THE FAUST CONCERTS VOL. II

2.5 stars This is very much a companion piece to Faust Concerts 1. It was recorded in London in 1992, again by the trio of Hans Joachim Irmler, Jean Herve Peron and Zappi Diemaier, and has a similarly rough, bootleg sound quality.

Like Faust Concerts 1 it was a limited edition release that would be an excellent souvenir for anybody who had been at the concert or who had seen any other performances at around that time, but it is also of some interest to a wider audience because it features mostly new material. This includes the obligatory chainsaw/power tools routine, but on this occasion it is saved for the end of the performance. The preceding 50 something minutes veer between the kind of grinding Industrial sound that Irmler's version of the band would unleash on Ravvivando and the more absurdist approach favoured by the Peron/Diemaier axis, with the Industrial groove dominating the proceedings. Unfortunately the recording quality means that a lot of the fine detail is lost, and without the accompanying visuals some aspects of the performance fall rather flat.

As with Faust Concerts 1, this is an item that occasionally changes hands for inflated sums. It's really one for the completionists, although there is also some historic interest in the otherwise unavailable material. For diehard fans only.