So, as promised I made the 'magic paste' and the base gravy this week, followed by a few curries.
The paste did have a lovely TA aroma to it, so I was almost 'dancing around the kitchen' after making it. I then made the base with the paste as Chris describes in his ebook. The aroma did not really come through in the base once made.
First I made a chicken tikka madras, after diluting the base to the normal milky like levels I have always used. It did not cook in the normal manner, no oil separation and I ended up with a pastey curry, that tasted overspiced.
I tried again, another madras, this time diluting the base to be quite watery and got much better results. The madras was tasty, BUT no better than anything I have made with other bases. I made a few more curries (all made on the high output burner, following the same non-stirring style that Sam the chef at Chris' TA uses) and got similar results.
My verdict is this is a very nice base that will make tasty curries. In no way is it some secret answer to creating a world class BIR style curry. 7 years of waiting and feeling disappointed but not at all surprised.