KLF - did they rock you?

I think you are taking the KLF a little too seriously. They were a couple geezers up for a laugh, and they certainly had one. I thought their music was alright, but 1987(WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON) is an absolutely brilliant album. It is rare as hens teeth as it was only on the shelves for about a day before it was pulled due to copyright violations. A buddy of mine has a vinyl copy and it is absolute madness. Think of rabidly plunderphonic hip-hop as done by the beastie boys if a. they had not tried to sound even remotely influenced by NYC black culture, b. they were hell bent on career suicide, and c. if they had absolutely no flow.

It sounds like it would be god awful, but it is so intentionally bad and purposely clever that is breaks through into genius.

I always thought their writing was more interesting than their music. Check The KLF's Guide To Having a #1 Hit Single The Easy Way, also The White Room Script, and the story about spending 24 hours continously driving on the M03. Simultainously hysterical and insightful. They knew exactly what they were doing.

Anyone remember Bill Drummond's great pre-JAMMs reply number, Julian Cope Is Dead?

Compared to what house/techno?

can you burn cds of mp3's?

he also has evry kraftwerk release via the same method

alternatively. fly to russia/bulgaria/somewhere like that and buy a copy. they cost 50 roubles. (1 pound 25). maybe 60.

The KLF were utterly (utterly utterly) BRILLIANT.

"Three-ay-ee-am; Three-ayeee-ay-em; Three-ay-ee-ay-em-ETERN-UA-AL!!!"

You know the score.

William Blake said he wasn't interested in what could be made "explicit to the idiot" - what on earth was he on about?!

Good for you Tom btw, I didn't think it was possible to adore the Smiths and the KLF...

Where is Drummond when his country needs him?!!!

picked up a copy of the america...what time is love? 12" today - for the hell of it and cuz it was cheap. not something you often see in the us, though i imagine it's a dollar-bin staple in the uk. never was a fan (they never made a dent in the us charts) but this is insane and hilarious and truly truly great. a parody of american excess? i dunno, but it has rocked me.

That's my favourite KLF track. It's so over the top it's incredible. Brilliant cover too, both of them - the one with the sitars and also the longboat one (different in the US).

mine's got the longboat cover, which IS great and suits the music perfectly. listened to it 3 times in a row.

they never made a dent in the us charts

"3 a.m. Eternal" was big in the US and wikipedia says top 5 Billboard.

And oh yeah, they rocked me. One of the greatest ever groups/artists/acts etc etc of all time.

i think you missed the subtext in my earlier remark which might be dumbed-down as, "they never made a dent in the us charts during a period when i was paying more attention to the billboard charts than to my toenails and hey check out this insane sloth."

subtext

/unfunny

it kinda blows my mind that they made #5 in '91, cuz at that point i WAS at least half aware of radio pop and i missed it entirely.

I guess it was a hit because it mentioned "Rock"

plus i lied earlier abt not being a fan. i now remember owning and loving the shit out of their cover of the dr. who theme once upon a really long time ago (late 80s sometime, basically in my childhood). so i guess the truth is that i not only now but always have loved the klf. so what must i hear next?

"If you ask me, there isn't nearly enough Africa in their sequenced drum patterns"
what on earth does this mean?

just finished reading the 17 and was left feeling disappointed, drummond has turned into little more than a grumpy old fart. standing in front of a class of schoolchildren and telling them music is irrelevant seems unhelpful and dickish. plus i don't feel the whole 'recording 17 people going hmmmm then deleting it' is quite the genius idea he thinks it is.

i fought my way through the 17 book recently as well.
enjoyable in parts, but yes, he needs to lighten up.
i ended up agreeing with his mate at the end who bluntly tells him on one of their traditional journeys that the whole 17 thing is crap basically.
the breakdown of his life on a year by year basis is rather fascinating though.

Yeah, just got to finish it about 2 days ago.

Seems like the dude's rich enough to just fanny around thesedays.

weren't the klf & co the biggest selling act in the world in 1991 or thereabouts? playing huge stadiums in russia etc. burning £1m probably wasn't probably as big a kick to his bank balance as you'd expect

part of the current wealth reason : the ongoing success of the Proclaimers

he admits as much re their chart topping charity single for which he refused to let go of the royalties

http://www.youtube.com/user/klfcommunicationsnet

^AMAZING RESOURCE

it is - just wasted an hour there. "doctoring the tardis" turns out to be more goofy than revelatory, tho fun. and i realize now that i also used to own the "justified & ancient" 12-inch (or an album it appeared on, something like that). more or less the version featured in the vid. shit is bonkers yo - SO FUCKING GREAT tho i remember it being too fruity for me at the time.

i think i am a fan

Their last public appearance before retiring always raises a smile from UK types of a certain age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgaik2as06c

I feel compelled to recommend Drummond's AMAZING early solo album The Man on every KLF thread.

Yeah, it's great. Notwithstanding his current, well-earned curmudgeon status, I think he's a genius.

Revive!

Where the hell are these chants of "MU-MU! MU-MU!" in "Last Train to Trancentral"?

Wigglypedia sez:
Splendid Magazine said of the LP version: "The cries of "Mu Mu! Mu Mu! Mu Mu! Mu Mu!" take on a strangely liberating, mantra-like feel. It's the essence of great pop music, of great dance music, wholly compressed."

