2000: Faust: Faust: The Wümme Years

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So Far

The Faust Tapes

71 Minutes

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Why Don't You Eat Carrots?

I can't get no satisfaction
all you need is love
...

slow goes the goose
you see me shoes in your mirror mind
quick goes the trick
I ask your sick sailing sailors blind
I travel into the tongue
ready to drop   ding dong is handsome top 
...
(Faust / all)findest du das angenehm ? 
Florentine
(Arnulf) zum überleben reicht das schon
(Faust) du hast dich auch verändert in den letzten Jahren!
(Arnulf) findest du ? 
(Faust) warum bloss? warscheinlich...nae...aber...warum isst du
(Faust) dann nicht Mohrrueben? 
(Arnulf) ja, das waere wirklich schön
(Faust) wollen wir das machen? 
(Arnulf) ja 
(Faust) willst du runter steigen ?
...
(Faust / all)do you find that pleasant?
(Arnulf) it's enough to survive
(Faust) you've changed in the past few years, too!
(Arnulf) you think so?
(Faust) why then? probably...well...
(Faust) but...why don't you eat carrots?
(Arnulf) yes, that'd be really nice
(Faust) shall we do it?
(Arnulf) yes
(Faust) do you want to climb down?

Meadow Meal

Me is a meadow meal
and the guess I get it
and the gate I get it
and the game I get it
a wonderful wooden reason
to stand in line keep in line
line up
crash the sound
you lose your hand
to understand
the accident is red

you are a fruit fork
and the money you look up
and the madame you look up
and the middle you look up
a wonderful wooden reason
to stand in line keep in line
line up
crash the sound
you lose your hand
to understand
the accident is red

Miss Fortune

Are we supposed to be or not to be?
said the angel to the Queen
I lift up my skirt and Voltaire turns
as he speaks, his mouth full of garlic
white, yes, white
misfortune of us two
he told you to be free
and you obeyed
we have to decide which is important
a war we never see
or a street so black babies die?
a system and a theory
or our wish to be free?
to organise and analyse
and at the end realise
that knowbody knows
if it really happened

It's A Rainy Day (Sunshine Girl)

It's a rainy day, sunshine girl
it's a rainy day, sunshine baby

No Harm

Daddy! Take the banana!
Tommorrow is Sunday!

Mamie Is Blue

Mamie is blue
daddy is blue
...
and mamie is blue
and daddy is blue
and mamie is you
and mamie is you too
...
that's Kraut!

I've Got My Car And My TV

I've got my car and my TV
what should I care about you and your fun?
I know what to do and do so
my clean machine's dream is a colourful gun
what should I care about...
what should I care about you?
Yesterday noon at the tea time
we held three hands close to the other side
suddenly there was a red cloud
a finger come out and said
those guys are right
what would you say
if this would just happen to you

...In The Spirit

Me lack space in the spirit
the weekday is five stories high
and the deafening different distance
between the brown bread breakdown
and you
is a delicate delight
crush cost
just imagine your impossible impressions
merchant mercy : message
from morning to night
hey miss brown
object to the oak
you ought to turn the page
take a peculiar pen and write
your own instant
if somebody talks to you
apply for proofs
now
don't be satisfied with a lack
everytime you say goodbye
you die a little
don't take roots!
don't retire!
paint the painful page
otherwise you only ought to track the outline review
...
Put on your socks
before you put on your shoes
watch out
mad dog is running loose
you've got two cars
you've got ten fingers
but it's never you
it must be others
sleeping tight
thinking of the past
I wonder how long
is this gonna last?

