Faust

Please only submit 1970-2004 Faust recordings in this profile.
Since 2004 there have been various splits and parallel bands named Faust.
Faust (54) is for faust led by Werner 'Zappi' Diermaier with Gunther Wüsthof and others, since 2021.

German for "fist", and also the protagonist of Goethe's eponymous play, Faust were among the first bands to use the recording studio as an instrument and one of the originators & central pillars of the Krautrock genre. After two albums for Polydor, they were dropped due to a lack of commercial success and signed with the fledgling Virgin label. The first release to come of this new partnership was The Faust Tapes - a record comprised of edited older material, with no clearly demarcated tracks, and no titles or other information on the sleeve. In what could be seen as an early attempt at viral marketing, the disc was priced as a single and as a result sold over 50,000 copies. Faust IV was released later the same year, and had been recorded on night shifts at the label's Manor studio while Mike Oldfield tracked Tubular Bells during the day. While the group would carry on for another two years after the release of IV, no new releases appeared before the band seemingly vanished.

Throughout the 1980s the group's first three records and various unreleased archival material were released by Chris Cutler's ReR and Recommended labels - the beginning of a creative partnership which would see him go on to perform with Jean-Hervé Peron's later iteration of the group decades later. Beginning in 1994 Faust reactivated; performing live in the UK and Europe and releasing a new album, Rien, on Table Of The Elements. They would go on to tour and record extensively, with the majority of their later work being released on H.J. Irmler's Klangbad label until the group fractured into two distinct lineups in 2004. Their live appearances during both their 70s and 90s periods were infamous for their chaotic physicality and the risks often posed to the band and audience alike, with pinball machines, jackhammers, cement mixers and blowtorches all being common onstage props and sound sources.