Tom Ewing, in his Top 100 Singles of the 90s list, sez:
And then it fades away and the chanting begins – “MU MU! MU MU! MU MU! KLF!”

Yes they did rock me.

At the end of the Live from the Lost Continent version, it changes from "Woo-Woo" to "MU-MU"(?)

I've been on a early 90s jamz kick and never realized before how much of an exact rip the 3AM Eternal single is of Snap - 'The Power', down to the Eastern European voice sample at the start. feckin brilliant - How to Have a No 1 the Easy Way indeed...

I think 3AM Eternal came first though - the first version came out in 89, The Power was a hit in 1990.

I just remembered that in one of his books Julian Cope inspiringly uses "Bill Drummond" as an adjective, as in "David Balfe was Bill Drummonded to the tits". Made me laugh.

Here is the "Last Train to Trancentral" video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqxtBggVsi0

Now would that be the "MU MU!"s there at 3:24?

That's what I was thinking, yeah. It's "woo-woo" up till then, then for the last chorus it's "MU MU!".

Has anyone got/heard "Edits", the 'legal' version of the LP? So short, it retailed at the price of a 12" single + came with instructions on how to recreate the original record. I could never decide if this was classic or dud.
― Jeff W, Sunday, February 24, 2002

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-lDwwW7Ql0

+ the instructions themselves:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/woolner/3339270412/sizes/o/

consider me 100% rocked.

you could use a Roland 808 drum machine (well cheap

lol1987 - you know what's gone (up in price dramatically)

What about the DR550 Boss Dr Rhythm?

Mark 1 or Mark 2?

Mark 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erm6WijDfYc
^^^ this is the interview (from the Antoine-why-does-he-have-his-hands-behind-his-back-all-the-time-de-Caunes programme Rapido {"Rapeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedo"}) that had me going to a bookstore J R Hartley style to get a copy. Luckily this was in 1998 a month before it was republished - it wasn't until I read Drummond's foreword to the new edition that I found out how difficult to get hold of it was.

(btw the interview is from 1991, I only saw it in 1998 because I was watching through the bits of old programmes recorded on an old videotape)

to get a copy

I meant "to get a copy of The Manual"

xpost - I was talking 'bout the international top 10 single "3 a.m. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)" version, which hit in January 1991 and it still gonna rock you -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQW7e8DfKY

I meant "to get a copy of The Manual"

isn't this available to read online now via tom robinsons website ?
i'm sure he used to have the whole book as a notepad txt file somewhere ..

yeah, he was bootlegging it the whole time the legit reprint was out. glad to be an INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THIEF WITH A WIFE AND KIDS, morelike

I have a PDF of The Manual. I'm sure it's out there.

yes

yes they did indeed

http://www.kirps.com/web/main/resources/music/themanual/

ouch was that not cool to post that link? i was under the impression it's been out-of-print for ages or whatever

it was out of print from about 1989 to 1998, then in print for about ten years, now out again - the reprint is currently going for 90 quid 2nd hand on Amazon

The original was an A4 size, the reprint (with an additional chapter) was A3.

(I have an orig)

you mean a5 no? as in smaller than the original? i've seen copies of it but only ever read the .txt file myself...

Sorry, yes. I meant to type that. Must consentrate.

the reprint was smaller than standard paperback, WAY smaller than A5

105mm x 148mm = A6

I think 3AM Eternal came first though - the first version came out in 89, The Power was a hit in 1990.

Yeah, but the original 1989 version of "3AM Eternal" is totally different from the 1990 "Live at the S.S.L." remix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7fgFrzTck

It's the "Live at the S.S.L." remix that sounds like "The Power". Don't know which one came out first though, as they're both 1990 releases.

lols at those worrying about the online intellectual property rights of the Kopyright Liberation Front.

I don't much care about intellectual property rights, but I love "The Power" (and Snap! in general), so it'd be funny if those Revered Artists of The KLF were actually biting the Cheesy Eurodisco producers of Snap!

I'm not sure if it'd be that funny, seeing as they also bite, ooh, I dunno, Gary Glitter?

I'm pretty sure one of the Manual's steps to having a #1 invloves going to clubs and sampling the very latest rhythms from Black American dance music, so biting then-current "cheesy" music was certainly part of their MO.

OK, I can confirm that "The Power" came after.

How do you know?

I worked in a nightclub in Turkey, and we used "The Power" oft.

Hang on, you're talking about some specific part of the "Stadium" remixes? OK, those came after.

Yeah, like I said above: the original "3AM Eternal" came out before "The Power", but that one sounds way different. It's the later remix that sounds like it's biting "The Power".

Well, if you mean the "Ancients of MuMu" chant, that was on the 1987 album.

Tuomas is referring to combination of rapping, diva vocal interjections and "guitar" synth sounds common to the 3AM Eternal (Live at SSL) version, Snap! "The POwer" and C&C Music Factory "Gonna Make You Sweat" all released in 1990.

Mastermind - 2012/2013

Questions are put to four more contenders. Subjects are the novels of William Golding, the Soviet Union under Stalin 1924-1939, The KLF and When the Boat Comes In.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pf0sq/Mastermind_2012_2013_Episode_16/

or just the klf bit for non uk people -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGLwRNmI5Mw

I got 11 out of 13 iirc

About 1/4 of the way through this and it's pretty good thus far:
http://www.amazon.com/KLF-Chaos-Magic-Music-ebook/dp/B00ABFHOS0/
Ties together all sorts of stuff about Discordian-ism (?) that I didn't know. It's practically a philosophy book thus far.

