VOTD 12/28/2022

 Faust: s/t (Recommended)

Bought mail order from Wayside Music

I plan on going to see Thomas Dimuzio play tonight, making this particular missive very timely. I've met Thomas just once before, in 1994 or 5 when Water Shed 5tet played in San Francisco. Thomas is originally from Bethel Park, and knew Jeff Stringer (our bassist). 

I have Facebook contact with Thomas. A few years back, he did one of those Facebook lists of ten records that had an impact on him. One of the records he mentioned was the first Faust record. He heard the track "Why Don't You Eat Carrots" on WRCT as a high school student. WRCT was probably still a ten watt station at the time, and its coverage was sketchy even within the city let alone outside. There's a chance the wattage had been bumped up to 100 by then, I don't know the specific timing. Either way, WRCT had a weak signal, and he wrote about just barely being to pick it up out in the suburbs.

In his Facebook post, he described how important it was hearing that articular piece, that he'd never heard anything like it before. It's fortunate that I saw this string of postings, because I responded to tell him that I was without a doubt the person who played that record. I'm certain I was the only person who had a copy, and probably few DJs even knew Faust's music.

The record is elegantly and unusually (for its initial release) packaged, a clear vinyl record with cover art and notes printed on transparent plastic. The labels are silver with no information printed on them. Originally it was released on Polydor in 1971; my copy was the Recommended Records reissue from 1979.

Listening to it now, I didn't look at the index listing on the inner groove to see which side I put on first. It was the second side first, listed as "Miss Fortune, recorded live at Wümme, September 21 1971." It's certainly not a live concert recording, or if it is, not entirely. Things are mixed in and out, and the acoustic piano indicates a studio creation. Faust in a most post-psychedelic tone here, with distorted guitars and jamming. This puts them firmly in the Krautrock category along with Can.

Listening to the first side second, Faust sounds crazier, with pieces of ideas sometimes floating in and out, sometimes abruptly introduced. There's a kind of prog-ish melody (in the sense of Henry Cow) in the previously mentioned track, flipping back and forth with noise, text, etc. The second track has more vocals, and is perhaps generally even more unhinged.

What amazes me is that anyone thought they could make money off this music. Well, a label I mean. but then this is the era of Henry Cow on virgin (a few years later?), Velvet Underground and Mothers of Invention on Verve, Can on United Artists, to name only a few. Of course I've never been a good judge of what will or won't sell, but how these artists were ever expected to be big sellers I beyond me. It does mean that there's a certain era of music that's well distributed. 

My guess is that Thomas wasn't the only person to get flipped over this record, and for that we can be grateful.

Note: this record came with a strange sort of film on it from the beginning. I don't know if it is due to the packaging. I'm sure it would sound better if it had a proper cleaning.