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So Far

by

Faust

 
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So Far
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Avg: 4.0 (63 ratings)

The German out-rock collective’s second album.

  • We Say...

    When the rock collective Faust were signed by Polydor in 1970, it was in the high hopes that they would become a “German Beatles.” Their first, self-titled album, with its dramatic collages of synth noise and rock improvisation, would eventually be regarded as an avant garde milestone but at the time was seen by Faust's label as a commercial disaster. For their 1972 follow-up, So Far, Polydor urged them at least to divide up their music into more manageable chunks. The result is a more accessible album but still wildly, unnervingly innovative and scarcely designed to deliver on their record company paymasters' hopes of commercial pop sensation.

    Opener “It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl” is an astonishingly effective piece of sustained rock primitivism, driven by the clubbing rhythms of what sounds like a Stone Age metronome, over which the band intone the song's title, deadpan. As the track builds, synthesizers heave in like gradual wisps of cirrus cloud. “No Harm” develops into a rolling cat-and-dog-fight between strafing synths and chunky fuzz guitar. The title track comprises a facetiously benign pastoral riff, over which banks of analog synthesiser and guitar rain down a barrage of dub, wah-wah and ugly/beautiful abstract lumps. This paves the way for “Mamie Is Blue,” which, with its dense, pulverising, road-drill black noise anticipates the much later electronic assault of fellow Germans Einstürzende Neubauten. For anyone interested in the origins of extreme rock, this is an absolutely mandatory purchase.

  • They Say...

    Faust's second album moves closer to actual song structure than their debut, but it still remains experimental. Songs progress and evolve instead of abruptly stopping or cutting into other tracks. The opening song "It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" begins as a repetitive 4/4 beat played on toms and piano with the title sung over the top. But for seven minutes the song adds instruments, including a lush analog synth line, and ends in a memorable sax riff. Faust's lyrical side appears on the acoustic "Picnic on a Frozen River" and "On the Way to Adamäe," whereas its abrasive side pops up on "Me Lack Space." "So Far," a jam shared by guitar, horns, and tweedy keyboard, rolls along with a funky hypnotic beat and wailing processed synths. And on "No Harm," the crazed delivery of such lines as "Daddy, take the banana, tomorrow Sunday" makes one want to believe something profound is going down. In terms of scope and the wealth of ideas, this is probably the most balanced of their first four albums.

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