Bruno Brookes lol!

'could have been either'

When I listen to "What Time is Love?" I get pumped, and I kind of want to scream MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

a whole bunch of rare klf has hit the digital stores.. white room soundtrack, chill out, space, a couple of remix & offcuts things.

they're bootlegs

[chill out is still legal in the US, but the other things are mostly CDs compiled on the mailing list in the 90s by ƃǝʃʇooq Ɫ861 pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ-sǝpıs ǝɥʇ ǝuop pɐɥ ʇɐɥʇ ǝpnp ǝɥʇ]

interesting

worth having anyway?

the sound quality of some of these is very dubious - obviously recorded without much love form vinyl. the "lost sound of mu" comps seem very un-KLF concepts. time will tell if these are legit.

Yeah, it's on Spotify.

The "actual" White Room album is non-streamable, but the "Original Motion Soundtrack" is streamable.

Only just heard about this. Astounding! But stirmonster's caveats make me wonder...

apparently bill drummond has confirmed they're not legit.

no surprise. of all the bands that have claimed they're "totally done" the KLF is the one I actually believe

2017 - i want to believe

"Saturn" (I think) from 'Space' is so great (the one real 'track' on it).

and now removed (at least in the uk).

awww

puts on chill out cd

mmm, didn't think it would last long.

the sound quality of some of these is very dubious - obviously recorded without much love form vinyl. the "lost sound of mu" comps seem very un-KLF concepts.

well yeah! the White Room Soundtrack was from a third-generation cassette that someone tried to pretty up with EQ, and the bonus tracks and the LSOM comps were by various people recording their 12"s at home on 90s equipment and sending them to the one dude to compile. And some are from acetates or test-pressings that had been through multiple hands already, so showed understandable wear and tear.

interesting

worth having anyway?

sure, but not paying for when it's just some guy who ripped & uploaded his copies of originally-non-profit bootlegs*

*the first LSOM was in a plastic wallet with a B & offwhite card insert; the WROST and LSOM2 were in jewel cases with colour front and back inserts - some leftovers, after the subscriber copies, of these might have been sold off to shops that didn't mind their non-legality

oooooh kayyyyyyyy...

The video doesn't work above, but one of the best things you will ever see is the KLF destroying the Brit Awards in 1992 with proto-grindcore group Extreme Noise Terror.

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/562902

The audience at the end, politely clapping but with either bemused or horrified looks on their faces, is priceless.

oooooh kayyyyyyyy...

?

The idea of the 1st issue being some sort of "benign" bootlegger..

Then again, whaddooIknaa...

I've never got further than the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star section on Space

of "benign" bootlegger..

a dozen ppl on an email list compiling a CD and posters chipping in to get it pressed vs ilx posters compiling a disc of 80s Australian synthpop or three discs of UKG or a four-disc set of live Cure recordings

Those early FA cup rounds are a buggr

they were reported to be doing a proper compilation/ reissue series i heard a while back from a relatively good source.

'James Cauty's 1:87-scale police state
JAMs and KLF pioneer creates "twisted model village experience" populated by 5000 policemen'

http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2013/october/07/james-cautys-1-87-scale-police-state/

He's been doing them forever, I think the video for "Last train to Transcentral" featured close-down shots of one..

just watching the 3 am eternal video for the first time... were their live shows anywhere close to as cool as how the video makes them look?

never mind, now also reading they rarely if ever performed live...

They didn't play live - they did a few PAs early on, but the Brits performance of 3AM with Extreme Noise Terror is probably the closest to an actual live performance they ever did.

xpost obv

Jimmy Cauty's Model Village

My 8 year old is prone to blurting KLF is gonna rock you with some regularity.

The KLF have now left the (miniature) building.

Is one of those cars Ford Timelord?

This was pretty good, obviously chapman bros inspired but politically cynical and comic instead of unremittingly bleak and nihilistic. Plus cool blue flashing lights.

i saw this at dismaland.
in fact it was the best thing there for me.
it's really quite something.
could have spent a lot longer scanning it for all the little details ..

This is brilliant: https://vimeo.com/197669227

("2017-1994=23")

http://k2planthireltd.com/
https://twitter.com/K2PLANTHIRE

http://k2planthireltd.com/poster-one.jpg

Didn't they release that "F**ck the Millennium" tune in the late '90s, and even made a video for it? So it's not like this is their first comeback since their retirement, as fitting as it would be for their Illuminatus mythology to return after 23 years of absence.

comeback since their retirement

The K Foundation were active from 1993 to 199...8? 2K was 1997. The One World Orchestra featuring The Massed Pipes and Drums of the Children's Free Revolutionary Volunteer Guards was 1995. They've specifically suggested that any new work will be by K2 Plant Hire Ltd, which was active from ...1994 to at least 31st December 1999. The company was formed or bought off the shelf to rent the equipment for the K Foundation making a cube of Tennents, iirc, has evidently been a registered company ever since, and may have actually been a plant hire company when not being used to facilitate installations.

