SO FAR

An attempt at a more conventional album, So Far shows Faust trying to create more digestable 'songs' out of the sprawling noise that made up its debut. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt and the album ends up being rather uneven.

The new approach is most justified on the opener 'Its a Rainy Day...' which begins with a quick tempo, hypnotic drum beat and slowly adds piano, guitar, organ, harmonica and finally calminates with a lovely sax cresendo. The album continues with the simple classical guitar piece "Abamea' and then lurches into 'No Harm' which is an excellent jam blending the best of both new and old Faust. The title track is a nice, mellow groove great for cruising down the highway and is followed rather naturally by the hard, industrial sound of 'Mamie Is Blue'. The rest of the album however is comprised of mediocre snipets snoozable at best, skippable at worst.

Overall, So Far lacks the unity of its powerful debut and thus it is rated lower in my book. Ill admit though, if your a beginner who prefers to dip their toe in Faust's alluring waters rather than jump right in, this is the place to start.