Flashback Caruso

When you leave your place
and walk in someone others garden
suddenly you see
it's a warming colour in your mind to be

It's only a garden made of sandwich
marshmallows jumping around and smiling quiet
inside a stone of cream there is a language
bring our minds together, press them tight

The rainbow bridge sounds flashbacks of Caruso
beyond eleven dreams are dancing girls
for everything you feel there is a do so
your mind it is accepted, you are right

J'ai Mal Aux Dents

J'ai mal aux dents!
j'ai mal aux pieds aussi!
...
This is a man hard working song
there is... no old dream
we practiced for years my friend
to get this machine screams
noise follows questions honey
the hero is a business bunny
if it means money
this is time maybe we do it without crime
because you are crying and i don't listen
because you are dying and i just whistle
that thing so anonymously today
and echoes of my laughter burn into your seven hour turn

The problem is not only pain
if time could be part of machine
you could pack it, see it's clean
you could roll the end to start
tomorrow skip my plastic heart
beating for a spacey blues
and you could hear it without shoes

It's been a nice (historic) role
first call the name and then the code
first call the code and then the name
i think it's still a funny game

ROCK OFF!!!

Here we go sisters, here we go man
your home made connections
i do what i can
your tranquilliser body touch is very nice because
and i don't need you
makes you wait for the master because
i don't need you
and you sit on your chair with your distant care
this mind blowing freak
makes my mind very sick
and the seasons grow without your be active or die blow
say A.M. man, say A.M. woman's role
see the mind control is perfect
and you still have your daddy's smile
fences on the floor are not there
because you can't hide
you get your children, you get your car
what do you think how old you are
what do you think what people need
it's not that plastic, let it bleed
it's not that plastic honey don't
because you understand you won't
see your generation with their
  TV on standby

ROLL OUT!!!
j'ai mal aux pieds aussi!
...
Schempal Buddah
ship on a better sea!

Stretch Out Time

Yes, I see
you are the one to be me...
...
stretch out time, dive into my mind and sign
get answer and hold your dime
but not into the Coco smile
love is really so...
love is really so true

Der Baum

See her sitting on her chair
when she stops kissing i know she won't care
he opened the door, turned on
the light and it hurt my eyes
taking the kids to bed
they're crying so loud they're breaking my head
see her lying on the grass
must be a nice feeling for her ass
the wind has come
so the leaves, they are gone
feeling like a tree today
and it's a nice feeling, yeah
the wind has come now
so the leaves, they're gone
because the wind has come
see her lying in her bed
must be a nice feeling for her head

Chère Chambre

La vie semblait s'être arrêté là devant le
spectacle muet d'un lendemain d'orgie
deux hirondelles s'étaient depuis
longtemps installées, leur caca clapotant se
desséchait. seul triste, river ne pensait
qu'à penser. de tout facon, comme il disait
lui... et s'était une phrase toujours
interompue. un êclair soudain devait le
saisir. ses mains cherchaient un motif, une
sympathie, n'importe quoi, de la douceur...
depuis toujours et jamias on ne disait
toujours sans songer à l'aube du jour ou le
vent, chaud sons corps, fou ses espoirs et
avec charme il se masturber comme
personne ne pouvait le faire, chaque
mouvement était alors un pas de plus vers
elle. une poignée de coton hydrophile est
un chapeau sur la tête de Kerstin. j'ai senti
tout à coup que le choc était plus que
probable, je n'étais pas supris, je n'avais
pas peur. Rudolf avait freiné trop fortement
et comme il ne conduit pas au même
tempo que les villois... j'étais même curieux
intéressé par les mouvements de la voiture
le paysage évolue dans une autre
dimension. le code de la route est alors
impuissant et dérisoire: la voiture va où elle
doit aller sans respecter les divers
obstacles qui sont ou ne sont pas là ou
ailleurs choc sourd et décevant
accélération centrifuge et tout redevient
normal, normal et amusant. le système de
notre civilisation se montre et tombe très
vite dans l'éfficace inhumain. il y a quand
même le moment ou les deux chauffeurs
males communiquent. tout devient male
asexue
Coup de foudre
Kerzen, Tomatensaft
2 * 150 gramm Rindfleisch
Viel Obst, viel Obst, viel Obst
Was zum trinken
Brot, Margarine
Chère chambre tu m'as longtemps regardé
quand j'étais nu sur le lit, quand je restais
sans rien dire, longtemps. tu dois me
connaître maintenant. j'ai vu le monde à
travers les trois yeux. j'ai vécu dans ton
sein, tous mes instants vides, blancs, nuit
yeux ouverts sur des pensées sans fin qui à
force de se retourner perdent ainsi leur
sens, toutes mes humeurs et mes envies
mon échec solitaire quand je peinds si
longtemps chaque matin à grande peine et
sagement. tu dois me comprendre
parceque toi non plus, ta femme quand ca
claque porte, tes coins où passe le vent et
le froid et la catastrophe, quand tu veux
dire que tu ne sais pas. je les connais, je
les ai observés. toi aussi tu t'es ennuyée
ma chambre. maintenent tout à changer.
est-ce-qu'un sentiment trop fort encoumbre
le paysage. il est si tenu et très
transportable. je m'en serts souvent et
beaucoup l'accepte. je vois aussi que
certaines humeurs se répétent éspacées de
plusiers années.
nous devons peut-être accorder nos passés?


