Faust: Faust IV (clear vinyl) [BUREAU B]

Why you'll love it

Bureau B's pressing is on clear vinyl, numbered and limited to 500 copies. Pitchfork gave Faust IV 9.4 out of 10, and it sits in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

This edition

• Clear vinyl
• Numbered
• Limited to 500 copies
• Stereo mix

About the album

Faust named their opening track "Krautrock," which is a bit like a chef naming a dish "Food" and then making the best one you've ever had. The Hamburg band had spent their early years living and recording in an old schoolhouse in Wümme, and by 1973 they had signed to Richard Branson's young Virgin label, which sent them to The Manor in Oxfordshire to make this record with producer Uwe Nettelbeck.

"Krautrock" itself is nearly twelve minutes of hypnotic guitar drone and patient drumming, the sound of a band settling into a groove and refusing to leave. Then the album turns: "The Sad Skinhead" is a jaunty, reggae-tinged oddity Madlib later sampled, "Jennifer" is a slow, aching song that proves they could write a proper tune whenever they felt like it, and "Giggy Smile" and the closing "Läuft... Heisst Das Es Läuft Oder Es Kommt Bald... Läuft" mix tenderness with a wonderful sense of humour.

It was the last album by the original lineup, and Radiohead, Sonic Youth and Stereolab have all cited the band. Faust's very first record came on clear vinyl in a clear sleeve, so this pressing carries on a family tradition.

Also at Kops: more Faust on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Bureau B (cat# BB497), a reissue of the 1973 album.