There's a definite tendency for chaos to be reigned in, as thesprawling goliath is chopped into neat digital byte sizes and spat outin a more ordered frenzy of a very different hue. It's appropriate thatthe cover is predominantly a becalmed green as opposed to the fieryorange glow of the original. However enough of the massive rollingmetal percussion and layered keyboards and guitars remains to give mosttracks a bit of edginess, even if some mixers such as MathiasSchaffhäuser and Sofa Surfers program happy stomps with the merest hintof a Faust shadow. Likewise the Kreidler and Funkstörung tracks don'tgive away many clues as to the original tapes and wouldn't sound out ofplace on albums by either artist, but there is a drone running throughmuch of the Kreidler track which rises in intensity, pushing up fromthe underworld. Perhaps it's this often subtle use of the originalFaust tapes that makes this such a surprisingly well rounded listen.The Gel mix of possibly my favourite Faust track ever, "Wir BrauchenDich #6," performs the bizarre feat of making it sound like Neu!covering Can's "Mother Sky" and is frighteningly addictive enough forthree versions to run together without tiring as they did on thesingle. The single also included the original, which showed just howthe rolling thunder had been fine honed to a robotic precision.Surgeon builds a slow guttural whirlpool vortex of sound that cuts deadfor vocal sample snippets and is one of the few tracks that soundsunmistakably Faustian, being perhaps the only track that looks the darkapocalyptic heart of 'Ravvivando' right in the eye. Now that heart hasmany eyes all peering at different angles. Other remixers which spy themost sympathetic views of Faust's drum driven behemoth are the lastthree: the Residents, Dax and Pieper and Dead Voices On Air. It'stelling that there are three very different tracks assembled from thesolo organ spot "Carousel II." Adriano Lanzi and Omar Sodano seem tomix in chunks of noise from other parts of 'Ravvivando' and leave alarge part of the organ motif untouched, icing the cake as opposed tothe full scale retooling of most mixes. Trillian approaches the sametrack by homing in on one fragment of its fairground feel, whilstSunroof take it on a low key stuttering cut up ambient loop trip. HowieB also opens out the hidden ambient side of Faust, making "Four PlusSeven Means Eleven" sound like an out take from Immersion's 'LowImpact,' pinging harmonising close ups of electron drones off of atoms.This is perhaps the album's most beautiful mix, although Dead Voices OnAir give Howie some competition on that score. Dax and Pieper's take on"Four Plus Seven Means Eleven" is almost the opposite, stompinghyper-beats into focused spiralling mania. The Residents countdown toignition with a rocket lift off that brings the circus to town in awarped vaudeville machine chrome showtune that made me grab the sleeveto find out who it was the first time I played the disc. That rocketblast is really the closest anyone comes to the sheer power of Faust infull flight, but whether this arose from Residents knowing cheekycleverness or is just coincidence is moot. Dax and Pieper sound almostlike they've remixed the Residents, even though they take on anothertrack, as they follow the mood so perfectly. This is another strengthof "Freispiel" - these mixes haven't just been slung together but itsounds like Faust keyboard player Hans Joachim Irmler, who is creditedwith production, spent a while making sure the sequencing flowedperfectly as an album. Dead Voices On Air summon the perfect mood toclose 'Freispiel' accenting the intact hopefulness of "Du Weisst Schon"with slowed mammoth clomp drums. Don't let memories of all thedeadweight on the Can 'Sacrilege' remixes put you off - this isactually that rare thing, a remix project without duff tracks. Thenagain perhaps that isn't so surprising as the only album I can think ofto have a remix album made from it which is on a par with the colossalmajesty of 'Ravvivando' is Ground Zero's 'Consume Red.' -
- There are downloads of the Residents, Howie B, Kreidler and Mathias Schaffhäuser remixes at freispiel.com.
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