Life seemed to have stopped there in front of the dumb spectacle of the day after an orgy,
two swallows had settled for a long time and their excrements dried.
Alone and sad, River just thought of thinking,
in any way as he said,
and it was a sentence always interrupted.
A sudden flash was to seize him.
His hands sought a motive, a sympathy, whatever, tenderness ...
Since always,
and never did one say always without thinking of dawn or of the wind,
his body hot, his hopes distorted
and with charm he masturbated like nobody could do it,
each movement was one more step towards her.
A fistful of hydrophile cotton is a hat on Kerstin's head.
I suddenly felt that the shock was more than likely,
I was not surprised, I was not afraid.
Rudolf had slowed down too hard and as he does not drive with the same speed as the citizens...
I was even curious, intrigued by the movements of the car,
the landscape evolves in another dimension
The highway code then is impotent and ridiculous:
the car goes where it must go without respecting the various obstacles which are or are not there or elsewhere.
Deaf and misleading shock.
Centrifugal acceleration, and all becomes normal again,
normal and amusing.
The system of our civilization shows
and falls very quickly into the inhuman effective.
Anyhow there is this moment when the two male drivers communicate.
All becomes male, sexless.
Thunderbolt.
Candles, tomato juice, two times on hundred and fifty grams of beef;
Much fruit, much fruit, much fruit, much fruit, much fruit, something to drink;
bread, margarine.
Dear room,
you looked at me a long time when I was naked on the bed,
when I remained silent for a long time.
You must know to me by now.
I saw the world through your three eyes,
I have lived in your bosom.
All my empty white moments, nights with eyes open
on thoughts without end
and which by turning over lose direction.
All of my moods and my desires,
my solitary failure,
when I paint for such a long time each morning with so much pain and wisely.
You have to understand me because neither you,
your wife when the door claps,
your corners where the wind and the cold and the catastrophe pass,
when do you want to say that you do not know.
I know them, I did observe them.
You were also bored, my room.
Now everything changed.
Does too strong a feeling encumber the landscape?
It is tense and very transportable.
I often make use of it and very much accept it.
I also see that certain moods repeat
that are several years apart.
Perhaps we have to connect our pasts?

Baby

aaa baby
are you coming to the cinema with me?
aaa baby
And after that we'll go for a meal
And after that we'll go dancing
And after that we'll go screwing

J'ai Mal Aux Dents

J'ai mal aux dents!
j'ai mal aux pieds aussi!
...
This is a man hard working song
there is... no old dream
we practiced for years my friend
to get this machine screams
noise follows questions honey
the hero is a business bunny
if it means money
this is time maybe we do it without crime
because you are crying and i don't listen
because you are dying and i just whistle
that thing so anonymously today
and echoes of my laughter burn into your seven hour turn

The problem is not only pain
if time could be part of machine
you could pack it, see it's clean
you could roll the end to start
tomorrow skip my plastic heart
beating for a spacey blues
and you could hear it without shoes

It's been a nice (historic) role
first call the name and then the code
first call the code and then the name
i think it's still a funny game

ROCK OFF!!!

