Faust: So Far (blue vinyl) [BUREAU B]

Why you'll love it

This Bureau B indie exclusive comes on blue vinyl, each copy numbered by hand. So Far is the German krautrock group's most song-based record, nine distinct pieces that run from motorik pop to free-floating sound collage.

This edition

• Blue vinyl
• Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies
• Indie exclusive
• Stereo mix

About the album

Faust's debut had been one long, glorious collage. For the follow-up the band, living and working together in a converted schoolhouse in Wümme, in northern Germany, decided to try their hand at songs, or at least their version of them. The original came in a black sleeve with black labels and a set of prints, one for each track.

"It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" opens with a relentless drum thump and a chant that never lets go, and it is the closest Faust ever came to a pop single. "No Harm" drifts from a mournful horn into a churning groove, "Mamie Is Blue" stomps, and the title track is a sunny instrumental. In between, "Picnic On A Frozen River" and the closing pair of "Me Lack Space..." and "...In The Spirit" are odd little sound experiments; Trouser Press likened them to the Mothers of Invention's early adventures.

Producer Uwe Nettelbeck shaped the sound and designed the sleeve, and the line-up of Péron, Irmler, Sosna, Diermaier and Wüsthoff played everything. "I've Got My Car And My TV," meanwhile, also doubles as a fair summary of our staff's weekend plans.

Also at Kops: more Faust on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Bureau B (cat# BB493LTD), a reissue of the 1972 album.