I'm rather confused about the availability of this CD set. It hasn't even become available yet here in the US, scheduled to go onsale on 11/5, but now there's word that it's completely sold out? Though I'm disappointed about some of the reviews on the remastering, I'm keen to check out the new material. Does anyone know if this stuff will be available for download?
I think it means that if it's available for pre-order you might still get a copy, but US dealers' orders from Bureau B wont reach the States until 11/5. Didn't Bureau B release the albums in the Cluster box individually? So, there's a chance you'll be able to buy them later, I would guess.
I don't know the provenance of the Faust V recording on YouTube but it does exactly follow the tracklist in Stretch Out Time. Anyway, almost all of it is contained within the 3 new ones in this set and the Wumme box 1 Munic Yesterday - same as 71 minutes version except for the organ intro which is absent 2 Party 9 - same as Wumme box version except it is about 8 minutes longer 3 360 - same as Wumme box version but it is split into 2 separate segments either side of Party 10 4 Party 10 - same as Wumme box version 5 Munic Party was described as sections of music like Faust Tapes but with gaps in between, not collaged. This contains sections of Danach / Crapolino / As tu vu mon ombre from Punkt and Snapshot II 6 Munich Untitled - this is Juggernaut from Punkt 7 Knochentanz - same as 71 Minutes
Any guesses as to what's on the Wumme set that's not included on the new set (ie We Are the Hollow Men)?
Got my LP box and, as someone rediscovering Faust, I have to say I think the sound is great. I only owned the Faust Tapes (on Reccomended) previously. This had been recommended (pun intended) to me by Thomas Leer when he was part of Act with Claudia Brucken in the late 1980s. I thought it was OK but it didn't turn me into a Krautrock nut...and in anycase, how - other than rifling through record racks - did we manage to find these albums then anyway? Have been listening to Faust during lockdown so this set was a no brainer when it was announced and I am delighted to be working through it now. The sound is super detailed and my Harbeths (which are temporarily without a sub) appear to really like the bass.
You could say that Wumme Box's '71 minutes' and 'BBC+' is all different material. Yes – Munic/Yesterday and Knochentanz are on the new set, but in vastly different mixes. At least that's my understanding.
And 'Lieber Herr Deutschland' and 'Baby' from '71 Minutes' are on the new set as well, advertised as previously unreleased, which they apparently are not.
Interview with Peron and Irmler in The Guardian today: Krautrock legends Faust: ‘We were naked and stoned a lot – and we ate dog food’ (It's not really a review of the box, just another of those reissue "reviews" where all they are doing is talk about the band and the history surrounding the albums in question. There's zero information about sonics, exact features of the box, the overall presentation.)
Zero info about sonics in any album reviews, unless they are on audiophile sites. But in all fairness the article is about the band as phenomenon not the music. Totally wacky that the Guardian have even heard of the band. But pity they went with the click-bait strap-line.
Haha! But at least that's a proper interview not a review. The last MOJO actually had a very good and in-depth story which contained a lot of great info. I was amazed how little I actually knew about Faust. And I grew up in Germany with Can, Tangerine Dream, Neu! and Kraftwerk. It really took Cope and his book to make me actually check out Faust. Despite its shortcomings "Krautrock Sampler" was very important when it arrived in 1995. (God... that book appears now closer in years to the Krautrock era than to 2021. Tempus fugit indeed)
Is it fair to say that Punkt is essentially like a revised edition of 71 Minutes? There seems to be a lot of overlap between the two.
Punkt seems to be a revised version of the Faust V recording on YouTube which is presumably a copy of the Virgin records Faust V cassette ( see Faust List for more on this). About 30 minutes of that cassette is on 71 Minutes and the BBC+ CDs (available separately or as part of Wumme box). The two Munich era tunes on 71 Minutes are also on Punkt but in radically different mixes.
Thanks. It's pretty confusing because it's being billed s a "new" album in some reviews when there have actually been various iterations of this stuff over the years, but I like the material so I'll be curious to see how this new incarnation compares.
Guess we never will know, the track list of this lost album. Think I wrote about this before, that for me its an afterthought, in other worlds what Peron and perhaps some of the other members remember of what they intended to deliver to the record company. And the problem is that no album was delivered, because they (Virgin) did not want it, due to all the problems surrounding the band at the time. Due to all the various iterations its a bit confusing for sure. The most important part for me is that its a very strong album, so Im happy with that.
Curiosity questions: At this point, outside of the Wumme box and this newest release, are there any other post-70s releases that contain vintage 70s material? Or is everything collected and accounted for now with those 2 releases? I think I remember some things that came out like singles/EPs maybe, collections like Patchwork, Abzu, that may have had a track or two. Can anyone more knowledgeable or detailed confirm? Thanks!
I'm thinking that there was never a final tracklist. I base this on that Faust V recording on YouTube. It has clearly been put together by someone who had access to more of the Munich tapes material than whoever was providing Recommended with Munich recordings. Some of it can only now be identified because of this new boxset. This Faust V assembly is clearly a work in progress, it's segments are quite roughly placed. Maybe brief segments of some pieces are there as a bookmark so the compiler wouldn't forget about them and a final track list would have fleshed them out. So where were the complete session tapes? I reckon that maybe Gunther Wusthoff has been sitting on them all this time. It was him and Ruud the roadie who did the getaway from Munich with the session tapes. He has also been very quiet about Faust in the intervening years. He hasn't been a part of any of the various Faust line-ups from the 90's onwards, he didn't contribute any writings for any of the Recommended releases including the Wumme box... Then we hear that recently he is working with Zappi and suddenly this box set appears, with new artwork that he has done! Perhaps Zappi had a quiet word with him!! Yes it is an extremely strong album!
Definitely Patchwork. There is one piece on Abzu called Wonderland apparently from Munich but it is only about a minute long. The only other release to complete the picture that I am aware of is the 2 CD version of Faust IV from a few years ago. This one collects music recorded at the Manor that wasn't on the album: the full 10+ minute version of Just a Second (Starts Like That), a long version of Meer (called Piano Piece), slightly longer version of Giggy Smile...
Patchwork seems essential, but as the titles states, a mix of different eras. Fasut IV, forgot completely about the 2CD reissue! Own it, wish it would come out on LP too, would definitely purchase it again. ABZU, just the one track? Was hoping there was more on it. Does the untitled EP from 1996 have anything previously unreleased on it? Thanks for the info so far!