Anyway, the nigh-statement that anything they do this year will be as K2 Plant Hire, which has only been involved in (grand scale) installations and logistics before, coupled with Cauty's last couple of exhibitions being installations (of miniatures), suggests that this will a) be an installation of some kind and b) https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6ZtfZp8ID54YUne0/giphy.gif

don't take my hopes for a klf insurrection away from me on today or all days

er, on today of all days

The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds was one of the best books I've ever read.

yeah, that book is 100% great

Agree about the book. I personally don't need to hear any new music from KLF, but I wouldn't mind being able to stream their entire catalog on Spotify.

Just copped Waiting for the Rites of Mu recently and I am ... disturbed by how much I enjoy it, and how it sounds to my aging ears like it's from five minutes in the future. Although if literature is "news that stays news" I guess there's no reason music from the past can't evoke a perpetual onward sweep.

I kinda feel like all those tropical house covers littering the charts are completely in synch with the guidelines from The Manual and so much as I would love the KLF spirit to return I fear it would be actually disappointing

I listen to most top 40 as if it's subversive KLF arena house, more fun that way.

I definitely listen to Scooter that way

I went to see Scooter live a few months ago and it was probably the greatest night of my life because they do everything by The Manual

they're skint and on the dole?

Just copped Waiting for the Rites of Mu recently and I am ... disturbed by how much I enjoy it, and how it sounds to my aging ears like it's from five minutes in the future. Although if literature is "news that stays news" I guess there's no reason music from the past can't evoke a perpetual onward sweep.

Waiting and The Rites Of Mu are two different short films whose audio tracks were bootlegged onto a single CD, if you don't know

yeah. music's great though - like a more uptempo Chill Out.

when did samples stop being cool? I still think they're cool.

they never stopped being cool, they just started being ruinously expensive to use

Read the Higgs book today thanks to recommendations upthread, and yeah, fantastic.

Jimmy "Mad Max" Cauty looking like he was ready to rock whoever: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/10/a-lost-freedom-when-new-age-travellers-found-acid-house-in-pictures#img-7

scoured the background of those pictures looking for additional evidence of a pie-eyed raving david cameron but sadly nothing to report :(

Wow, those pictures all look great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jkv47xwkgg

!!!

WARNING: The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu in any of their various past, present or future guises will not be performing music.

£100

https://www.bidolito.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/POSTER-MASTER-web-768x1235.jpg

i bet the website crashes.

"Every one of the 400 ticket holders will be expected to be Volunteers."

what?

My life could benefit from a three-day "situation" by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.

Not very interesting : The KLF

^challop

My life could benefit from a three-day "situation" by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.

― naus, Friday, July 21, 2017 7:34 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cosign x 10000

Not very interesting : The KLF

Bears unlimited repeating, but "The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds" is literally one of the most interesting books I've ever read.

And I've read the first two "Game of Thrones" books!

otm, it's great and the klf are/were/are great

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/07/20/537708922/how-three-austrian-unknowns-misunderstood-klf-s-the-manual

i saw Bill Drummond giving a lecture/chat/ramble/series of shaggy dog stories last month, he was great

Ha, thanks for sharing that! Great story. xp

Scooter have made a 20+ career out of The Manual, I think they're the clear winners here

WARNING: The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu in any of their various past, present or future guises will not be performing music.

― mark e, Thursday, July 20, 2017 5:29 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha ha, those jokers!

...

NPR Music was delighted to receive an advance copy of the first book in the trilogy, 2023, and only slightly less delighted — truly — to discover that it contained 300 blank pages and a helpful note suggesting that we fill them ourselves.

o_O

Co-sign on the thanks for that NPR link, a great little piece, very funny.

hahahahahah classic

Oooh boy an on-the-nose situation. Call the teenage 70's punks, they want their anarchy tourism back from these geezers.

Waiting…

Not that I'm in Liverpool waiting. Just waiting on updates from 2023.

https://twitter.com/KLF_Updates seems to be on it.

https://www.bidolito.co.uk/feature-welcome-to-the-dark-ages-jams-klf-2023/

Strictly Kev is livebloggerising events on Instagram.

PeteR still owes me copies of his 1990s KLF fanzines.

looks like the old liverpool gang are having a fun few days.
pete wylie seems to be part of the badger kull 'tribute' band set up.

wish there was a livestream somewhere. seems like an interesting event/concept

yeah, following the badger kull twitter blitz is fun.
clearly part of the 'project' is to get a new band out there without any help from the usual suspects, or even a real band,
but watching it all develop is rather entertaining.

https://youtu.be/btPZhr4FYew

yeah, saw that this morning ..
have to admit, its a rather wonderful thing.

yeah fab

that's Jeff Minter in the back row (somewhere)

Jarvis Cocker?

Did he sing?

Now, we've told him about this..

Anyone read their new book?

what? https://mumufication.com/

GREAT question, well put.

No book on that website, but ta for the link.

the book is on Faber², can't imagine it will be hard to find in UK bookshops

Those excerpt from the book in theGuardian at the weekend were not good

for a rundown on each days events, this girl (the tattoo girl) has given the proceedings a good shot :

http://planetslop.co.uk/?s=klf

still not so sure i would have enjoyed any of the corporate styled team building exercises.

for example : http://www.2019warisover.com/

student rag week taken to the extreme.
still, the jarvis thing + ritual burning thing, does sound rather cool.
and i have actually contemplated the ashes/brick thing once i had a good read around that website.
it does all sound rather legit.

strictly kev post #1 is up :

http://www.djfood.org/welcome-to-the-dark-ages-pt-1-tuesday-2023-book-stamping/

i realise for a lot of people this gang can do no wrong ...

but i think this is an arsey move

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq6XJl9xw80

bugger.
the link is in kevs latest post.
with a followup to the outcome.

