Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Original stadium techno, August 27, 2000
It's difficult to find something different and original in the dance scene, but the three dance tracks (What Time is Love, 3 AM Eternal, and Last Train to Trancentral) on this album are truly amazing, particularly considering that half of KLF's output consisted of stolen material (hence the name, Kopyright Liberation Front), plus the fact that this came out years ago. Those songs are the definition of stadium techno, songs that make a dance club seem not big enough to give them justice.The quiter material should not be ignored, particularly the second half, more of an ambient/chill-out feel with some great lap steel and female vocals. The single included with the CD is an example of KLF's wacky creativity, bringing in country legend Tammy Wynette to provide vocals. There's much myth and fiction that surrounds KLF, but this album is certainly their most solid work, and only frustrates the listener to no end thinking of the potential KLF held, had they not "left the music business". Damn and blast Bill & Jimmy for destroying the Black Room tapes...
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest music industry jokes has turned into a truly classic LP ..., August 14, 2005
If you ran into James Cauthy & Bill Drummond today, they would probably tell you how much they hated the KLF (which stood for the Kopyright Liberation Front). After releasing "The History of the Jams a.k.a. the Timelords" LP on TVT (which features sample theivery that rivals the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Botique") and realising a #1 hit song ("Doctorin' the Tardis"), he two musical pranksters wanted to release a pop album, just to see how easy it is to win a #1 single. And you know what? They did just that.
If one listens to "the White Room" today, it's obvious that they were intentionally trying to make the most ridiculous album they could think up of. (Recall, they even released a book before this album's release entitled "The Manual: How to Make #1 Singles With the Least Amount of Effort"). This is a full-on yet masterfully constructed prank. Just listen to the lyrics of the version of "Justified & Ancient" that closes the LP (the one WITHOUT Tammy Wynette): "They're justified & they're ancient / And they know what time is love / Rockman, he's just made of bricks / and Kingboy loves his screws / The JAMS don't need no master plan / To do whatever, whatever they can / Oooh nah-nahnahnahnah" This is not high art by any means. Yet, the more one sees that it's a joke, the funnier the album gets.
But the music? For just about being 15 years old at this point, it holds up REMARKABLY well. Opening track "What Time is Love?", after the brief mellow chorus of "Justified & Ancient", a sample of MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" kicks in, and then full-on techno keyboards start up (which sounds like the theme that guys who made the "Mortal Kombat" theme blatantly stole from). It's a dance-floor grinder in the highest order, and harder than any of the songs on the album.
"Last Train to Transcentral" continues on the electro-dance-burner trend. "3 A.M. Eternal," though good, isn't even one of the best singles on the album. Though the radio singles are no doubt fascinating (and hearing Tammy Wynette, a country starlet, sing jibberish like "All Bound for Mu Mu Land" is very amusing), songs like the title track get lost in the mix. And "The White Room" is a fantastically catchy piece of work, featuring mellow almost monologue-ish verses (which somehow sound like Chris Martin nowadays), and an irresistable oboe (!) rythym line. Even the 4-chord keyboard melody of "Make It Rain" manages to make its catchy way into your head. And to balance it all out, the mellow "Build a Fire" makes surprisingly effective use of slide guitars for the penultimate chill-out song on the LP.
It's an odd contradiction of an album. For something that was made as a total joke and only to make money, it holds up to the test of time amazingly well. Sure, they may be waiting for World Peace before they record again ... but, for all we know, this could be just another elaborate joke ...
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Dance Classic!, January 19, 2005
Hey
the packaging is very missleading! I thought it was going to be two cds but then discovered that they added the single to JUSTIFIED AND ANCIENT onto the White Room Album which i thought was so cool! So i don't have to have two cds and keep trading.
I bought this cd for the JUSTIFIED & ANCIENT song but then found out that there are some great dance tunes along with some slow grooves. BUILD A FIRE is a great song to chill to. The other singles WHAT TIME IS LOVE?, 3 A.M. ETERNAL, LAST TRAIN TO TRANCENTRAL are very good and bring me back to the days in Bismarck. So if you remember when you first heard these song then they'll take you back!
My love though is JUSTIFIED & ANCIENT
STAND BY THE JAMS 7" (this is the radio edit and is only 3 min long)
STAND BY THE JAMS 12" (this is a longer version with a break that i think is very cool a guy comes on and explains about the Justified and ancient traveling in their ice cream van very cool)
ALL BOUND FOR MU MU LAND (this has Tammy singing the Chorus but Maxine Harvey sings the lyrics. This is 7 min long also. Very cool)
LET THEM EAT ICE CREAM (this is like a dub version it has the guitar form the song and the hype men talking but no words just the music)
All in all i love this cd!
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by The KLF 
