Faithful Breath was formed in 1967 in Witten (North Rhine-Westphalia). After numerous line-up changes and a number of musical experiments, the band eventually consisted of keyboardist Manfred von Buttlar, guitarist and lead singer Heinz Mikus, bassist Horst Stabenow and Jürgen Weritz on drums. At the end of December 1973, they recorded their debut album over the course of five days at the Tonstudio am Dom in Cologne, with the support of singer Renate Heemann.

Fading Beauty was self-released in early 1974 in a limited run of just 500 copies. This imaginative masterpiece is a testimony to their high level of musical skills and consists of three long tracks offering a slow, dark and melancholic blend of melodic symphonic prog and hard rock. They were among the first German bands to play classical symphonic prog.

Unfortunately, however, their concept album went completely unnoticed and also turned out to be their last prog-rock LP, as the quartet curiously transformed into a heavy metal band in the 1980s. This private pressing with a brown cover (second pressings appeared a year later with a blue cover) is now regarded worldwide as one of the jewels of symphonic progressive rock. It is extremely rare and therefore of considerable value.