b o b

This disc was my introduction to Faust, and so far is the only album of theirs that I own, so I can't compare it with their other work. The word that comes to mind to describe this album is that it's a "musicloaf" - all sorts of musical styles crammed together, each intercutting to the next with no break or transition. Everything from melodic prog to minimalism to distorted, wailing keyboards to random recordings such as TV programs and the telephone service that tells the time (in German), all lumped together into one album-long track. Speaking of which, it would have been nice for the different pieces to have been given their own track numbers on the CD, but then I guess no one ever says "Hey, I'd really like to listen to part 18 of Faust Tapes today". Some pieces of music remind me of early Pink Floyd (but then everything seems to be reminding me of early Floyd lately), particularly the parts with melodic piano and some of the acoustic guitar work. This album is pretty much for those who like exploring the very adventurous side of prog. If the music itself doesn't put off the more "mainstream" prog fans, the strange, distorted, accented vocals will. Or the relatively poor sound quality of some sections. But if you want to hear one of the outer edges of prog rock, give this disc a spin. review by Bob Eichler — 8-5-00 —

d o m

Enter Wonderland. Faust were (are?) a German band of merry pranksters whose legacy may touch more of the modern avant-garde than any other band or artist. This is not to say that we're dealing with the classics, or a journey into academia, but rather a group that basically was the archetype for rock experimentation during an all-too-short first existence in the early 70s. The Faust Tapes was not actually intended for official release, but was a collection of home recordings made by the band for friends. It was bought cheaply by the then-fledgling Virgin label, and sold for half a pound in English record shops. Incredibly, the album sold 50,000 copies, and for a time, every Tom, Dick and Mumsy was in earshot of real out-there, freakout, 100% mind-bending stuff. Talk about subversive, and the best thing about it is that it still stands up today. The record consists of one track with "26 passages". Some of the passages are short bursts of noise, hyped-up saxes, anarchic drums, or psychedelic echo sessions, but the majority of the music here is something else entirely. Gil Evans inspired noir-jazz, whimsical magical mystery pop, gentle acoustic guitar interludes, garage rock, funky trash RnB, pensive piano solos, found sound, telephone conversations — it's all over the map. It may sound like a lot to take in one sitting, and truthfully, if you have a distaste for experimental music, it may put you off. However, this is, at its core, fun stuff, and is certainly not 'noisy' in the manner of, say, early Boredoms (or even noisier Henry Cow). While generally put in the Krautrock (a genre named after one of Faust's songs!) camp with fellow German visionary groups like Can and Kraftwerk, Faust are really a world unto themselves. This album, along with their first two official releases, makes a strong argument that rock music needn't require abundant technical proficiency or an arch concept in order to be considered prog. Ultimately, it may just need a love of music, an open mind, and an eye to the future. Faust had those things in spades. review by Dominique Leone — 8-2-00 —

m a t t

Faust's third album compiles fragments of music that the German band had recorded between 1971 and 1973. Something of a home-made mixtape, the band strung these bits together and would play the tapes to freak out their friends. These recordings were not intended to ever be released, but the England-based Virgin Records had just picked them up and the label wanted to create a buzz by selling the album at an absurdly low price. It worked too well — the record sold over 50,000 copies in the UK in the months after its release and Virgin had to quickly delete it because each unit was being sold at a net loss. The publicity probably did Faust no favors, as it resulted in the band's least accessible album being the first exposure that many music fans had to them — thus ensuring that most of these people would never again buy a Faust album. The Faust Tapes is indeed Faust's least accessible album, but it's not nearly the avant-garde racket that I was expecting based on what I'd heard about it. Faust are mysterious and hip enough on their own — add to that the quirky circumstances surrounding The Faust Tapes and the album's long absence from legitimate release until it was reissued for CD in the 1990s, and I think you have a recipe for some romanticizing on the part of over-eager music writers. I wouldn't call The Faust Tapes either an undiscovered classic or a pioneering experiment in sound collage (Frank Zappa covered much of the same territory in 1967 with Lumpy Gravy). I would call it an interesting bit of studio experimentation and I don't mean to knock it by not lavishing upon it more praise — I do not imagine that very many bands could put together as good an album from their home recordings. Though it is comprised of individual edits (and I've heard that some versions of this album provide a list in the sleeve), The Faust Tapes is basically a single, unnamed, 44-minute track. Sometimes what could have been a self-contained song will appear and then disappear, replaced by instrumental passages, processed sounds, or dialog. But most of it is music in the conventional sense and almost all of it has a beat. You may not know what is coming next (could be a hummable tune, could be an electric Miles Davis tribute, could be somebody speaking in French, could be a nod to other German experimental bands), but none of it is very far removed from what Faust had already done on their two previous albums. As for the music itself, the less musical moments increase the spontaneity and bizarro factors while the album is on, but they decrease the record's overall memorability when the album is off. I think the "song" portions are very good and could have become even better had they been a part of a regular album. Most of the instrumental parts are typically excellent Faust. My overall impression is that this is a very good album; I like it about as much as Faust So Far, though not as much as either of the band's first or fourth albums. If you like Faust and haven't heard this one, it's definitely recommended. It's not a good place to start with the band, however. 50,000 Englishmen can probably attest to that. review by Matt P. — 3-1-06 —