FAUST – THE FAUST TAPES LP – Nr MINT A1 UK KRAUTROCK

Faust – The Faust Tapes
(Virgin Records  1973  VC501)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Sleeve in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
– a little wear to edges – back cover has a few small discolouration marks and light crease in bottom right corner

Faust (English: “fist”) are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, 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.

The Faust Tapes is a 1973 album by the German krautrock group Faust. The album sold well in the United Kingdom (50,000 copies) because of a marketing gimmick by Virgin Records that saw it go on sale for the price of a single. This exposure introduced British audiences to Faust.

Recommended Records reissued the album on LP in 1980, and on CD in 1996 and 2001, both mastered from vinyl sources. The Recommended LP reissue used a brand new cover design and was packaged in an oversized plastic bag. Neither CD edition included the original LP artwork; the 1996 CD used the cover art from the second “Faust Paty 3” extract single as the front cover and the 2001 CD used the cover art from the “Munic And Elsewhere” album as the front cover. The Virgin and Recommended LP releases, and the first Recommended CD release had no track titles.

The Faust Tapes consists of segments of songs woven together in pieces spread out over two sides of the LP.

Track listing

LP releases

Side one

1. “Untitled” – 22:37

Side two

1. “Untitled” – 20:49

Personnel

Faust

• Werner “Zappi” Diermaier – drums
• Hans Joachim Irmler – organ
• Arnulf Meifert – drums
• Jean-Hervé Péron – bass guitar, vocals on “J’ai Mal Aux Dents”, “Der Baum” & “Chère Chambre”
• Rudolf Sosna – guitar, keyboards, vocals on “Flashback Caruso” & “Stretch Out Time”
• Gunter Wüsthoff – synthesiser, saxophone

Other contributors

• Kurt Graupner – engineer
• Uwe Nettelbeck – producer, cover artwork, vocals on “Exercise – With Voices”