LIVE AT TOULON 1978

Had you ever imagined travelling in time and witnessing a live Weidorje performance? Well, me neither, but thanks to the passion and love for zeuhl music from some Mexican people, now this is possible. So as far as I know, last year (2022) some restless minds decided to start a new project that would focus on underground music, mostly zeuhl and rock in opposition, so a new independent label was created, its name is Noizu Recordings and it is based in Mexico City, however, their inspiration comes mostly from other countries such as France, Belgium, Japan and of course, Kobaia.

The enthusiasm of these people reached the ears of former Magma member, Patrick Gauthier, who formed Weidorje back in 1977 along with bass maestro Bernard Paganotti. So yeah, as one can imagine there is plenty of unreleased material that bands have recorded during their whole careers, some of that material is sometimes thrown to a garbage bin, some other is simply forgotten, but fortunately, some of it its actually rescued from the ashes.

So Noizu Recordings through Gauthier's help and authorization, gave light to its first release ever: Weidorje - Live Toulon 1978, a live record from that features the songs included in Weidorje's debut and sadly only studio album, but that also features a couple of unreleased tracks: 'Urantia' and 'Weidorje'. So when I first heard about this it I was like a wtf, is this even possible?, but at the same time I was quite interested in listening to it.

This album features 7 songs and a total time of 70 minutes, over one hour of zeuhl ecstasy, of craziness, raw bass sounds, fast drums, multi-layered keyboards, hypnotic winds and of course, kobaian vocals.

Here we will find the three original Weidorje songs, I mean, the ones which were released in the LP and believe me, it is a blast to hear those songs performed live. Of course due to some techonolgy limitis from that era it is normal to find a some sound issues, we can notice it when the volume suddenly lowers a little bit, and fortunately it only happens a couple of times on the album. But the experience is quite amazing, first with the epic 'Elohim's Voyage', then with 'Booldemug' which is a song I love due to its non-stop energy and nervousness, it is contagious, the band transmit it since the first keyboard notes on this song, later with the bass, the amazing guitar and the winds. And of course we can enjoy to the extraordinary 'Vilna', which is the fourth track in this concert, a song that blows not only zeuhl lovers' minds, but also music (in general) lovers' minds.

The two extra tracks that were included in the Musea CD edition of Weidorje's debut are also featured here, though I believe there are not the same live versions, I believe these ones are different, a bit longer, if I'm not mistaken. 'Rondeau' has that jazzy essence that Magma and several zeuhl bands have, a jazzy touch that is blended with prog rock in order to make that unique zeuhl sound. And 'Kolinda' which is a strange trck that has even some quiet moments, but then a raw bass solo, some guitar, drums and keyboard crazinesss.

The aggregated value of this record is that the last two tracks were unreleased prior to this album, so kudos to Gauthier, the Weidorje family and of course, to Noizu Recordings for rescuing and releasing them. First we can enjoy 'Urantia', a 14-minute track whose first seconds sound like the sountrack for a horror movie, the synthesizer and the bass together create tension, but it is contrasted by winds first, and later drums and vocals join so a new zeuhl episode is beginning. You have to listen to it. And the album finishes with the another unreleased track, which happens to be named after the band: 'Weidorje', and surprisingly enough it lasts only for over a minute, so it basically works as an ending, however, I think its original performance lasts longer, but for recording issues it stays at one minute.

This release might now be a must for those who love zeuhl music, and yeah, a great addition to any prog rock music collection.

Enjoy it!

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