Composition
"The Magnificent" is a short composition, in keeping with the requirements of The Help Album 's producers. According to the album's originator, Tony Crean, "We had trouble fitting all the tracks on—I had to tell the artists not to make their tracks longer than 3 minutes 45. ... hen Bill Drummond told me The KLF (One World Orchestra) track was only two minutes, it was a cert."
The track is a cover version of The Magnificent Seven theme. Its tempo approximates that of the original tune, but whereas the original is percussively sparse, One World Orchestra's drum-oriented cover has a tempo in excess of 160 beats per minute, which is typical of drum 'n' bass tracks.
"The Magnificent" features no sung vocals, but uses sampled speech throughout, in the form of Fleka's contributions and, punctuating the track at points, a male voice announcing "The Magnificent!" – this vocal sample was taken from the introduction of the 1971 release "Double Barrel" by Dave and Ansil Collins. Recurring prominently in are sounds of machine-gun, six shooter and artillery fire, a theme used regularly in The KLF's later singles (most overtly "What Time Is Love? (Live at Trancentral)", "3 a.m. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)" and a B-side, "America No More"). Police car sirens, used in the duo's "Doctorin' the Tardis" and "Build a Fire", also feature here. Both the gunfire and the sirens are fitted to rhythmically accentuate the fast tempo.
The song begins with Fleka's "This is Radio B92: Serbia calling", and launches into The Magnificent Seven melody on horn and string sounds, against a backdrop of gunfire that blends into fast drum machine patterns. During the two breaks, Fleka's "Humans against killing: that sounds like a junkie against dope" is backed first by the melody played on soft flutes, and second by a sequence of climactic string chords not present on the original theme. The speaker's separation from the listener is conveyed by the thick static interference that accompanies his words over the phone line. Fleka's sentiment—that humankind cannot control its urge to kill—offers insight into his perspective as a citizen within Milošević's regime.
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