Faust - The Faust Tapes FLAC download

From Melody Maker, Jul 1972:"The Faust Tapes, Virgin's cheap album currently at number 18 in the MM chart will be deleted on July 20. Reason? Well, it was too popular. At 48p a go, the album costs more to produce than the price it sells for. So, on 60,000 sales Virgin have already LOST £2,000. Such are the crazy economics of the business... or so they say."49 pence = roughly £5.50 in 2018

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 Germany, 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.

The album cover is "Crest" by Bridget Riley, the famous English artist and innovator of "op art". It dates from 1964. Her permission wasn't obtained by Virgin for this release, which is why it's not on any of the reissues. The music changed my life. An extraordinary release from an extraordinary group.