Faust/So Far

Faust

album cover

Germanic Progressive Rock

The first thing to know about Faust, the pioneering German noise-rock band, is that it was put together by a music journalist. Acting as a producer and conceptualist, Uwe Nettlebeck managed to get a bunch of players to buy into his vision for a different kind of rock band, one oriented around clashing dissonances and improvisation and the ethos of experimental electronic music. Said band didn't sell tons of records, but became one of the more influential outfits in progressive rock history.

The first clue that there's new thinking going on: The band's self-titled debut opens in a swirl of noisy static. Underneath it, way in the background, are trace snippets of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love," as well as early examples of tape manipulation. Then comes a circus march, which is first played straight, then as a trumpet-and-guitar figure with a bit of rock savagery in it. This theme recurs several times, eventually swelling into a lusty cause célèbre played with a jazz anarchist's swagger.

Faust—whose claims to fame include the first coinage of the term "Krautrock"—doesn't stay in any one environment for long. The three extended pieces on this debut are all journeys, with agitated grooves rising up and then fading into an entirely different atmosphere. Many times the transitions and linkages between motifs are more interesting than the motifs themselves; in Faust's best moments, the musicians move between time signatures and tempi as though following a detailed score. Included on the same disc is Faust's second album, So Far. It's slightly more conventional, but here too the band's renegade streak prevails: Even working within recognizable song forms, Faust winds up with jarring and episodic music that doesn't simply expand the existing playing field. It creates a new one.

Genre: Rock
Released: 1971/1972, Virgin (Reissued 2000, Collector's Choice)
Key Tracks: "Why Don't You Eat Carrots?," "It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl"
Catalog Choice: Faust IV
Next Stop: Neu!: Neu!
Book Page: 273

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#1 from Bradley Rheinboldt - 10/27/2009 12:14

Faust, the self entitled debut album (1971) is a masterpiece of engineering and sound. The marriage of hell and rock music is amazing. The follow up, “So Far” is a pretty good album.

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