I have one question: what the fuuk is going on?

The driver of the car seemed to be smiling. Don't think he minded. Could be wrong though.

Ah, just read the blog post. Does seem to be a dick move. Situationist art is all well and good when it's your own property you're using, but if there was no coordination with the car owner, this was pretty poor form.

yeah .. car owner was not happy.
he confronted jimmy later in the day, and it was uncomfortable by all accounts.
more to be revealed by all involved later on i believe.
that said, i love the postscript on kevs post.

I do not know what the fuck to make of this 2023 book, or even if I'll read it, or why I should read it ... joke's on me, I guess?

Is it more like a Bad Wisdoming of Drummond's last 5-10 books, an actual novel, or just an Illuminatus knockoff? Hasn't been published here (I'm surprised it's in Chicago already!)

I literally can't tell what it is. It's hard to tell what is supposed to be a put on, or is it all a put on, does it have a plot? I've only skimmed bits of it, but it's very ... conceptual? It's novel-esque but features plenty of direct and oblique KLF mythology, from the Bunnymen on up. Just really intimidating.

I bought a "used" copy online via Amazon, just arrived today. There is literally one review on Amazon right now, a five-star review. The complete text is "I am amused."

http://www.forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-klf-album-by-single-by-album.692361/

I do recommend this one, a KLF rundown.

Something's going down in Mumuland.

https://mumufication.com/

xpost, just discovered the Steve Hoffman forum thread on them, essential reading for any KLFhead.

Though think he's wrong about 'Whitney Joins the JAMMs'.

I hang out there, but don't want to have to trawl through the thread.

is there a problem with 'Whitney ..' ??

yeah that thread is a great read.

xpost, he's a bit sniffy about it, rating it as an annoying novelty song. Which I suppose it is, but I find the concept very amusing and the punchline whene she 'joins' the JAMMs utterly joyous.

ta Dan, as I expected.
it was a glorious moment in which the guys declared their love for dance music as opposed to the JAMMS hip hop origins.
for me that 12" was a massively defining release as I too was a hip hop kid, but getting bored with the genre.
so to hear a 12" that hit the house groove using a song I hated was a big wake up and opened my ears to a whole new world.
its anything but a novelty, it was the perfect bridge from JAMMS to the KLF.

and yes .. "joyous" is the perfect word for it.

JAMMs

JAMMs

JAMMS

JAMMS

guys

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/The_JAMS-_1987_%28What_The_Fuck_Is_Going_On%3F%29.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51pgGyXKYbL._SY355_.jpg

https://www.rockers.de/cover/1024/133491a.jpg

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f19e93_8fd2a977d69b4556a14f9bfb7e896d6f.jpg/v1/fill/w_567,h_509,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/f19e93_8fd2a977d69b4556a14f9bfb7e896d6f.jpg

http://img.tradera.net/images/105/279249105_20437804-2e53-4d3e-86c4-f88bcd4a664b.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/mhka_ensembles_production/assets/public/000/032/211/large/LP_front_1.jpg?1465309126

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/86/07/80/86078014de3fb0c30d15c4a211355549--uk-images-music-albums.jpg

haha.
sorry, old habits die hard.

Whoops!

6 part BBC radio drama “How to Burn a Million Quid”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06x3pn5

.. and Bill Drummond's response ( received via email, this morning)

The JAMs don’t do Sidekicks

You are either in The JAMs or you are not in The JAMs.

In an English national newspaper in January 2019, there was a short piece about a podcast called How To Burn A Million Quid. It would have been written by a journalist just trying to get a job done.

A job that they might not have been thinking that much about.

A job that needed a sprinkling of adjectives etc to spice it up.

In this short piece Jimmy Cauty, my colleague of some thirty years and counting, was passingly defined as a sidekick. I don’t think I have ever known someone to be less of a sidekick than Jimmy Cauty. But even more important than that – The JAMs don’t do sidekicks.

The media often make assumptions about the roles of those working in creative partnerships. This is often done for the sake of the story that is being told. And we all want our stories to be simply understood. We want to know who the baddy is and who the goody is from the moment the film starts etc…

Over those thirty years and counting that Jimmy Cauty and I have been working together most of the memorable things that we have done as The JAMs started as a passing suggestion by Jimmy Cauty. This is a list of some of those suggestions:

1: Including ABBA's Dancing Queen on the album 1987 – What The Fuck's Going On?

2: Using the Doctor Who theme in a pop song and combining it with the glitter beat

3: Creating The KLF crop circle in Wiltshire

4: Using the cash from Doctorin’ The Tardis to make a road movie

5: Creating a KLF wicker man on the isle of Jura

6: Performing a metal version of 3AM and using a machine gun at the Brits

7: Deleting the KLF catalogue

8: Burying the Brit award at Stonehenge

9: The 1994 K Foundation award for worst artist

10: Burning the money

But the narrative that seems to keep coming up time and time again, is that Bill Drummond comes up with the unrealistic ideas and Jimmy Cauty has to use practical skills to make them a reality. Or that it is me that comes up with the words and Jimmy Cauty comes up with the tunes.

