Faust

Faust (English: "fist") are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, Germany, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with record producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner. Faust became one of the first acts to sign to Richard Branson's Virgin Records, who embarked on a marketing campaign somewhat daring for its time, aimed at introducing Faust to British record-buyers. The Faust Tapes was a cut-and-paste album, which spliced together a large number of bits and pieces from their extensive collection of private recordings not originally intended for release. Virgin issued it in 1973 at the then price of a single, 48 pence. The Faust Tapes reportedly sold over 100,000 copies but its low price tag rendered it ineligible for a chart placing.
== Links To Peel ==
In an edition of Disc & Music Echo published in February 1972, Peel describes how he discovered the group, in a passage which was reprinted on the sleeve of the Faust Tapes album:
The first time I heard tell of Faust was when I saw their extraordinary first LP in its equally extraordinary sleeve and felt that, regardless of the music within, I had to acquire one. When the music turned out to be highly original and very exciting that was a welcome bonus. Their single It's a Bit Of a Pain occured during sessions for the second LP - which I've not yet heard - and will serve as an introduction to the band. I would advise you to hear the LP though because it must be one of the most important of the past few years. It's not often that you hear a band that is heading off in a totally new direction - and it's surprising that when you do many of those bands are from the Continent. It would be easy to say that Faust's music was Germanic and to let it go at that but I don't think that would be enough. It's really music born of a technological age in which there is neither time nor room for sentiment. Faust paint a bleak vision with music in much the way Leonard Cohen or Nico do with words. It is not easy to describe it in terms of what has gone before.
The group performed two sessions for Peel's show (1973 and 1998) and had the third Longest Gaps Between Peel Session Appearances (25 years and 6 months). They also influenced many of Peel's favourite artists, including The Fall, who had a track called Faust Banana in their ninth session for his show.
== Sessions ==
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1. Recorded: 1973-05-22. Broadcast: 05 June 1973, repeated 25 September 1973
*Just A Second / Ask The Cleaning Woman She Knows The Subtitle / Foam Rubber
*Available on IV 2xCD, 2006 (Virgin, 0946 356362 2 2) and BBC Sessions + CD, 199? (ReR, ReR F5). The tracks there were titled - The Lurcher, Krautrock and Do So.
*Note that Discogs has the following commentary: BBC Session records show this date to be incorrect. The session was actually broadcast on 5th June 1973 and the tracks went under different titles: 1a was called "Just A Second" 1b was called "Ask The Cleaning Woman She Knows The Subtitle" 1c was called "Foam Rubber" Ken Garner's book "In Session Tonight" includes a note from John Walters that the band arrived in London to record at Langham 1 on 1973-05-22 but the studio "didn't have enough plugs for their synthesisers" so a tape recorded earlier in Germany was used instead. Perhaps 1st March 1973 was the actual recording date in Germany.
2. Recorded: 1998-10-29. Broadcast: 12 January 1999
*What Really Happened To Faust Part I And II / What Really Happened To Faust Part III
== Other Shows Played ==
;thumb|330x330px1971
*22 December 1971: Meadow Meal (LP - Faust) Polydor
;1972
*11 January 1972: unknown
*08 February 1972: Meadow Meal (LP – Faust) Polydor
*15 February 1972: Why Don’t You Eat Carrots? (LP – Faust) Polydor
*21 March 1972: It's A Bit Of Pain (single b-side - So Far) Polydor
*06 June 1972: It’s A Bit Of A Pain (single – So Far b-side) Polydor
*04 July 1972: No Harm (LP – So Far) Polydor
*18 July 1972: It’s A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl (LP – So Far) Polydor
*25 July 1972: So Far (LP – So Far) Polydor
*08 August 1972: Mamie Is Blue (LP - So Far) Polydor
*05 September 1972: I've Got My Car And My TV (LP - So Far) Polydor
;1973
*20 March 1973: From The Side Of Man And Womankind (LP – Outside the Dream Syndicate) Caroline
*27 March 1973: So Far (LP – So Far) Polydor
*03 April 1973: Mamie Is Blue (LP – So Far) Polydor
*31 May 1973: Finnish Autumn (LP – Faust Tapes) Virgin
*21 June 1973: unknown (LP: The Faust Tapes) Virgin
*18 October 1973: Krautrock (LP - Faust IV) Virgin
;1976
*27 January 1976: It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl (album - So Far) Polydor 2310 196
;1980
*10 April 1980: Extract 4 (7" 'Extracts from Faust Party 3') Recommended
;1985
*04 March 1985: So Far
;1992
*27 June 1992: Live Hamburg 10 • 90 (v/a 7" - Chemical Imbalance Vol. 2, No. 3) Chemical Imbalance CI 008
*23 October 1992: (JP: 'One of the things that I'd intended to do in tonight's programme was to play you something from the legendary Faust, as they're invariably described, but I couldn't do this because I couldn't actually reach up in the incredible chaos that is Peel Acres to the place where the Faust LPs are filed, if filed is the right word for them, so I can't do that, but I can tell you that they play their first live performance for nearly twenty years at the Marquee in London, Charing Cross Road, this Sunday. I should like to be there, but alas will not be, I suspect.')
*24 October 1992: Just A Second (Starts Like That!) / Picnic On A Frozen River, Deuxieme Tableux (CD - Faust IV) Virgin
;1995
*31 March 1995: 'It's a Bit Of A Pain (7 inch-So Far)' (Polydor)
*08 April 1995 (BFBS): 'It's A Bit Of Pain (7"-So Far)' (Polydor)
;1997
*26 January 1997: ‘Eroberung Der Stille, Teil I (LP – Rein)’ Table Of The Elements
*02 September 1997: Spot
;1999
*17 March 1999: Carousel II (LP - Ravvivando) Klangbad
*18 March 1999: Take Care/Spiel/Dr Hanzil (album - Ravvivando) Recommended
*March 1999 (FSK): Four Plus Seven Means Eleven (CD - Ravvivando) Klangbad
*01 April 1999 (Radio Eins): Carousel II (album - Ravvivando) Recommended
*01 April 1999 (Radio Eins): Take Care/Spiel/Dr. Hansl (album - Ravvivando) Recommended
*06 April 1999: Apokalypse (LP: Ravvivando) Klangbad
;2002
*18 April 2002: DIG (Kreidler remix) (LP – Freispeil) Klangbad
*27 June 2002 (Radio Eins): T-Electronique (Rmx. Matthias Schaffhauser) (album - Freispiel) Klangbad
== See Also ==
*Singles
*Sounds Playlist
*Peel On Record Cover Sleevenotes
*Disc & Music Echo: Peel Columns
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
*Band's Website
Category:Artists