Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh

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Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh
Studio album from Magma

Publication
(s)

1973

Label (s) Vertigo / A&M Records
Seventh Records (CD)

Format (s)

LP vinyl , CD

Genre (s)

Zeuhl / Progressive Rock

Title (number)

7th

running time

38:34

production

Giorgio Gomelsky

Studio (s)

Manor Studios, England
Aquarium Studios, Paris

chronology
1001 ° Centigrades
(1971) 		Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh Ẁurdah Ïtah
(1974)

Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh is the third and most famous album by the French progressive rock band Magma , released in 1973 as a long-playing record (LP) . The album, a central work of the group, is a single, coherent composition by band leader and drummer Christian Vander , even if it is divided into different sections. The composition is the (first published) third movement of the Theusz Hamtaahk trilogy and has been published by Magma in various studio and live versions. The lyrics are written entirely in the artificial language "Kobaïan" developed by Vander and singer Klaus Blasquiz and are part of the myth of Kobaïa , which all Magma albums are about.

The first movement of the trilogy, the piece Theusz Hamtaahk , had been part of the band's live repertoire since the mid-1970s, but was not released until 1981 on the live double album Retrospektïw 1 & 2 , the second movement Ẁurdah Ïtah was released in 1974 under Vander's name as a soundtrack- Album for the film Tristan et Iseult by French director Yvan Lagrange, but with the Magma logo as the cover since the CD was re-released in 1989 on Vander's label Seventh.

music

The recording originally planned for publication by Magma comprised drums, organ, bass, piano and a mixed choir and consisted of a piece of 38 minutes in length. Her focus was on choral singing and more “acoustic” music including longer piano passages. This version (published in 1989 on the CD Mekanïk Kommandöh ) was rejected by Magma's record company at the time because it did not meet their requirements for rock music. Therefore, the line-up was expanded to include electric guitar, brass, flute, bass clarinet, vibraphone, xylophone and other singers, and the electrically amplified instruments and winds play a key role in the “rocky” sound of the album Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh .

"After the angular chords and declaimed, pleading, commanding vocals of the beginning, a rousing, majestic tour de force begins, a musical maelstrom, a desolate, exhausting orgy of hypnotic pounding rhythms, powerful brass sections, incessant operatic chorus in a barbaric fantasy language, Driving, crooked rhythms, whipping trumpets, falsetto screeching and barking, pulsating powerful bass chords, ecstatic drums, howling guitar with many highlights and few breather: unique and above all great. "

- Udo Gerhards : Baby blue pages

The two previous albums Magma (1970) and 1001 ° Centigrades (1971) were even more oriented towards jazz, their compositions were contributed by various band members; with Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh , Vander / Magma created their typical style, "Zeuhl", which has been preserved to this day through changing Magma line- ups and which became the starting point for the Zeuhl genre ("Zeuhl Wortz" means something like "music of all-embracing power" in Kobaïan) "Or" heavenly music ").

reception

The music magazine eclipsed chose Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh on the 28th place in its list of the 150 most important prog albums.

In June 2015, the renowned trade journal Rolling Stone selected the album at number 24 of the 50 best progressive rock albums of all time . In 2010, the French edition listed the album at number 33 of the 100 best French rock albums.

Track list

  1. Hortz Fur Dëhn Stekëhn Ẁest - 9:36
  2. Ïma sürï Dondaï - 4:30
  3. Kobaïa is de bitch - 3:34
  4. Da Zeuhl ẁortz Mekanïk - 7:48
  5. Nebëhr Gudahtt - 6:02
  6. Mekanïk Kommandöh - 4:10
  7. Kreühn Köhrmahn Eat de Hündïn - 3:13

The first CD version by Seventh Records, released in 1988, contained a 34-minute, largely instrumental version by Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh as the eighth track that was not listed .

occupation

  • Christian Vander - drums, vocals, organ, percussion
  • Jannick top bass
  • Klaus Wind Quiz - vocals, percussion
  • Jean Luc Manderlier - piano, organ
  • Rene Garber - bass clarinet, vocals
  • Claude Olmos - guitar
  • Stella Vander - vocals
  • Muriel Streisfield - vocals
  • Evelyne Razymovski - vocals
  • Michele Saulnier - vocals
  • Doris Reinhardt - vocals
  • Teddy Lasry - brass instruments, flute

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Magma - Theusz Hamtaahk at Discogs (English)
  2. ↑ Retrospektïw 1 & 2 at www.seventhrecords.com (French)
  3. ↑ Mekanïk Kommandöh at www.seventhrecords.com (French)
  4. ↑ Baby blue Prog-Reviews: Magma: Mekanïk Kommandöh : Review (as of January 2010)
  5. ↑ a b c Baby blue Prog-Reviews: Magma: Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh : Review (Status: January 2010)
  6. ↑ eclipsed No. 144, p. 39.
  7. ↑ Richard Gehr: 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time - Magma, 'Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh' (1973). In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, June 17, 2015, accessed on September 25, 2015 .

Web links