1978: Camel Breathless vs. Magma Attahk

Glad to see this one is quite close, and thanks for all the replies.

Tapfret wrote: Anything Magma over anything Camel every day. Except perhaps if it was Merci vs Mirage.

Mirage is a great album, and if I put it up against Merci I don't think many Magma fans would vote for the Magma. I like Merci, at least side two, but not as much as Mirage. I love the last two tracks on Merci. "Eliphas Levi" iss de hundin (anyone here who does not know what that means does not really know Magma).   

While I'm sure that Mirage would decimate Merci, I think that if I were to do a poll of Magma's most popular album vs. Camel's least popular, Camel would hold its own in terms of votes (might even win) A lot of people do vote for band rather than the particular album in such polls, and there are many people who just don't like Magma ... period, or have already decided that they don't like Magma period despite lack of knowledge and wouldn't be willing to try more Magma. SO irregardless of which Magma album or track one presents, some people would not want to give it the time of day.

I'm kind of tempted to do MDK vs. The Single Factor as a part of a thought experiment, but I won't. I used to do lots of thought experiment type polls to test certain behavioral hypotheses, but this poll is not one of them.

By the way, I was originally going to post the following two tracks for people to become a little acquainted with both albums -- both albums are available in full on youtube, but I don't like to post full albums here. Actually, that's dishonest, I do like to embed full albums here, but it is ethically suspect, and as a collab I should make some effort to be a good example and not get the site in trouble. Not that it needs my help to get in trouble...)





And regarding an earlier comment, I love "Maahnt". It may be my most listened to track off Attahk.   My kids were always asking for me to play it because they loved the belches (in my house we call it the burping song). I considered that as my sample too, as well as the first track, but I thought Maahnt might be a bit too much for some.

I don't want to slow down webpage loading with too many vids, but for those looking for a belchingly good time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG_LCZGL2JE

Breathless and Rain Dances is my favorite era of Camel (probably because of Richard Sinclair).  Camel gets my vote! 

Breathless was a pretty good album with, as someone said earlier, a lot of fresh ideas, whether you liked them or not.  Not a Magma fan at all

YESESIS wrote: Logan wrote: Richard Sinclair is great, I love Caravan and Hatfield and the North, but this Camel album is not one of the best, imo, to feature him by quite a long way. He makes it enjoyable, though. I don't think I'd like that song I posted in this topic if it were instead of him, say, pretty much any death metal growler. Actually, that might be cool. Probably some good death metal meets disco out there, maybe.... Perhaps, perhaps not. I love Attahk. It's one of my favourite Magma albums, and it still sounds fresh to my ears these days. Most people fawn all over MDK, but I like the jazziness of the first two and the fun of Attahk. I like every Magma studio album, even the much reviled Merci, and I love lots of their live albums. It's not the easiest band for most to get into.... I think a lot of people start in the wrong place, and what place to start depends on what someone is into. For me it was "Iss Lansei Doia" off the second album, but then I liked brassy jazz and very quirky music. It filled with joy. Hmm, thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to try them and see if I can get into it. I did listen to some VdGG already. I listened to 'The least we can do..' and it was pleasant but nothing really grabbed me. But I did like the second song on 'Pawn Hearts' - the organ and whatever that distortion is was kind of kick ass. So Idk, I think I might be able to get into it..

Well the second song on Pawn Hearts is the one that opened up VdGG for me. The other was House With No Door, as I found it beautiful, but my tastes are not so rooted in rock as most people here. I was a classical music lover first, then later jazz.... Not that that means anything, I know others who were the same with classical music, but their favourite Prog music is Prog Metal (I can't take metal in more than small doses other than some classic heavy metal). My original tendency was to favour more pastoral Prog, but as I continued looking into stuff here, I really got into the more experimental and dissonant music.   Nowadays I like a balance of pretty, and pretty ugly music often. ;) When it comes to music it's always best to follow our own heart and your path, I think, which isn't to say that recommendations can't be useful, but they tend to be most useful when they align with your current tastes. Umm, why I am I going pseudo-philosophical here? Lack of sleep probably. The less I sleep the more I say.

Camel - Breathless for sure

Camel for me.....always liked their albums. The Magma sounds like an outtake from a Supersister album with crazy vocals.

Magma - Attakh. Really disappointed with Breathless...

dr wu23 wrote: I'm a bit surprised how many people like Magma here......I have yet to hear an album by them that I think rings my bell. All you Magma fans.....what am I missing...? Which is the album by them that I should be listening to?

The usual recommendation is the Live album.

Fwiw, I prefer Magma singing in Kobaian to English. Unlike opera...

Camel's music always puts me in a good state of mind and makes me feel happy. Breathless is not their best album but it's still very refreshing and enjoyable to listen to. Magma I do have some of their albums but I find it simply does not connect with me very well. Listened to an album the other day and felt on edge by the time it had finished.