Üdü Wüdü

After the live album and further touring in 1975, Magma retracted to its core lineup of Christian Vander, Klaus Blasquiz and Jannick Top. The band recorded two further studio albums before folding. Üdü Wüdü saw release in 1976, again on the Utopia imprint of RCA, and by Tomato Records in the USA and Canada (part of Gramavision). The first side opens with the uncharacteristic "Üdü Wüdü," a lighter, jazzy tune with a calypso-like beat. Vander supplies the vocal, with a call-response from the female chorus. Bernard Paganotti and Patrick Gauthier were around long enough to contribute to "Weidorje," before exiting to form the band of the same name. The remainder of the first side is a mixed bag, some of it part of the larger Ëmëhntëht-Rê song cycle. But indubitably, Top's militaristic "De Futura" is the album's high point. A masterwork of his Utopia Sporadic Orchestra, it's a primordial soup of grunts, bass rips and a host of sounds from Top. The side-long composition doesn't really go anywhere, but it most certainly has a scary presence! Attahk followed almost two years later; but lacking any unifying composition, the album was again a mish-mash of styles. Yet with a larger horn section and Laurent Thibault's production, it was a good record nonetheless. Though flush with archival live material, Inedits was a bootleg-quality release for Tapioca Records in 1977. Vander would often revisit Magma over the ensuing years, in live concerts and for a final album, Merci in 1984; but the 80s would see his career turn solidly to jazz.