"The tracks upon this thirteen cut disc were recorded between 1971-75.There seem to be a few remixes that show up on 'Faust IV'.My favorites would be the 12-minute adventurous "Munic A","Baby","Don't Take Roots"(sounds like the Monkees doing acid)and "Party 5".Tunes off THIS collection had been pulled off a couple of rare/LONG out-of-print EP's.Faust had reformed some time ago and apparently put out some other more decent releases,such as 'Rien' and 'You Know Faust'.It's also been noted that Faust is one of the most mythical bands ever.In my humble opinion,a tad better than 'The Faust Tapes'.It's just that you get one or two Faust titles,you're going to want to snatch up a copy of all their material.Another great krautrock work of art.Highly recommended."
Bits
Mr. A. Pomeroy | Wiltshire, England | 05/25/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Released long after the group had broken up (for the first time, at least), this is a collection of songs that would later go on to appear in 'The Faust Tapes' and 'Faust IV', although it has less impact as an album due to the length and sprawling nature of most of the tracks. Cut-up into bits and moved around on 'The Faust Tapes', or arranged into relatively straightforward songs on 'IV', there isn't time for them to get stale, whereas here they just chunter on and on. That said it's still a document of barmy, unique genius, and Stereolab (for one) would be nowhere without it."
Classic Kraut Sound Experiments.
boy | scotland. | 05/17/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album is made up of two previously released ep's and a few unreleased tracks - the first 4 tracks are as close as Faust ever got to the motorik, proto-electro style of Neu! Intense, hypnotic and, ultimately, amazing! After that we're straight into CRAZY Faust territory - all the usual Faustian ingredients, savaged traditional - industrial noise - fairground fun - biting guitar work and oppressive, relentless drumming. As far as odds and ends collections go - you'd be lucky to find a better one than this early 70s masterclass. A true classic!!! 20 years ahead of their time, do yourself a favour and check it out!"
Very good
Joerg Colberg | Northampton, MA USA | 08/23/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"When I started to listen to music, the so-called Krautrock scene had disappeared and German music tended to be pretty bad - with the notable exception of Kraftwerk. It took me a long time to find out about all those bands which had released awesome music in the early Seventies. I listened to Stereolab and people mentioned Neu! and Can so I tried to find their music. Faust did not get mentioned as much which is a shame because they clearly had some great albums out. In fact, the name Krautrock is actually the title of one of their songs. This album is a compilation of previously unreleased stuff which is rather close to the experimental music Can did in the early Seventies. Basically, you get a few long songs which are not easily accessible and some shorter pieces which sound a bit unfinished. This CD definitely is one of my Faust favourites."