Wrong…

When I got my first guitar at the age of 15, and after I had done the Bert Weedon Play in a Daybook, I bought the Bob Dylan Song Book and learnt the chord structure of every song in it. And from there I went to learn the chord structures of every hit that Goffin & King had ever written. And it is that knowledge I used in the basic structures of almost all of The KLF tracks. Whereas when Jimmy Cauty got his first guitar he learnt every riff that Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page had ever played. And it was with that understanding and knowledge he was able to create the riffs in almost all of The KLF tracks.

In any creative partnership there is no simple black and white. The sum is always greater than the parts.

Neither of us could have ever done it with anyone else.

I hoped I would never have to talk about The KLF again in my life, let alone find myself writing about it, but that line in that newspaper has prompted this outburst.

The JAMs don’t do sidekicks.

Bill Drummond 30 January 2019

awesome

Did BBC edit that blurb, cos I don't see the word "sidekick" or anything equivalent there?

It wasn't the podcast itself he's referring to, the English national newspaper piece is here: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/25/what-made-the-klf-burn-a-million-pounds-podcasts-of-the-week?CMP=share_btn_tw

I managed to get a copy of "2023", the "novel" that is seemingly authored by the KLF.

Despite the Amazon reviewer suggesting it's "probably" more the work of Drummond that Cauty (once again)..

I find that it's quite an entertaining read. The Amz reviews are either 1 star or 5, but hey. Also, most say it's "inpenetrable", but who wants to penetrate a book?

hey don't knock it etc etc

!

just ordered it since it's like 50% off on Amazon... hope it's better than the Julian Cope novel from a few years back

probably" more the work of Drummond that Cauty (once again)..

Don't let weedy St Etienne kick out the JAMs – vote for It's Grim Up North

Group III.13: I've never felt so strong

Saint Etienne! https://t.co/v7roiHGtFX
Grace Jones! https://t.co/OJvy6fF86v
New Order! https://t.co/KkyIMe586q
The JAMS! https://t.co/8YN780vt4p

— Tom Ewing (@tomewing) May 21, 2020

I mean, I like all these tracks but the top two go through and St Etienne are well represented elsewhere.

Also there's at least one other better Saint Et song still in the game (Avenue)

Fuck me, they’re rereleasing their catalogue.

As the first in a series of The KLF's back catalogue selections officially hits streaming services on January 1st, this year has already proven to be much better than 2020.#kickoutthejams https://t.co/P7mhVSS3tW

— KLF Online (@KLF_Online) January 1, 2021

woah

Following is posted on the new KLF YouTube channel:

KLF exist.

KLF have appropriated the work done between the
1st of January 1987 and 31st of December 1991 by
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu,
The Timelords
The KLF

This appropriation was in order to tell a story in five chapters using the medium of streaming.

The name of the story is SAMPLECITY THRU TRANCENTRAL.

The five chapters are:

1. Kick Out The JAMs,
2. Pure Trance Series,
3. Come Down Dawn,
4. Moody Boys Selection
5. Solid State Logik (Parts 1 &2).

If you need to know more about the work done by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords or The KLF, you can find truths, rumours and half-truths scattered across the internet.

From these truths, rumours and half-truths, you can form your own opinions.

The actual facts were washed down a storm drain in Brixton some time in the late 20th century.

Further information can be found on a poster, fly posted under a railway bridge on the Kingsland Road in London on the 31st of December 2020.

Would be interested seeing what is on this poster.

There's also The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu vs. Extreme Noise Terror - 3AM Eternal (From The Black Room) with a new edit of the video

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqpBnJ0XAAUNQGb?format=jpg

goat

Oh shit

just hope they put this stuff up on bandcamp.

Yeah but it'll either cost a million pounds per track or will just be files made to sound like lo-res rips. (I fully endorse either of these moves.)

OK, so all of the "Pure Trance" series?

Colour me interested...

Will donate organs in exchange for the "Pure Trance" series.

while i kind of agree with Ned.
i still want them to be available to download/buy, especially the PT stuff as stirmonster says.

i saw a comment somewhere that this is all due to bill getting a whopping tax demand.
can anyone confirm deny such detail ?

no but it's prima facie absurd bcz

Now they are on Spotify we can look forward to the film “The KLF Earn A Millionth Of A Quid”

— Joel Morris (@gralefrit) January 2, 2021

Was gonna say (but not as well..)

Possibly opens up for licensing/advertising/TVbeds etc..

I missed a lot of this stuff the first time around and I'm really only familiar with Chill Out and The White Room. What is the Pure Trance series? Was it just the trance remixes on those two big singles?

The What Time Is Love 1988 Pure Trance Original is presumably on there? my fav version still

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wzdTTSA7nQ

xp It's complicated....The link Mark G posted is super detailed and goes into the history of the series. You may want to skip to page 3 if you're not interested in their early JAMMS incarnation.

http://www.forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-klf-album-by-single-by-album.692361/

I do recommend this one, a KLF rundown.

― Mark G, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 10:18 (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

What is the Pure Trance series? Was it just the trance remixes on those two big singles?

There were 3 Pure Trance 12" singles (with another couple scheduled that never appeared). They were "What Time Is Love?", '3AM Eternal" and "Last Train To Trancentral" and these were the original versions of those tracks that were all later reworked into big pop hits

2 of which i believe were only available on cd via this cheap-n-cheerful compilation

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Warehouse-Raves-4/master/24021

i did not know they had ever seen a cd release so many thanks for that.

i picked the cd up in a cheap bin many years ago.
obviously, well chuffed i did once i realised.
also, some of the other tracks are absolutely fantastic.

indeed. several eternal faves on there.

