The White Room / Justified & Ancient

The White Room is the last and best known album by British acid-house band KLF. In terms of labeling we could probably say that it belongs to the stadium-acid-house-techno-rock... (well, whatever we want to call it) genre of the late 80's and early 90's. As such, The White Room can be (and has been, even at the height of popularity after its 1991 release and 1992 re-release) a bit of an aquired taste - some people loved it, others hated it, others still, have taken it in stride and just considered it an amusing little chapter of the popular music of the 90's. The music on the White Room album (in its most common version available today, i.e. the 1992 re-release by Arista) is a heavily remastered take on the original soundtrack of a short road-movie of sorts, which bears the same name and was filmed by the band a few years earlier. Now, while most of KLF's prior efforts were more sampled, rather than original i.e. they were based on heavy sampling other people's work, the White Room is, in fact, the first concerted effort by the two KLF pranksters (Bill "The King Boy D" Drummond and Jimmy "The Rockman Rock" Cauty) to depart from their own "how to have a number one the easy way" phillosophy and actually create something more original, rather than sampled. And original it is. Some people (who've liked it) have called it inspired, others genial, others still have even gone as far as to liken it to a second renaissance of acid-house, etc., but whichever the case, the White Room music is certainly one of the few notable works of that genre. The lyrics however, are a completely different story. While KLF do use big words here, such as "ancient" and "justified" and "eternal", and other things like that ("the Church of the KLF (?!) etc.) seemingly hinting at hidden, deeper meanings, some of which are laden with prophetic overtones (and conveyed with a certain sense of urgency) sadly, there is no story or enlightenment to be found here, and the whole thing turns out to be just meaningless posturing.On to the techincal: The CD/album reviewed here is (as mentioned above) the 1992 Arista re-release (the UK catalog was in fact deleted by the KLF in 1992 - when they "retired" from the music business - and the Arista version is the only version widely circulated nowadays). The recording is typical of early 90's tape transfers: some faint tape noise, adequate use of the dynamic range (no DRC), no clipping, etc. Audition in headphones does reveal some harshness, perhaps due to filtering (from the digital transfer) but overall I'd rate the recording quality as good to very good.To conclude, the White Room, regardless of how we think of it - immaginative or silly (or both), a work of genius or the ultimate prank - its music does have substance, and it is here to stay - and as far as I'm concerned, it is an unlikely masterpiece - 5 star.

Essential KLF.

Heythe 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 & ANCIENTSTAND 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!

I had this disc many decades ago. This copy is perfect, played perfectly, and my memories came to life. One of the fine albums of the genre.

As you may be aware, the KLF famously ended their music career in the UK and deleted their entire back catalogue as a publicity stunt in the early 1990s. This makes albums such as The White Room, Chill Out, Space, and Who Killed The JAMS virtually impossible to obtain at a reasonable price. So in 2020, seeing the USA edition of The White Room on Amazon for $8 was a shock and pleasant surprise. It seems like their USA record label still kept the rights to the music they deleted in the UK. So this album is a real treat to listen to, totally beats crappy youtube pirate rips and is probably the least amount of money you will ever pay for an authentic sealed KLF record. Includes the 12" mixes of justified and ancient as bonus tracks at the end of the album. My personal preferred track order for this CD version is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 14, 6, 7, 8, 9. Do not play 10 or 12 which are redundant. Enjoy this masterpiece!

The best electronica, house, acid club, whatever you want to call it, dance your donkey rear end off album(cd) EVER MADE! OMG does not describe it! "Last Train to Transcentral" will get you pumped enough to dance or kick donkey rear all night long. "3AMEternal" is the most well-known hit and another incredible song. "All Bound for MuMu Land" sounds strange, but is yet another "dance your face off" smashing hit. If you like techno, club, acid house, or dance music in general that turns you into an animal on the dance floor or in a gym, this is the best cd ever made. I find Cobra Starship's hit "Good Girls Go Bad" to be the most recent and similar hit to resemble a KLF-like song. Passion Pit's "The Reeling" is another example. If you like either of those two songs, YOU WILL LOVE THE KLF!

I still really don't know what any of the songs or the mythology means, but this brings back good memories.Seems you can't find this on streaming, so the CD is the only way. Well, it's in my digital collection now. It's 3AM, eternally, now.

I had this CD years ago and I gave it away. I was very excited to find it again. If you like KLF, you will love this album!