"It's all in the mind ... "
Although Bill and Jimmy were reported as being disappointed by the rushes of their "White Room" movie, they were naturally keen that music form a large part of the experience. Originally, they announced that they would tour the country with the completed film, playing music live in time to the images (a concept they would sort of return to in 1995). However, this idea seems to have been rapidly rejected in favour of an actual "White Room" soundtrack album. All of their "Pure Trance" single sleeves stated that the tracks therein formed part of a forthcoming "White Room" album (even though they generally didn't).
In July 1989, the KLF issued their first proper single off "The White Room" OST, a far poppier affair than their previous singles, "What Time is Love?" and the glacial original mix of "3 AM Eternal". "Kylie Said to Jason" (usually shortened to KSTJ) had more than a shade of "Left to My Own Devices" by the Pet Shop Boys about it - something they admitted readily in the sleeve notes of the compilation album "Top 20 Indie Volume 8" - and featured Bill as a rapping, extemporising, Scottish Neil Tennant, telling a surreal tale of antipodean pop/soap stardom.
A massive promotional push was planned (despite all protestations to otherwise, Bill Drummond DID have a masterplan for the single's success - at least, that's what a bloke down the pub told me once) and KSTJ became the KLF's most multi-formatted single yet. It was issued on 7", 7" purple vinyl, 12" promo, 12", 12" poster pack, 12" remix, a very rare double-12" set of remixes, a German issue of the second set or remixes, and their first proper CD single.
However, all this multi-formatting came to nowt when BBC Radio 1 suddenly banned airplay of the single (Drummond claimed later that the station did now want their current pop cash-cows of Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue being mocked so openly). The single charted outside the top 100, and in what looks now like a massive fit of pique, the KLF halted the release of their "White Room Soundtrack" and the "White Room" movie altogether, filling the gap in the release schedule (JAMSCD/LP4 - due September 1989) with a hasty collection of cover versions and tributes to their first trance anthem - "The What Time is Love Story?" Fun though that album is, the shiny electro-pop of 1989's unreleased "The White Room Soundtrack" would have made a far more interesting release. Thankfully, some promo cassettes (sometimes eroneously called "The White Room Demos") escaped the studio, and "The White Room Soundtrack" has been widely bootlegged, and enjoyed, ever since the early 90s.
"The White Room" project - both album and movie - did not stop in September 1989 though, and I'll cover that part of the story when we come to the March 1991 released of "The White Room" album (sometimes called "Tunes From the White Room").
The August 1989 CD single of "Kylie Said to Jason" is one of the KLF's biggest rarities, because of its commercial failure and (then) unusual format. Apart from the regular 7" version of KSTJ (which, lets be honest, is probably one of the worst tracks the KLF ever did), the CD single also features "Kylie Said Trance", a nod away from their pop sensibilities back to the earlier instrumental phase of six months previously, and the extraordinary 8-minute "Madrugada Eterna". This absolutely beautiful track was the first appearance on a KLF recording of Graham "Evil" Lee, slide-guitarist with the Triffids, an Australian band Drummond had worked with previously whilst at WEA and had on his solo LP "The Man". Lee would go on to provide guitar on "Build a Fire" and "Justified and Ancient", as well as a few other pieces - but it is on "Madrugada Eterna" that he does his finest work. Apparently recorded as part of a live jam at the Trancentral squat, Lee improvises the most beautiful, haunting melody over Floyd-esque samples and keyboard washes. This was Jimmy's first public airing of his next music phase: ambient house, for the track (all 8 minutes) would reappear almost complete on the KLF's January 1990 masterpiece, the "Chill Out" album (JAMSLP/CD5). So popular was "Madrugada Eterna", in fact, that in March 1990 a single release (featuring an Enigma-esque remix of the track) was heralded by 20 (20!) very, very rare promo 12"s (KLFETERNA1) - but a full release never materialised. Also, another version of "Madrugada Eterna" appeared behind a small 2-minute promo film of "White Room" footage, featuring distinctive 303 and acid squelches - but this version was never made available in any format other than taping it off the soundtrack to the promo.
There are a few uploads connected to this period of their career, some of which by definition have to be bootlegs or of bootleg quality.
(1) Kylie Said to Jason CD single (ripped at 320kps - all the rest at 120kps)
http://www.protectlinks.com/98133
(2) Kylie Said to Jason KLF010T mixes
http://www.protectlinks.com/98130
(3) Kylie Said to Jason KLF010R & KLF010RR mixes
http://www.protectlinks.com/98131
(4) Madrugada Eterna remixes KLFETERNA1
http://www.protectlinks.com/98134
(5) "The White Room" Original Soundtrack (ten-track album remastered from the promo tape)
http://www.protectlinks.com/98140
Tracklisting:
(1) Kylie Said To Jason*
(2) 3 a.m. Eternal
(3) Go To Sleep**
(4) Make it Rain
(5) Church Of The KLF
(6) No More Tears
(7) Build A Fire
(8) Lovers Side*
(9) The White Room
(10)Born Free***
(11)Build a Fire (Lenny Dee Remix)
* - Not re-recorded for 1991 "White Room". Unique to this album
** - Re-recorded as "Last Train to Trancentral"
*** - Matt Monroe cover. Unique to this album.
**** - Not part of the promo cassette, this 1990 remix by Lenny D (who would later work on the hit mix of "What Time is Love") appeared on the compilation album "Energy DJs in the House", and is the only remix from the original 1989 "White Room" to be officially released. "Energy DJs", incidentally, is an album that was almost constantly available during the 1990s in the cheapo CD sections of British service stations.
(6) "The White Room" (45-minute suite of music taken direct from the original 1989 promo video)
http://www.protectlinks.com/98129
Tracklisting (approximate, all mixes dating from 1989 obviously):
(1) Scott Piering intro
(2) What Time is Love?
(3) 3 AM Eternal
(4) 3 AM Somewhere Out of Beaumont
(5) Last Train to Trancentral (Pure Trance Remix b-side)
(6) Make It Rain
(7) Build a Fire
(8) Doctorin' the Tardis (heavily disguised!)
(9) Go To Sleep
(10) Elvis on the Radio, Steel Guitar in my Soul
(11) 3 AM Somewhere Out of Beaumont
(12) Church of the KLF
(13) The White Room
(14) Ambient noise of closing scenes (skip this bit)
All p/w: inverarity