That Steve Hoffman forum link is gold, thanks for bringing that back to the front.

I had that warehouse raves album on tape when it came out. Pretty thrilling material for a 14 year old

I think a bunch of the "Pure Trance" originals are on the cd singles, but I'm sure that Hoffman link has the details.

I've always been a huge fan of The Moody Boys vs KLF mix of "What Time is Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5GjXDAecHQ

That 12" was the only time the Mac-less Echo and the Bunnymen made the charts

https://mixmag.net/read/klf-film-anarchic-electronic-duo-music-peoples-pyramid-news

So, when's the next episode?

Clearly not weekly, so perhaps monthly?

Fantastic thread:

It’s thirty years since The KLF’s 3am Eternal hit Number One so I suppose it must also be about thirty years since 13-year-old me met The KLF at Top Of The Pops. pic.twitter.com/qoNmBJWBNs

— Peter Robinson (@Popjustice) January 28, 2021

already posted on the other KLF thread

Too many KLFs!

Link please?

The KLF - The White Room poll

Thank you.

New stuff coming at midnight apparently!

Hope it's a new ambient album, but i'm expecting it's just Chill Out with the samples.

i thought Logik 2 makes sense but we'll see!

On Spotify now:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4fBvkZkBuPyo3k7ZogKFAo?si=RKwfz02NSYqCAIUcDN-LDg

Acker Bilk seems to have gone. Elvis has left the album.

It's a Chill Out remix, but it sounds great! Exactly what I wanted.

(the last third of it is markedly different from Chill Out)

it is indeed. i never thought i would enjoy listening to it again so much.

lol havent got there yet but sounding perfect on track 6

so happy

oh them last train synths melt my heart every time

I make myself annoyed by these fuckers recycling the same stuff over and over again but they disappoint me again by doing this stuff over and over ag..... oh fuck, this is great... OMFG

they could just release a CD of Madrugada Eterna repeated ten times and that'd be fine

ditto

Well, it’s got sheep sounds, train sounds, Tuvan throat-singing, and I’m only into track 3. I’m for it!

hot diggity damn

This is terrific, shame to lose Elvis and Acker, but doesn’t change the overall experience too much. Though it feels a shade darker than before.

Just gave this a listen through decent cans and a cranked Subpac (chair subwoofer thing) and can confirm it is an awesome fully immersive experience and you should all do the same asap.

Great rework, nice to hear this stuff in pristine digital quality rather than a tape of a tape of a crackly old 12" :)

the Wax Trax CD remained in print past the 1990s tbf

the CD actually sounds really good, I mainly listened to it in the car back in the day (sometimes driving along parts of the route described in the track listing) so I didn't know how well it was mixed!

(I had the cassette version from Wax Trax during the 90s, but bought the CD at some point later)

https://www.klfrs.com/

'Come Down Dawn' looks VERY promising.

It is. :)

I wish they'd just reissue their catalog on vinyl. This streaming release situation where the samples are removed is antithetical to their operating principals, although offering your music on streaming without having it available to purchase in physical formats is essentially the same as burning money, so perhaps they are still operating accordingly.

maybe they'll press up a couple thousand on vinyl and then take them to Jura

I put Come Down Dawn on repeat at low volume while I slept the past couple nights, it's amazing to wake up for a minute or two in the middle of the night and see where it's at

I wish they'd start to release these on Bandcamp.

looks like i accidentally just posted 'come back fat as a rat' on the highest grossing actors of all time vote
but i guess it works there

I don't like buying bootleg vinyl but I'll make an exception for The KLF because it's so incredibly expensive and unlikely to ever get repressed

That said I've upgraded the chances from 0% to like...2% now

I guess Bill and Jimmy don't need any money, which is good for them, I suppose.

If there is a De La Soul sampling situation with Chill Out then could they then reissue the original album on vinyl if they wanted to?

what

De La Soul can't re-release their back catalog digitally because the sample clearances don't cover downloads or streaming, only various physical formats.

I wish they'd start to release these on Bandcamp.

― jvc,

exactly.
they would be able to burn another million if they did this.

The KLF, famously known for having diligently cleared all their samples for physical releases, of course.

It's not like they ever had to burn the entire run of an album, or surrender international performing name rights to the entire band, over uncleared samples.

Spotify, Bandcamp, or Apple being onboard with casual copyright infringement as artistic expression seems unlikely, however

think the bigger question is if this is gonna culminate in anything new

would be cool if they finished the Black Room and released it

there is no way that would be good

oh, now you want new AND good!

:D

They did something new like two years ago, it seemed great from reports and phone clips! They haven't made a good record together in about 24 years, and let's face it, a majority of Jimmy's music since then is pretty bad. (respect knux to the Token EP, but he dropped out of the band before they even recorded it)

And going back to try and put yourself in the mindset of a mental breakdown that almost saw you chainsaw off your own hand thirty years ago, in order to finish writing songs that scared you so much you stopped writing them thirty years ago and have not written new music under your own name since, to record them with a band who are now two-thirds dead, seems unlikely even it it would be cool.

oh yeah that Transit Kings album was pretty good but I kinda doubt Cauty had much to do with it

He's only credited with writing on some of the songs that carried over from the EP and singles. AFAIK his only recorded work with them was the Boom Bang Bombay single-sided 12", released as Custerd three years before the TKs album, in a run of 75 copies.

