Seffer

Zabu, also known under the name Lucien Zabuski, was the first Magma's singer. A part of the Theleme label, so dear to Laurent Thibaut, "My Coffin's Ready" (1972) proves to be very different from anything we could expect, given that it is actually a French blues album. Without any pretence, this masterpiece manages to captivate the listener all along.

Rïah Sahïltaahk is listed by most sources as a new studio album by Magma but it is in fact simply a re-recording of the first track of the same name from their second album. Apparently, Magma’s leader, Christian Vander, was never satisfied with the original 21-minute arrangement of Rïah Sahïltaahk that appeared on 1971’s "1001 Degrees Centigrades". Thus, over 40 years later, he has set out to rectify the situation. And the result? There are plenty of familiar passages throughout this 24-minute version. However, Vander has broken up the original single-track piece into seven separately-named tracks. Also gone are the horns of the 1971 recording, notably the distinctive bass clarinet of Yochk’o Seffer. In the place of the brass and woodwinds, we get guitar, vibraphone, and female vocals. All in all, not a bad tradeoff. Also, due to modern technology, this EP has a cleaner, clearer mix than the original.