Magma - Concert 1971, Bruxelles - Théâtre 140

This archival Magma double disc album represents a concert recorded on 12th of November, 1971 in Brussels, Belgium at Theatre 140. The septet known from 1001 Centigrades (that is, with the three man horn section and minus the guitarist Claude Engel from the first album) performs a set culling material from the first two albums, plus two later Magma standards that were new at the time. Sound quality is clearly bootleg quality, as the balance between instruments isn’t the best. Worse still, the saxophone sound is occasionally particularly shrill and grating.

CD1 sounds especially noisy, offering interesting, if loose variations on the material off the debut album, which clearly sounds different without Engel’s guitar parts. For example, „Stoah“ cuts off before the flute driven sections and segues straight into „Kobaia“ that has a different bassline for most of the time than the studio version. This track is particularly worthwhile for an intense blow-out courtesy of tenor saxophonist Jeff (Yochk'o) Seffer. Lack of guitar means that the song is only seven minutes long, contrasting the usual 10 minute duration whenever guitar as a soloing instrument was present. On „Aina“, vocalist Klaus Blasquiz is heard singing some of the guitar notes. „Riah Sahiltaahk“ is a rare performance of that sidelong epic penned by drummer Christian Vander. It clearly lacks the sophistication of the studio version, as the instrumentation is simplified (no clarinets, but saxes) and it again sounds a bit loose. Also, they skip one of the early sections on some reasons. Still, Blasquiz does a fine job vocally.

CD2 has a slightly better sound, as the saxophone sound isn't as grating as on the first disc. As the entire Centigrades album is being performed, CD2 starts off with "Iss Lansei Doia" that has a long drawn out weird intro with shrieking noises. Compared to the studio version, Francois "Faton" Cahen plays acoustic piano for the main riff. Middle section lacks harmony vocals, but Blasquiz still provides the low guttural grunts as on the studio counterpart. Trumpeter Louis Toesca takes a short but sweet solo during the binary 5/4 beat (as opposed to the triplet 5/4 groove on the studio version) before the closing part. "Ki Iahk O Liahk" is again performed with saxes instead of clarinets on the first half, the smooth jazzy later part is mercifully short and it segues into an interesting bebop el-piano solo courtesy of Cahen before Vander concludes the piece with a short drum solo.

Last two numbers are earliest performances of two Magma classic era mainstays: "Sowiloi" is without the drawn out spacey intro, starting out straight with the main riff and melody, it also has a nice flute solo at the end by Teddy Lasry. While "Mekanik Kommandoh" is an embryonic, skeletal (but with an intriguing bossanova intro later dropped) take of what would later blossom into "Mekanik Destrüktiw Kommandoh". Interesting 16 minute version, the horn section does a fine job, although bassist Francis Moze (otherwise an underrated Magma bass player) here is clearly just malleable compared to the manic power of Jannick Top.

Not a great release, as it has a bootleg-ish sound quality but an interesting early document worth checking for hardcore fans and those who want more of the horn-driven early jazz-rock Magma.