Here we go sisters, here we go man
your home made connections
i do what i can
your tranquilliser body touch is very nice because
and i don't need you
makes you wait for the master because
i don't need you
and you sit on your chair with your distant care
this mind blowing freak
makes my mind very sick
and the seasons grow without your be active or die blow
say A.M. man, say A.M. woman's role
see the mind control is perfect
and you still have your daddy's smile
fences on the floor are not there
because you can't hide
you get your children, you get your car
what do you think how old you are
what do you think what people need
it's not that plastic, let it bleed
it's not that plastic honey don't
because you understand you won't
see your generation with their
  TV on standby

ROLL OUT!!!
j'ai mal aux pieds aussi!
...
Schempal Buddah
ship on a better sea!

Party 5 / 25 Yellow Doors

25 yellow doors and the waltz of the pumkin
25 yellow doors and the waltz of the pumkin
we're coming through!!

Party 4

... workers rise up again!
state power to the proletariat!

The future-assured fully-automatic washing machine
must be opened at the top so that you can remove
the ironing-free washing, dripping wet and smooth
from the rinser.

The future-assured fully-automatic washing machine
has a special wash programme for every fabric;
natuarally, the wool mark programme.

The future-assured fully-automatic washing machine
offers you everything that a future-assured
fully-automatic washing machine can offer you,
for example a light panel so you can follow the
wash programme precisely; for example the fully
automatic wahing powder input, so you don't have to
think any more

Stretch Out Time

Yes, I see
you are the one to be me...
...
stretch out time, dive into my mind and sign
get answer and hold your dime
but not into the Coco smile
love is really so...
love is really so true

We Are The Hollow Men

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Close to the ones .who cry (try... ?

to the grumbled mood moon
coming home moaning home

you can count to dry pet
you can lick to a wet pant
you can grade to the jet set


(compare TS Eliot, The Wasteland, 1925...)

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry glass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
...

Richard Fontenoy: Three years of Teutonic experimentalism in one handy box

Few bands have been as mythologised as Faust. A group of German experimental musicians and/or hippies, they were brought together in 1970 by journalist Uwe Nettelbeck to form a pop band for Polydor to rival the Beatles. However, all the suits got were massive bills for Faust's three years in a converted schoolhouse studio, a ton of weed and some of the most outrageously innovative and influential music of the decade. The only problem was it wasn't commercial enough and when Faust later struck a deal with Virgin, Richard Branson quickly discovered he couldn't make them sell either, despite bringing out The Faust Tapes for 49p.

The lovingly-packaged box and booklet tells the story of this era with the proviso that each band member has differing recollections of the story. And therein lies part of the fascination of how the band recall what really happened. Naked darts matches, drunken tomfoolery with loaded guns, constant recording and oodles of drugs - by all accounts it was a blast. But in the moments in between such goat-acting the band developed some still-stunning songs and highly advanced recording techniques.

Faust made three albums proper in this era - the stunning Faust, the more accessible So Far and the amazingly weird The Faust Tapes - a record which dismayed many purchasers attracted by its cheapness with its curious blend of avant-garde experiment and freaked-out Kosmische rock. All three are included in this box, remastered and available outside Japan on CD for the first time.

There's also a reworked 71 Minutes (a collection of two rare albums from Recommended) and a CD of John Peel Sessions and other rarities to tempt the collectors. Fans might already own most of the set, but the whole really is an essential purchase for the interviews and previously unavailable pieces.

Did you know?

- Faust's first gig took five truckloads of equipment to set up - two of them were empty and one filled with empty tin cans set up to mimic a pipe organ which hulking drummer Zappi Diermaier promptly destroyed. The band also tried to solder twenty-four miles of wiring together onstage with no success, so they sent the audience to a bar while the assembled label executives left in a huff. Some band members recall this as their best show ever.

- Despite being sacked by Virgin, Faust rented an expensive hotel and studio in Münich in the label's name, ran up a massive bill and smashed through a closing gate to try escaping without paying their bill. They were too stoned to run away and ended up in jail for three days.

- Various recent shows from the band have involved the liberal use of explosives, smashed televisions, naked action painting of a wall of record sleeves and the letting loose of flocks of sheep to calm the audience after all the excitement.

