HAMBURG’S excellent imprint Bureau B, one of whose investigative strands in recent years has been bringing forth unheard works from the Krautrock archives, is to mark the half-century of Faust, the seminal band who formed in the pastoral surrounds of Wümme, near Bremen, in 1971; and whose bargain-priced “The Faust Tapes”, compiled for the UK market, found its way into so many homes and introduced the sound of new Germany to the country.
The new box set is entitled Faust 1971-1974 and may be had either as eight CDs, or seven LPs and two 7″s, early in October.
“There is no group more mythical than Faust,” said Julian Cope in his sought-after guide to the genre, Krautrocksampler, which you’ll currently be pushed to find for less than three figures; and if influence and myth, and folklore and stories are a guide, then Faust are right up there with the Velvets, about whom there’s old axiom, “everyone who bought one went out and started a band,” as attributed to Brian Eno.
Joy Division and New Order’s Stephen Morris recalls their entry into his world thus: “The first Krautrock record which made a lasting impression on me was the debut album by Faust.
“The transparent disc looked spectacular and the music was mind-blowing, not songs as such, it was something absolutely unique, the polar opposite of everything the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and the like were doing. It was right up my street.”
The box set will form a virtually complete collection of Faust material from 1971 to 1974. In addition to the debut album it will include 1972’s So Far, the legendary The Faust Tapes, Faust IV and, for the first time ever, the mythical, so-called “Munich album” Punkt, which Faust recorded at Giorgio Moroder’s Musicland Studios in 1974 but which has never seen the light of day – until now. We’ve got a track from that, “Fernlicht”, which you can listen to below.
Bonus albums Momentaufnahme I and Momentaufnahme II also feature unreleased material from the band’s Wümme studio era.
Two 7″s round off the vinyl set and include “Lieber Herr Deutschland”, the demo recording they sent to Polydor in 1971, gaining them a contract with a label with something of a conservative reputation; the second 7″ is a rerelease of “So Far”, the band’s 1972 single for the label.
Mastered from the original tapes, Faust 1971-1974 will be available as a limited edition vinyl run of 2,000, and 1,000 only on CD.
Faust’s Faust 1971-1974 boxset will be released on by Bureau B on October 8th; get your order in now at the label shop or contact your local record store pronto.
