''Outside the Dream Syndicate'' is a 1973 album by

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

composer

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

in collaboration with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

group

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

. The album marks Conrad's first and only musical release for many years, and remains his best known musical work. It is considered a classic of

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

and

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmon ...

. ''Pitchfork'' exclaims "for a moment in Outside the Dream Syndicate, one forgets what exactly is moving and what is standing still." The original LP contained two 26-minute pieces. The album was digitally

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed in 1993 and released on CD by

Table of the Elements Table of the Elements is an American record label. It concentrates on re-released and specially recorded experimental music, including many Avant-garde music, avant-garde musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries: such as John Cale, Tony Conrad, ...

with an additional 20-minute previously unreleased bonus track.

Background

In the mid-1960s Tony Conrad was a member of

The Dream Syndicate The Dream Syndicate is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally active from 1981 to 1989, and reunited since 2012. The band is associated with neo-psychedelia and the Paisley Underground music movement; of the b ...

, a

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

and

group. In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Conrad was approached by a filmmaker from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in Germany who said that he knew a producer in Hamburg who would be interested in Conrad's music. Conrad flew to Hamburg where he met Uwe Nettelbeck, Faust's producer. Nettelbeck took Conrad to an old schoolhouse where Faust had been recording, and invited him to make a record with the band, "outside" Conrad's group, the Dream Syndicate (and hence the title of the album). In 1995, Conrad and Faust reunited to play a 50-minute live version of the piece "From the Side of Man and Womankind"; the concert was eventually released in 2005 as the album '' Outside the Dream Syndicate Alive''. In 2015, they collaborated for the last time, for a live performance at the famous Berlin Atonal festival, which marked the last public appearance of Conrad before his death in April 2016.

Track listing

All tracks written by

1973 LP release

Side A #"From the Side of Man and Womankind" – 27:16 Side B #"From the Side of the Machine" – 26:20

1993 CD release

#"From the Side of Man and Womankind" – 27:16 #"From the Side of the Machine" – 26:20 #"From the Side of Woman and Mankind" – 20:04

2002 30th Anniversary edition (2 CD)

CD 1 #"From the Side of Man and Womankind" – 27:16 #"From the Side of the Machine" – 26:20 CD 2 #"The Pyre of Angus Was in Kathmandu" – 03:38 #"The Death of the Composer Was in 1962" – 03:16 #"From the Side of Woman and Mankind (complete version)" – 31:09

Personnel

– violin *

Werner "Zappi" Diermaier Werner Diermaier (also known as Werner "Zappi" Diermaier) (born 1949) is a German drummer, best known as one of the founding members of the German krautrock band, Faust. Diermaier has remained with Faust for its entire lifespan and appears on all ...

– drums *

Jean-Hervé Péron Faust (English: "fist") are a German rock band from Hamburg. Formed in 1971 by producer and former music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier (b.1949), Hans Joachim Irmler (b.1950), Arnulf M ...

– bass guitar *

Rudolf Sosna Faust (English: "fist") are a German rock band from Hamburg. Formed in 1971 by producer and former music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier (b.1949), Hans Joachim Irmler (b.1950), Arnulf M ...

– guitar and keyboards *

Kurt Graupner Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and i ...

– engineer * Uwe Nettelbeck – producer

References

External links

''Outside the Dream Syndicate''
''The Faust pages''. {{Authority control 1973 albums Faust (band) albums Caroline Records albums Collaborative albums Albums produced by Uwe Nettelbeck