LIVE/HHAÏ (KÖHNTARK)

After the discovering of the fantastic 'Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh', hearing this live album of Magma was a little bit of a disappointment to me. The addition of the superb jazz- rock violin-player Didier Lockwood makes the performance of the Magma music different compared to the mystic atmosphere of MDK, but especially on the first one of the two cd's (the two parts of the epic 'Köhntark'), the compositions sometimes are too tedious; evenafter several times listening. Too often, the other musicians only create a carpet of too monotonous background music where too little is happening, and Lockwoods violin makes it a kind of music that is no Zeuhl (whatever that is!), but rather a sort of jazz-rock in the vein of Jean-Luc Ponty. Don't get me wrong: I love Ponty, and I love the way Lockwood plays here, but I miss the uniqueness of the music of MDK on the first cd! The second cd is a lot better, and Lockwood shows that his violin is a great addition to the Magma music I was looking for. Especially the last song, the 19 minute 'Mëkanïk Zaïn', is really great, and offers us a great combination of the Magma form MDK and the Jean Luc Ponty from his early years. Three stars for the first cd, four for the second one and five for Lockwoods magnificent performance and for the last song; that makes it four alltogether.