STUDIO ZÜND

Few months ago I purchased my first Magma albums "Udu wudu" and "Attahk" and was blown away by quality of material presented there.And then this box set pops up out of nowhere and I decided to order it from Syn-phonic.Gotta tell you,this was one of my best purchases ever!Albums presented in this package are in their original form(NOT remastered)and that's about the only(minor)drawback.Everything else,including packaging and absolutely beautiful and informative booklets(both in french&english) and digipack format are proghead's wet dream.Set contains all Magma studio albums(9)plus double cd exclusive to this box filled with extras,some of them so rare(lost master tapes?)they had to be mastered from lp's(you can hear cracks and vinyl noise).Most of these albums are essential listening for zeuhl fans,save for "Merci" album,which is probably weakest in Magma catalogue.Bottom line,you looking at the one of the most exciting progressive rock music box-sets in the last decade that every self rspecting proghead needs to have in collection.Absolutely essential!!!

This is the ultimate box for a MAGMA fan, because it was a limited edition (you cannot buy it anymore from Seventh Records) and some copies are being sold at Amazon and Ebay and because it celebrates the 40 years of musical evolution of one of the most important bands in the history of modern music.

The box is beautiful in the outside (as any box coming from MAGMA (think of the Offering boxset or the Trilogie one) and includes 10 discs and two of them are double CD which makes it a 12-CD box. I'll divide my review into two parts, the first one dedicated to the first 10 CDs and the second will be dedicated to the other 2 CDs.

1. The first 9 digipacks (10 CDs) are the very good to incredible studio albums released by MAGMA from 1970 to 1978. Digipack 9 is the loved/hated 'Merci' album, released in 1984 and the 10th is 'K.A.', an album released in 2004 that received very very good critics and quickly became a favorite for Zeuhl fans. So, for Zeuhl fans and advanced or avant-garde progrockers who own these recordings there's nothing new in terms of sound: is the music we all know and we (hopefully) own, no re-master or stuff like that. But the real treat is that they are digipacks, they have new artwork (nothing disruptive, just enough to match the box's artwork) but the biggest reward is the 30+ pages booklet included with each CD. The booklets are in French and in English.

The format of the booklets follows: 1.- Critical review of the album. 2.- Pictures of the particular incarnation. 3.- Christian Vander describing the process of giving birth to that particular MAGMA album. 4.- More pictures of that particular incarnation.

2. The last digipack is a double CD including early MAGMA previously unreleased music such as the demo for the first album, an outtake from MDK, a version of 'Eliphas Levi' with drums and the music from the movie '24 heures seulement' which will remind you of the 'Uniweria Zekt' recording.

So, in conclusion here we find a beautifully done boxset including all the material recorded by MAGMA "in the past". If you want to get this boxset could be a little bit late. If you have this: lucky you.

I by this box few mouths a go and I think that I have most of this albuns and if it's important that box to me, but really, this box have a good booklet in all cds and a very nice presentation. The most important Magma work is here and you can listen high quality music made by a high quality band. The most important albuns that made a new context in progressive world, because magma found the Zheul genre and give inspiration for another high quality bands, found a new langage, and it's the music for we dream with another planet and another live in Kobaia Planet. This is one of the most important moments of alll progressive Rock, and we can find in this box, special moments that we never forget. If you are one of few persons that by this box, you are a lucky man. IIn last 7 years a go, I whant by Ùdü ´Wüvü with a bonus track Ementeht-Rë and is include in this box. High Recomended and 5 stars

Just so readers know, this is a review of the box set only, not of the individual albums.

For anyone who can get their hands on this one for a reasonable price, it's an absolutely amazing opportunity to get all of Magma's studio albums except Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré. Everything from the debut up through K.A. The box set also includes two discs of unreleased material, including the band's first demo, a soundtrack they composed for the film "24 heures seulement", the "stripped down" version of Mëkanïk Dëstruktïw Kömmandöh (piano, bass, drums and minimal vocals provided by Klaus Blasquiz only) and an alternate version of the track "Elephas Levi". The material on these bonus discs is of varying recording quality, but some of the material is incredible. The stripped down version of MDK is especially interesting.

Another great addition is the new liner notes, presented in French and English, and the photos of the band. Unfortunately we don't get the lyrics for the albums, but it's a small sacrifice if you can manage to find this for a good price. In my opinion, this collection is essential to prog collections if you don't already own all the albums separately. Plus if you find it for something near the original price it's a great way to save some money as the original albums are often quite pricey.

Five stars from me, as almost everything here (except Merci) is essential to a prog collection in my opinion. It's a wonderful way to start off a Zeuhl collection for the adventurous listener.

Box sets comprised of a groups entire studio output are quite a nice thing to behold, especially if the box is as magnificent as this one. If there is one of my precious boxes I will keep to my dying days and probably use as pillow in the coffin, it's this one. I adore it. It is pornography for the music lover and when it comes to this edition I can proudly proclaim myself to be a pornographer of the highest level. I can look at this box and marvel for what seems to be forever and ever. And yet that is only the visual part of it all. The musical content is unmatched in so many ways. Individual to the T and furthermore displays a groups hard core vision of music as medium. Lovely.

Zeuhl needs to be approached with care, especially when we are talking Magma. No other group sounds like this. It is aggressive, harsh and dark. I think it is rawer than any black metal group, harder than any metal band and more inventive than many a prog band. With Studio Zünd you get all their studio albums up to K.A., which is one hell of great selection of prog.

As with other boxes like this, the Modry Efekt box is one example, not all albums are five star discs. Maybe it is even so that there's only one certified five star album, as far as I am concerned, but the package is of such importance and grandeur that no other rating is possible. This is a glorious way of getting all albums. While the zeuhl found within can be a bit hard to digest and swallow, it'll come to you. No need to wait for postal deliveries or racing through record stores (however enjoyable that may be). You simply pick out the next album and put in your player and there you go.

There are no live cuts in here but a full two disc collection of rarities, which is very nice. There is for instance tracks from Univeria Zekts only album and that I find thrilling, alongside very early recordings of Kobaïa. Great stuff!

Now, I managed to get the last copy of this box available at the HMV website (in the UK) and maybe it is hard to get a hold of but if you ever get the chance i command you to buy it immediately. This is a five star box if ever there was one. It just do not get any better than this, musically or package wise*. Extraordinary.

*Well, maybe package wise. Still, it is a wonderful piece of package.

An amazing collection of Magma's studio albums from debut to K.A, along with an extra CD of unused music from previous years. First of all, Magma is an acquired-taste band. Not all Prog-Heads love their music, and that's ok. We all got different tastes. Now, if you actually like Magma then you really need to have this. It's dozens of high-quality prog music (Except Merci) from the creators of Zeuhl. An absolute must for any Magma fan. I won't talk about the albums since that would make this review 100.000 words big, but I can assure you that almost everything in that box set is worth it. That's basically it, there really isn't much more to say.

I'm giving it five stars because it is literally essential for any Magma fan (Or anyone who wants to get into them).