Rob Chapman: Faust: Non-Alignment Pact

They were Krautrock's outsiders. They sounded like a Harley being sawn in half. Perfect, then, for psychotic psylocybin heads, says Rob Chapman - a review of Faust: The Wümme Years 1970-1973 box set.

A 5-CD box set comprising the band's first two Polydor LPs, Faust and So Far, and two further compilations of rarely heard material, BBC Sessions and 71 Minutes, culled from the band's prodigious output from their converted school building studio/commune at Wümme, Germany.

Faust are the refuseniks of Krautrock. Kraftwerk's influence on contemporary electronica is a given. The reactivation of Can's entire back catalogue has introduced them to a whole new geneation. Tangerine Dream have a symbiotic relationship with almost everyone who ever forged an ambient souncscape. Faust were, and arguably still are, the outsiders. "We realised we were doing something different," remembers original bass player and guitarist Jean Hervé-Péron. "We also knew there were other groups riding the same waves. But we didn't bother once to try and contact them."

Like Can at "Inner Space" or Kraftwek at "Kling Klang", Faust lived and worked communally, but their muse was expressed far more fractiously. Can played lock and go with Holger and Jaki's grooves. Kraftwerk listened to their motorik heart-beat. Faust launched from orbit to orbit. Nobody jammed quite like them.

Rock music's original sonic terrorists named themselves Faust because they felt they were selling their creatively to the devil of big business; they booked into major recording studios and fled before anyone discovered they weren't paying. When the first incarnation of Faust was wound up bankrupt in the mid-70's and their studio was put up as collateral, band members went in and asset-stripped it down to the last jack plug. Eat yer heart out, Sex Pistols. When they inflicted their collective mayhem upon the tubular-belled up tranquillity of Virgin's Manor Studio, they terrified the shit out of Richard Branson and his fledgling hip capitalists. This was not music for passive potheads: psychotic psylocibinn heads maybe. Trust me, I've done the litmus test. And as a live act they were, and still are, phenomenal. The gig they played with Henry Cow at Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1973 (complete with pinball machines, TVs and hot-wired heavy plant machinery) remains to this day one of the best half-dozen gigs this writer has ever seen.

On recording their collaging was as vicious as a their stereo planning - not so much cun'n'paste as slash and solder. A scything monolith riff could be cut dead by a medieval church organ of extraordinarily meditative beauty, and vica versa. And next time you read about Hurricane Smith or whoever whingeing about Syd Barrett almost sabotaging the first Floyd album by "playing the faders randomly", just consider that he could have helped them sound like this. Fittingly, some of Faust's lyrics evoke a great lost Barret LP. Meadow Meal in particular, on the eponymous debut album ("crash the sound, you loose your hand, to understand the accident is red"), sounds like a track that begins its voyage where Syd's "Bike" ends. Apart from a certain "Sister Ray" quality here and there, the other obvious kindred spirit is early Zappa, most noticeably on The Faust Tapes and most splendidly on the previously unheard version of Giggy Smile on 71 Minutes, where Ed Marimba also seems to have hopped on for the ride.

Faustrecorded their second album So Far under instruction to be more commercial. As a result a certain delicate pastoralism seeps in, but there' s little that you could ever call a concession to pop song. The title track vamps on the riff from Creedence Clearwater's "Run Through The Jungle", but by the next track Mamie Is Blue they sound as if they are trying to saw a Harly Davidson in half. Oh to have been a fly on the wall at the record company playback.

If you want to sample the sheer essence of Faust, go into your local Virgin Megastore (hey irony, come on in!), put on the headphones and listen to The Faust Tapes, tracks 7 to 12: an impossibly funky bass line, Hans Joachim Irmler's melancholic keyboard washes, a piercingly trebly guitar drenched in fuzz and wah-wah, descend in delicate layers one minute, splurging like an action painting the next, lush driller-killer noises of unidentifiable origin and various other cloudbusting devices that make the sun come out when you point them at the sky. Six minutes of perfect fragments.