(discogs says that version was also used as a TK b-side later)

I've long been curious about the composition of that album, since Cauty was out early, and neither Pratt nor Beken really have any original compositions to their name, which leaves....Alex Patterson??

Guy Pratt had written multiple #1 singles, and the two of them had done the score for Spaced together

Solid State Logik 2 is now on Spotify

It says "12" master mixes 1989-2017", it's mostly the "Live from Trancentral" long versions, a few skipped last time, the 7" "Kylie said to Jason", and "Jarvis joins the Jams" from 2017 it seems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn_ysTc1fxk

^^ the Rites Of Mu film in approx 9000x better quality than it looked on VHS

I followed the instructions in "THE MANUAL (HOW TO HAVE A NUMBER ONE THE EASY WAY)" and had a number one hit single.

wow, that Rites of Mu film is great

The White Room (Director’s Cut) is out

oh, the album! I thought you meant the movie.

Still, though....

Reaction: none...

I'd have to say it's their worst album.

This is the soundtrack though, rather than the hit version so it doesn’t have the stadium trance tracks and includes Go to Sleep. Well worth a listen. There’s a previously unheard Ricardo Del a force verse on Last Train

I'm definitely digging this more than the original album. Hello "Madrugada Eterna - Club Mix"

It’s also not the “original” version, which had “Born Free” as the final track.

So, version three.

.. four if you count etc

Despite being labelled "1989 Director's Cut," it's not from 1989 and it's not the movie soundtrack. Nearly everything is shorter than on the soundtrack (bar a couple that seem to be the 1991 album versions, eg No More Tears (is J&A the LP version too?)), the club mix of Madrugada Eterna is plonked in (and edited down)...

Apparently they've since put out a statement saying it's a finalised version from 1990, which sounds more like a cover-up for a new edit - dropping Born Free also feels v. much like a 2021 decision re publishing - but this does flow as a good listen, mostly.

xp lol

It’s also not the “original” version, which had “Born Free” as the final track.

So, version three.

No - promoed on cassette, bootlegged from that.

My personal KLF holy grail would be a long (6minutes+ please) version of Madrugada Eterna (303 mix), but no evidence anything like that ever existed beyond this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWoueoTDb14

Looks like someone “covered” it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G6YBzRZRq8

My personal KLF holy grail too. i almost had a copy of the 12" once upon a time and it still pains me to think how close i came.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/19/klf-assert-justified-and-ancient-copyright-claim-to-block-documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii4k1SeOmlM

Great, read about that in the guardian, didn't know it was going to be free on youtube.

It's been mentioned above but everyone should read The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds.

I'm not sure the intention of the producers was / is for it to be free on youtube.

I was wondering, doesn't look much like an official account/upload does it.

I watched Who Killed the KLF? last night and it's really good - the unauthorized-ness of it works in its favor, feeling more like a made-for-TV true crime story: lots of footage of cloaked figures stacking KLF vinyl, drone shots of a black and white '68 Ford Galaxie traversing the UK, burning money, voiceovers from folks who were at one of their events. I can see why Messrs. Cauty & Drummond would hate it - it's a straight-forward, linear timeline, fan movie that makes a case for them being Cool As Fuck still 30 years later.

it's good, though i kind of hated the end, with the belle and sebastian song over the clips of related/un-related things that have happened in the intervening 23 years. i found it really mnoving when jimmy was talking about how they'd ask each other "what would the klf do?"—describing their process with and relationship to each other.

has anyone read their book, 2023? it's simultaneously just what i expected (an increasingly complex, endlessly self-referential mindfuck) and not what i expected (dark af in some ways i couldn't have predicted — like the chapter "what is rape?").

klf kare?

the txt on the website seems to imply it's just tony thorpe messing around with old samples.
not overly impressed, but i guess that's all part of the plan.
if it is actually them.

it seems like a sad and tired, unfunny steaming pile of horse manure to me. hard to believe cauty & drummond had much to do with it.

i have from heard from someone who has knowledge of such things that this is a genuine attempt at an xmas #1 and does involve c&d.
which, despite the pretty awful track, is all fine and dandy,
but how is this possible via a free download that's available on their website !?

“their website”: https://klfkare.com/vibe.php

yeah, exactly.
despite assurances from folks closer to the situation than me, i am somewhat dubious.

It’s no worse than Jimmy’s last attempt at a Christmas #1 tbh

Wow, so many KLF threads on here.

Anyway, I'd love to go to a club with this ambient movie projected on a warehouse wall:

A KLF video-thread: “After we’d played live…we thought, ‘F*** this, let’s make a 35mm film which we can show instead’…it’s basically a road movie – there are lots of shots of the Spanish countryside and hardly any dialogue." Bill Drummond Mar ’90 https://t.co/NKwmpt9HoB

— Sam Valenti IV (@VALENTI) August 11, 2024

i think it is important to tell this thread and the ilx massive that i tried to make ilxor Stevie D watch the White Room and he said it was boring and made me turn it off

Watched that on Saturday, never thought I'd actually get to see it. Apparently the guy who posted it has gotten copyright strikes against him on YouTube for some other videos from ... the KLF.

2355 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFMrjv4axek