(was Punk reaction to Prog) - MAGMA

["David Kirkdorffer" <vze2ncsr@verizon.net>]

According to an article in a recent Mojo, one Johnny Rotten's favorite 
bands
in 1974-1975 (when he had long hair) was MAGMA.

MAGMA were a French band lead by its drummer, Christian Vander.  MAGMA
invented their own language in which to sing.  Most of their music involved
a distant planet Kobaia who are invaded by the Orc, or something like that.

MAGMA can be heard here: 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jN8ncmwAofk&search=magma
and here: http://www.magma-tv.com/#70

If you are a fan of Progie strains of music and you have not heard MAGMA, I
can't recommend them strongly enough.

A good place to start would be:

Live:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000059ZDX/sr=8-3/qid=1151170791/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-5929728-3615217?ie=UTF8

and

Udu Wudu:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000C6VSO/sr=8-4/qid=1151170791/ref=pd_bbs_4/002-5929728-3615217?ie=UTF8


David Kirkdorffer



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mech" <mech@m3ch.net>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: More Prog Rock (was: Hiromi)


> At 3:23 PM +0000 6/21/06, Christophe wrote:
> >I think the whole prog-bashing trend started as sour grapes on the
> >part of kids who just didn't have the chops to play it.  As I
> >recall, at the same time that prog was declared a dinosaur by these
> >young turks virtuosity in general was poo-pooed just as much.
>
> That's certainly not how it was when it started.  For instance, The
> Stranglers, who are generally given credit for releasing the first
> Punk LP ('Rattus Norvegicus', which predated the Sex Pistols' 'Never
> Mind the Bollocks' release by several weeks) had fantastic "chops".
> Listen to many of the songs from 'Black & White', their 3rd studio
> album, with Dave Greenfield's Manzarek-inspired keyboard runs or JJ
> Burnel's hooky bass lines.  They merely knew when to use chops and
> when to let the song, however raw, speak for itself.
>
> And the early American groups that were the inspiration for the
> British -- like the Ramones, MI-5, & Iggy Pop -- usually didn't
> really trash the whole concept of being able to play well.  That just
> wasn't where they were interested in putting their emphasis.
>
> On the other hand, you also had just as many prog-rockers (such as
> Phil Collins) slagging off Punk as completely without merit.  "That's
> not music; that's crap!"
>
> Then came the infighting and the genre wars; not to mention the
> Post-Punk period, where if you tried to put anything left of the
> party line back into your music, you were deemed a "sell out" and
> gobbed upon by the leftover Punk contingent.  This wasn't much helped
> by the British music press, who were notoriously vicious at this time
> (New Music Express, for instance, which was generally referred to by
> most bands as N.M.E. -- as in "enemy").  They often exploited the
> trend-hopping and infighting just to sell magazines.
>
> However, there still remains good expressive music on both sides.  I
> could probably name you a dozen fantastic Punk groups off the top of
> my head (stop worrying; I'll spare you).  Returning to the Prog side
> though, I'm surprised that Henry Cow -- as well as many of the other
> Fred Frith projects -- hasn't yet come up.  Their first album,
> 'Legend' (pronounced Leg End, heh!) alone is worth honorable mention,
> if nothing else.
>
> And, out of left field, I'll also throw in the Dutch group Focus, who
> achieved some minor visibilty with 'Hocus Pocus' during the 70's -- a
> song which featured not only Jan Akkerman's lightening fast guitar
> "chops" but also YODELLING!!!  In this case, I've always been fond of
> their 'Hamburger Concerto', which is alternately bombastically
> overblown, simplistically silly, charmingly pretentious, and quite
> genius.
>
> --m.
> -- 
> _______
> "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike..."
>