backwards! I actually started my collection with "K.A," and from there it's been a wild ride. So now, at last, I have arrived at the beginning of the Magma saga, and I have to tell you that you need this album. Even if you aren't a Magma fan, you need this album, because the music is just plain great!
It sounds rather snobbish of Christian Vander to declare that the music is expressive enough to tell the story even though you don't understand the lyrics, but he's right; and since he does provide a (French) synopsis for each track on the album, you won't be totally in the dark. I especially liked "Sckxyss" (never mind trying to pronounce it...I haven't figured it out), "Thaud Zaia" (who's in love, and with whom? Hint: Thaud Zaia has been Stella's Kobaian monicker for ages!), "Nau Ektila" (in which the Kobaians learn how to live in harmony with their new world), and "Muh" (the unfortunate reaction of Earth to the Kobaians). But all of the tracks are wonderful to listen to. The style is more rock than the second album, "1,001 Degrees Centigrade," and it's obvious that the band hadn't yet decided what "celestial music" (zeuhl) ought to sound like; but this is not a recording by novices. Christian and his mates know their craft, and it shows.
So my advice to you is to get a copy of this album while you still can. You certainly won't regret it!

The music of Magma is something intense and reasonably complex. And, very much grounded in non-rock aesthetics (particularly classical ones, to include choral music and 20th-century minimalism but also Wagnerian opera). Make no mistake, it's worth investigating. This is not just another obscure prog act who emulated the sounds of the time. This band was SERIOUS about striving for something very different and pure. The idea that they actually invented their own language to sing their songs in sounds strange or even quaint; on investigation it's I think a brilliant aesthetic choice by a band that sought to express in new ways.

The band's first two album had lots of horns playing nice slightly jagged parts - a bit like Soft Machine when they had their hown phase, a bit like Chicago and Blood sweat and Tears - nice stuff. There's some great impressive music on here but also large portions of musical abstraction that don't really cut it for me or I would think most listeners. the band's best was yet to come but again I say some of the music on here is tremendous.

Magma is not an easy band to describe to people. in fact, i feel like the term "band" is not adequate and is misleading. the same goes for labels and genres like "prog" or "fusion." sure, there are plenty of those styles represented within Magma's core sound; and their influences are easily felt in their music. but Magma, to me, are a force...a gigantic, almost monsterous presence that cannot be ignored. their sound is huge and massive, filled with moments of terror and beauty. stark minimal rhythms give way to colourful audio explosions, drenched with harmonious voices and thundering bass and guitar. and the drums...wow. well, the drumming is just brilliant. this French group has enjoyed legendary status for decades, and has been highly influential (spawing many Zuehl obsessed bands...Ruins, Guapo, The Flying Luttenbachers...just to name a few), but yet their overall appeal is quite limited. probably due in no small part to their choice of language to sing in (a language called Kobian, which Christian Vander, drummer and mastermind behind Magma, has invented in order to explain the concepts behind his group's music and lyrical stance). there pieces are long and full of complexities and brilliant twists and turns...dark, treacherous, disonant avant-prog with intense crescendoes that bubble and boil with an electrifying power and joy that is both familiar and strangely alien to the senses.

Kobaia is the debut 2cd album and marks a signifigant starting point for this adventerous group. these songs are great testimonies to the unique vision that Vander has; and Kobaia is a fine offering for fans. it's certainly a bit rough around the edges and alot of the songs on here seem to be slightly under developed, but this was their first album...so it's understandable. the sound quality of Kobaia is really 70's sounding and is justly deserving of a remastering job. it would be nice to hear these levels pumped up and overall mix needs a good kick. the influence of John Coltrane is especially deep on these first recordings. just listen to the first few minutes of "Aina." sadly, there are no female vocals in Magma as of this time, and their presence is missed. in my opinion, Magma sounds million times better with Stella's angelic voice. but Kobaia is worth the purchase just to hear the glorious swing of the title track and realize that this is where the Magma journey began.