The Faust Tapes

Faust | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 5, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Recommended Records
• ASIN: B000008QKZ
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #162,023 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Exercise

2. Flashback Caruso

3. Exercise

4. J'ai Mal Aux Dents

5. Untitled

6. Untitled

7. Dr. Schwitters

8. Exercise

9. Untitled

10. Untitled

11. Dr. Schwitters

12. Untitled

13. Untitled

14. Untitled

15. Untitled

16. Untitled

17. Untitled

18. Untitled

19. Untitled

20. Untitled

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Format: 180 gram LP + printed inner sleeve From the band that led the krautrock genre to glory, Faust's 1973 Virgin LP is an absolute classic and considered by many to be the band's best work. Originally released as one 43-min long sound collage, with no track division, it has now been re-mastered and repackaged, with a properly divided and annotated (!) track listing. Limited audiophile edition of 2000 copies on 180 gm virgin vinyl. Tracks - Side A: 1. Exercise - with several hands on piano 2. Exercise - with voices, drums and sax 3. Flashback Caruso 4. Exercise - with voices 5. J'ai Mal aux Dents 6. Untitled 7. Untitled - Arnulf & Zappi, 2 drums 8. Dr. Schwitters, intro 9. Exercise - Continues track 1 10. Exercise 11. Untitled 12. Dr. Shwitters snippet 13. Untitled - Arnulf on drums14. Untitled - Arnulf on drums Side B: 1. Untitled - All on saxes 2. Untitled 3. Untitled - Rudolf 4. Untitled - Rudolf 5. Untitled - Rudolf 6. Untitled 7. Untitled 8. Untitled 9. Untitled 10. Stretch Out Time (Sosna) 11. Der Baum (Peron) 12. Chere Chambre (Peron) --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I always wanted music to sound like this., September 19, 2000

By 

Gary Bearman (Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Faust Tapes (Audio CD)

I always wanted music to sound like this, because it never gets boring (that is if it doesn't make you run screaming from the room). There are 2 or 3 "regular" songs here (I use the word regular in the broadest of terms) that kind of melt out of the surrounding haze and melt back in when done, though you can never really deliniate where one section ends and one begins in this surreal dadaistic masterpiece, though some parts do shockingly come out of nowhere. I'm intentionally writing this in a fairly non-linear fashion to give you some grasp of the swirling deeply strange music you're in for if you buy this cd which I do highly recommend you do, now). While I'm certianly glad all music isn't like this (or I'd slowly go mad), I sure am glad this album exists because it is quite unique in the world of music (I won't even call it rock, though it's related). I've played this for people who loved it, but it is only the adventurous hearty soul who will enjoy it, as it's extremely wierd and can be quite jarring at times, but for those who like that kind of thing, you're gonna fall in love with this. One of the best albums along with Can's Tago Mago, and Amon Duul II's Tanz der Lemmings to emerge from the Krautrock scene.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stimulating and fun, June 11, 1999

By 

Neil C. Nicholson "xenakis24" (Saint Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Faust Tapes (Audio CD)

This recording is a good example of the innovations and wonders of Faust. There is only one track on this album (which is somewhat of an annoyance if anything else) which consists of about 25 or so "passages" which together create the mother of all sound collages. Faust's innovating and originality is staggering. There is nothing quite like Faust. It's a fun, but challenging listen to hear all of the crazy things Faust's members throw together. When I describe Faust's music to others I explain to them that their music is kind of like abstract expressionism for sound: a soundscape/collage that creates a dreamworld for the listener to explore, music that stirs up feelings and emotions inside of you. It's like exploring a dream you once had that was both curious and interesting but yet undescribeable and you wanted keep dreaming that dream and develop it more. It's very stimulating music. Music listeners with an open mind for experimental sounds and sound collage should check this out. Although I think that this particular recording (or set of recordings) is wonderful, try their first self-titled album out first (which you can only buy now as an import off of Amazon), or if you want to delve into Faust's more accessible outings, try Faust IV for a more song structure oriented (but still challenging) side of Faust. Great band. Great material. One of Germany's finest groups along side with the extraordinary Can and Kraftwerk.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A woman colour in your mind to be, May 25, 2000

By 

Mr. A. Pomeroy (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Faust Tapes (Audio CD)

A fantabulous collection of outrighteously mesmerated sounds, this was originally released for 50 pence (the price of a single) as part of Virgin Record's first four releases. Selling several thousand copies, it was a quietly revolutionary album which went on to influence a generation of post-rock, lo-fi lounge-core fanatics, most notably Stereolab and Tortoise.

Musically, it's a bit like Monty Python, in that it's a mish-mash of cut-up songs, sound effects and other noises, edited together with no real reason or rhyme. There are three or four proper songs buried in there, and a lot of odd, experimental stuff, but if you get bored of a passage you just have to wait for a minute or so and a new one pops along. I went through it and wrote down an index, once.

Bits of it seem to be amazingly modern - there's a short acid house piece, something else that has what sounds like a dentist drill, and lots of amazingly strange sound effects that you will try to reproduce. The proper songs include a ballad about leaving your place and walking in someone other's garden, and a riff-based thing in which somebody shouts lyrics about mind control. All in all it's a great thing.

After this came a concert tour (involving road drills, television sets and pinball), 'Faust IV', which was so named because it was their fourth album, and a long period of haitus followed by a return to producing music ('You Know FaUSt' and a newer album, the name of which I have forgotten) as if they had never stopped.