Faust – The Faust Tapes

Sorry, I can't imagine that this hasn't been discussed here in these reviews previously - but as a HUGE fan of the 1970s version of Faust I thought I'd add my 2 cents (an American term, for sure!)
I was in high school in the late 1970s, and when I first heard and fell in love with the music of Faust. To say that their albums were tough to come by in the US back then is an understatement. And in high-school the best I could do back then is trade cassette tapes for copies of their albums.
But then in 1978 I entered college and eventually was able to score copies of their first 3 releases on Recommended Records (which I still have in NM condition).
Then, soon after, I found in a used record stores NM original UK Virgin copies of "The Faust Tapes" and "Faust IV" for about $5 each.
Well, skip to 2025 and the prices of these 2 Virgin Records album's first UK pressings' prices are relatively astronomical!
It's bad enough that I had to pay $5 for "The Faust Tapes" that was sold in the UK for 50p! But that's nothing when one looks at the asking price for it now!
I'm one lucky Faust Fan now, as I still have those Recommended Records versions of their first three LPs, but also have Japanese LP copies of all three! But I've never found Japanese pressings of "...Tapes" or "IV" but at least I have these UK originals on Virgin to enjoy!
Don't worry - when I'm called back to my home planet my wife will sell ALL my LPs for pennies on the dollar if she doesn't just give them away - first come first serve! Here's to Faust!

I have a signed copy by the line up that played The Marquee 1990

Faust's White Album. Words w w w w w w

My copy of this album has a labelling error. Both side one and side two have 'Side One' labels.
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, stamped, variant 1): VC 501 A-1U
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, stamped, variant 1): VC 501 B-1U

Everyday I wake up and am glad that Faust never actually became the 'German Beatles'.

Very influential album which still sounds innovative to this day. Haven't heard the represses but this OG sounds fantastic.

I was surprised to learn that Faust invented Hip-Hop.
Well, they did, second track first side, less than a minute long. Honestly, how can this be there?

Groundbreaking album in every respect which, like Lumpy Gravy before it, employs all manner of tape splicing and studio trickery to achieve thrilling results. Early Faust bears little to no resemblance to other Krautrock bands of the day like Kraftwerk, Neu or Can for instance. While more groove-oriented people like Can, I prefer the far-reaching experimental brand of music Faust proffered forth on their first three albums in general, and this one in particular. An absolutely timeless and influential record, predating the industrial sound by several years.

Simply one of the defining moments of Krautrock as far as I'm concerned. Polydor was not happy with their input, deeming it "not commercial enough", so they went over to Virgin Records. Apparently Richard Branson's Virgin Records was just a record store and he'd sell imports from the likes of Gong, Faust, Tangerine Dream, and the likes (it became a label because he wanted to give Mike Oldfield a chance when no other record label did, and obviously those other mentioned groups ended on the label). Given Faust was selling so much better in the UK than , it's little wonder why these guys switched to Virgin.

The Faust Tapes were a collection of recordings the band was doing up to that point. Virgin sold it for 49p, the price of a single in the UK at the time. One can only imagine the reaction of kids on a limited budget what they were getting into when they bought this, on pocket change! The music has a cut and paste approach. At first it starts off rather mellow. Piano-dominated, almost veering towards symphonic prog, but then it quickly changes to weird voices inspired by Can's "Aumgn" (even has that similar echo), then they get into a repetitive jam. Throughout the album you're treated with tons of weird sound effect, noise, and the occasional "real song" to settle you down. Some of the vocals are in English, German, and even French (helps that Jean Hervé Peron was French himself). Of all the early releases I've heard on Virgin (1973 to about 1978), this is probably the most extreme and bizarre albums I've heard on that label.

The front cover is basically a collection of press releases from various British and French rock critics from various magazines regarding Faust (I noticed John Peel was one of them, but I guess that isn't too surprising), most of them in English, a couple of them in French. The back features artwork from Bridget Riley called Crest, which was done in 1964. Virgin gave no permission from her to include the artwork on the album, therefor latter pressings never featured that artwork. Even though it's from 1964, it still gives that '70s feel perfect for an album released in 1973.

For those who enjoy the more extreme Krautrock, this album is required in your collection.