LIVE/HHAÏ (KÖHNTARK)

I first heard about Magma in late 2001,in that they were a band that played prog- rock,while singing in a Kobaian language(I have never heard of any other band that has done that!) So, I decided to check this band out for myself,and I was not dissapointed! I got the "Live'' 2-cd set by Magma at Amoeba Music for $32.00 back in early 2002...Well, on to the song's...CD1 kicks off with "Kohntark Part 1(15:44), which has kind of a free-jazz feel to it for about the first couple of minutes. Then, thing's mellow down and the opera-like vocal's come into play. This song seems to flow like a river,as the tempo of it is on the slow side."Kohntark Part 2''(16:16) is next,as the first 6 minutes of it are rather quiet,with a bunch of wooing sounds in the vocal's. Thing's really get going at 6:40,with a bunch of vocal chanting, before turning into a Mahavishnu Orchestra-like jazz rock fusion jam between 7:15 and 15:45,and plenty of violin work to go with it.Audience applause end's the song. The last song on disc 1 is the 8 minute "Emehnteht-Re'',in which there is some vocal soloing(backed by drum rolling for a bit) during the first 3 minutes, and the last 5 minutes consist of violin,drum cymbal,and vocal whisper diddling..CD2 starts of with ''Hhai(9:20),which starts off with some violin,organ,and vocal work.The drum's come into play at about 2:44, turning into a jam. The vocal's come back in at 6 minutes(while the jam continue's). At 8 minutes, a fuzz bass solo ends the song(it kind of sounds like a swarm of bees).Next up is ''Kobah''(6:36),with plenty of organ,violin,and drum work,but the singing is kind of on the tacky side at times. "Lihns''(4:53) is a quiet song,with some great vocal work,while ''Da Zeuhl Wortz Mekanik''(6:14) sounds kind of similar to the "Kobah'' song. CD2 ends with the 19-minute song ''Mekanik Zain''(my favorite song on this set).The first few minutes are kind of on the free-jazz side,with some fuzz-bass guitar work. The song eventually builds up,and between 3 and 11.5 minutes,there is an all out jazz-rock fusion jam (a'la Mahavishnu Orchestra,with Jean-luc Ponty type violin work thrown in) The speed of this kind of reminds me of the Velvet Underground song "European Son'',but without the distortion. It is amazing how they play this fast for 8.5 minutes. The tempo slows down a bit at 11.5 minutes,and some vocal work comes into play.Between 11.5 and 15 minutes, the tempo has kind of a stomp-like feel to it. At around 15.5 and 17.5 minutes, the tempo speed picks up again. Toward the end,a fuzz bass part kicks in and the song end's with an audience applause. You have to hear ''Mekanik Zain'' to believe it! This cd is high on a list of prog-rock cd's that I like. I can hear classical,opera, and jazz-rock influences. I recommend this!