Get lost in an album’s worth of melancholy beauty from the early-1970s German band better known for its whimsy, chaos, and metallic dub slabs.
Faust was many bands at once, all the time, 1971-1975. The Faust aspect that I think is least appreciated is the beautiful one. That’s the focus of this mix.
The arrival in 2021-2022 of Faust’s final, lost, 1975 album, plus a slew of archival tape nuggets, finally makes it possible to craft a full LP arc of gorgeous Faust tracks.
Like nearly all of Faust in this period, the music was made in an old schoolhouse in far-off, Wumme, Germany, occupied by the band as a studio/home for several years. If you imagine a low sun, long shadows cast through the windows, and dust motes sparkling everywhere, you will have previewed the sound of this mix.
If you are a Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, or Fred Frith fan - if you like Epic Soundtracks - if old, misty Genesis albums appeal to you - even if you’re looking for Radiohead anticipation… you will find a place to latch onto Faust in this mix.
Band member Rudolf Sosna seems to have been the one who led this melancholy mood. He wrote, sang, played guitar and keyboard, and led production to degrees we cannot presently parse. (Song-by-song composer/player attributions would add a lot to Faust scholarship.)
You can start your Faust journey in many places. One of the best is their fourth album , “Faust IV,” which is a proper album that will stand indefinitely. In addition, I recommend this curation that corrals their most unapologetic embraces of gorgeousness.
49-minute mp3 mix zipped up here. (Source information and alternate titles included in song title tags.)
- Hermann’s Lament >
- I’ve Heard That One Before
- Jennifer (alt mix)
- Rudolf Der Pianist >
- Party 8
- Purzelbaum Mit Anschubsen >
- Chère Chambre
- Läuft ... Heisst... (alt mix) >
- On The Way To Abamäe
- Flashback Caruso
- Das Meer (full length)
- Lampe An, Tür Zu, Leute Rein! >
- Schön Rund
- Rémaj7
Editing Notes:
• No internal edits of tracks.
• Starts and ends cleaned up in some cases.
• Several segues added, as noted by “>,” above.
• Volume equalized to match “The Wumme Years” boxed set, the baseline master I recognize for the bulk of Faust’s catalogue. (“Das Meer” volume adjusted in various ways.) Sources are that box, the 2006 “IV” expanded reissue, and the 2021 box including extra material.
• The 2021 release of previously unheard material is over-compressed and sometimes distorted. We can make those tracks quieter, but we cannot fix the distortion or restore the original tapes’ dynamics.