5.0 out of 5 stars
By far the best Polydor-era Faust album, May 17, 2006
This review is from: So Far (Audio CD)
So Far was the second album from Faust, and I really thought it was an improvement over their debut, in fact I really believe this is truly one of the highlights of Krautrock, up there with Amon Duul II's Yeti, Can's Tago Mago, Ash Ra Tempel's self-entitled debut, the debut from Kraftwerk, etc. "It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" shows the band more experimenting with repetition than on their debut, with a guitar rythm and drum pattern that stays the same throughout, but the band manages not to bore you. "On the Way to Abamae" is a nice, acoustic piece that leads up to "No Harm", which starts off mellow, but then they get in to a nice jam. The title track also emphasizes repetition, but not as so minimalist as "It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl", it has an almost swingin' '60s feel to it, but it's also full of spacy sound effects. The band then really gets off the deep-end with "Mamie is Blue" with tons of relentless electronic effects. The band lightens up with "I've Got My Car and My TV", dominated by clavinet, where the band shows their sense of humor. Then comes a couple of short snippets before ending with the lounge-like "...In the Spirit" that reminds me of the closing of The Mothers of Invention's Absolutely Free album, "America Drinks and Goes Home".
This was obviously their last album for Polydor, as they were dropped by the label, but it was apparent that Richard Branson saw a future for the band on his label, so they jumped ship to Virgin and released two more albums. So Far is truly one of the greats of Krautrock and a must have, in my opinion.
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