1971-1974 ［7LP+7inch x2］

70年代前半に結成されたクラウトロックの生ける伝説、FaustのボックスセットがBureau BよりCDとLPでリリース!
4枚のオリジナル・アルバム『Faust』(1971年)、『So Far』(1972年)、『The Faust Tapes』(1973年)、『Faust IV』(1973年)に加え、ジョルジオ・モロダーのMusicland Studiosで録音された1974年の未発表アルバム『Punkt』や、未発表のスタジオトラック集『Momentaufnahme I』と『MomentaufnahmeII』、さらに、1971年にバンドがポリドールに送ったデモ音源「Lieber HerrDeutschland」(最終的にシングル「Baby」のB面に収録)と、ポリドールでの初のシングル「So Far」(オリジナルは1972年に発売)が2枚の7インチシングルに収録!

Fausts initial run during the early 70s produced a series of LPs that radically reimagined what a rock band could do in a recording studio, creating boundless, free-form epics that took psychedelia to the furthest edges by incorporating Dadaist humor and musique concrete-style edits and sonic manipulations. 1971-1974 gathers all of the bands studio material issued during that time period (minus the Tony Conrad collaboration Outside the Dream Syndicate), and adds a bounty of rare and unreleased recordings that are just as fascinating as the groups main body of work. The original four LPs still sound far ahead of their time. Faust (1971) consists of three extended pieces that move from marching band glee to fractured poetry to hypnotic fuzz-rock, completely dismantling and reconfiguring the structure of a rock album. So Far is a bit more accessible, with more concentrated grooves on tracks like the jubilant Its a Rainy Day Sunshine Girl, though the bands penchant for absurdism is still in full effect on tracks like the ten-minute No Harm, and the proto-industrial Mamie Is Blue is as dissonant and jarring as their debut. The Faust Tapes, a bewildering cut-and-paste collage of home recordings, defies easy description, and simply must be experienced as a full, unbroken work. Faust IV remains the bands definitive, most influential album, featuring some of their most straightforward songwriting as well as their most focused, driven rhythmic explorations, including the 12-minute Krautrock, a press-created term that the band would inextricably be linked with forever. The box set unearths Punkt, a previously unheard album recorded in Giorgio Moroders Munich-based Musicland Studios in 1974. The world wasnt ready for it then, but its just as essential as the previous Faust albums, with flange-heavy effects that bring a new level of wildness to their sound. These textures, as well as the continually shifting rhythms of the jaw-dropping Knochentanz, point to directions Moroder would soon take with his underacknowledged 1975 experimental project Einzelganger as well as his groundbreaking disco work. Two volumes of Momentaufnahme consist of studio outtakes and scraps, essentially functioning as additional variations on the premise of The Faust Tapes, and theyre certainly of interest to fans of the groups anarchic side. The box is rounded out by two singles: the scattered early demo Lieber Herr Deutschland and more acid rock-styled Baby, both of which surfaced on the 71 Minutes of Faust compilation, and the single versions of So Far and Its a Bit of Pain. ~ Paul Simpson