Sunday 14 April 2019

Log #133 - Sheep Chillin' On A Train Across America

Eddy Bamyasi


Who are KLF and what does it stand for? I think they are a 2 piece, and I know they are famous for three things:

i) burning £1,000,000
ii) being rude at a BRITs awards ceremony or similar
iii) their Chillout album 

Time to investigate.

Let's find some footage:




So the burning stunt did happen (and it was brave, as they reportedly didn't have that much money to spare!).

Their appearance to collect the Best British Group award at the BRITs in 1992 saw KLF literally going out with a bang - showering the audience with fake gunfire as they announced their retirement from the music business, and that was it barring some recent reformation rumours.

Then finally there is the music. The album is a bit of a mixture, literally. There's lots of samples, special effects, explosions, cicadas, night trains honking and clattering (the theme of the album is a mythical night train journey through the Southern US States), rainforest ambience, farmyard animals (mostly sheep), sheep on trains?, car horns, and spoken word (some in foreign languages). You get the picture. Probably super original at the time although much more common place nowadays of course. Overall the repeated sounds and themes help hold the album together in a consistent whole.

Most obvious musical sample comes from Fleetwood Mac's Albatross through 3AM Somewhere Out of Beaumont. There is some country western Elvis in Elvis On The Radio, Steel Guitar In My Soul. Also interesting is the slide guitar imbued throughout the album which recalls another classic ambient album, Brian Eno's Apollo. 

The samples and soundbites remind me of the Orb's classic Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld which came out a year after this one in April 1991. But the Orb's album is much more beaty.

Not that this album is as ambient as I was led to believe (Chillout is often held up as one of the early classics of the genre).

The brilliant cover is an obvious homage to Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother which coincidentally was in the player a couple of weeks ago. I heard there was a Pink Floyd sample in the album but I haven't spotted it (unless it's the sonic submarine pulses from Echoes? - help me out here folks).

And what does KLF stand for?

Well, it was a bit of running joke, and you'd expect nothing less from a band that apparently had contempt for the music business. The letters have been said to stand for Kopyright Liberation Front, Kings of the Low(er) Frequency, Kool Low Frequency, Keep Looking Forward, and erm... Kevin Likes Fruit.


Jean Michel Jarre Oxygene  
Floating Points Elaenia
Popol Vuh In Den Garten Pharaos
Morton Feldman Rothko Chapel / Why Patterns?
KLF Chillout
Various Neu Decade


Oxygene was one of the classic Jarre albums everyone used to pass around at school (in the 70s if you were at school then, or maybe the 80s). This is the one with the skull on the front. There was another one equally as popular but I can't remember what it was called now. Hang on...

Was it Equinoxe?  Not sure actually. I think the album cover is wrong. But actually looking at his discography it must have been this one too - it was released in 1978, 2 years after Oxygene.


Two classic Jarre's from the 70s

Jarre was never as cool as the other electronic music people were listening to at school like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. It was considered a bit more commercial. But on reflection, hearing this stuff 40 years later, it holds up really well. In fact I was listening to a very modern dance tune which reminded me of Oxygene (and Giles Petersson's storming Elle), which is why I came to put it on.

[Actually Eddy check your facts, Elle is from DJ Gregory, sure it was on a Gilles Peterson compilation but is a DJ Gregory piece. Ed.]

Indeed the Ed. is right. What a track though. Reproduced below:




Really enjoying all the Popol Vuh tracks now, including the two bonus experimental pieces.

The latter half of the Neu Decade compilation is very guitar and rock based - some new "Krautrock" sounds there to enjoy.

Lots of contemplative space in the Feldman, and Elaenia is a classy beaty electronic jazz fusion work. It's been a good week.





About The Author

Eddy Bamyasi

Eddy is a music writer from Brighton, England, named after a Can record. Each Sunday he logs and reviews the albums that happen to be in his vintage Pioneer 6-CD magazine changer, amongst other things.

6 comments:

  1. And glad you spotted the Atom Heart Mother reference. At a time when Pink Floyd was taboo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Peter, ah yes, the submarine depth charge ping! Must play Echoes again. I only just got myself a copy of Atom Heart Mother too! Chillout is really growing on me - it has a great atmosphere.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Agreed. Not ambient in an Eno style ... but something else.

    ReplyDelete
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chill_Out#Identified_samples

    ReplyDelete

Powered by Blogger.

Leading Artists (by appearance)

neil young (26) van morrison (22) john martyn (18) tangerine dream (18) felice brothers (16) pink floyd (14) led zeppelin (13) black sabbath (12) brian eno (12) whitest boy alive (12) bonnie prince billy (11) can (11) david sylvian (11) radiohead (11) talk talk (11) beatles (10) cluster (10) cocteau twins (10) laura marling (10) nick cave (10) afro celts (9) beck (9) bob dylan (9) fennesz (9) genesis (9) iron and wine (8) loscil (8) midlake (8) paolo nutini (8) tom waits (8) autechre (7) foals (7) nucleus (7) richard hawley (7) stars of the lid (7) camel (6) david bowie (6) dj vadim (6) efterklang (6) elo (6) fairport convention (6) harmonia (6) holger czukay (6) kings of convenience (6) low (6) luke vibert (6) matthew e white (6) miles davis (6) sahb (6) the doobie brothers (6) tord gustavsen (6) war on drugs (6) william basinski (6) arovane (5) bear's den (5) black keys (5) boards of canada (5) bob marley (5) calexico (5) edgar froese (5) father john misty (5) hawkwind (5) jan jelinek (5) king crimson (5) mouse on mars (5) nils frahm (5) public service broadcasting (5) robert plant (5) sigur ros (5) takemitsu (5) arbouretum (4) badly drawn boy (4) budgie (4) carly simon (4) carole king (4) decemberists (4) emeralds (4) four tet (4) handsome family (4) hidden orchestra (4) jethro tull (4) jj cale (4) john legend (4) klaus schulze (4) kruder and dorfmeister (4) manuel gottsching (4) opeth (4) penguin cafe orchestra (4) ravi shankar (4) soft hair (4) steely dan (4) the unthanks (4) tim hecker (4) trees (4) ulrich schnauss (4) KLF (3) alan parsons project (3) alex harvey (3) alison krauss (3) alva noto (3) barclay james harvest (3) bon iver (3) bonobo (3) caitlin canty (3) caribou (3) chicago (3) coldplay (3) curtis mayfield (3) david crosby (3) deep purple (3) depeche mode (3) eilen jewell (3) enid (3) fleetwood mac (3) floating points (3) free (3) gorillaz (3) gram parsons (3) grateful dead (3) grobschnitt (3) incredible string band (3) james morrison (3) jill scott (3) john grant (3) john surman (3) keith jarrett (3) kraftwerk (3) lal waterson (3) last shadow puppets (3) lift to experience (3) lynyrd skynyrd (3) mahavishnu orchestra (3) manitoba (3) mike oldfield (3) mike waterson (3) monolake (3) neu! (3) palace brothers (3) philip glass (3) popol vuh (3) quantic (3) rodriguez (3) rokia traore (3) rolling stones (3) rory gallagher (3) roxy music (3) rush (3) simon and garfunkel (3) sly and the family stone (3) steve hillage (3) suede (3) sufjan stevens (3) the comet is coming (3) tim buckley (3) wagon christ (3) wilco (3) 4hero (2) abc (2) ac/dc (2) al stewart (2) amon duul II (2) aphex twin (2) arctic monkeys (2) baka beyond (2) band of horses (2) belle and sebastian (2) blue oyster cult (2) blue states (2) bonzo dog band (2) boris salchow (2) burial (2) cardigans (2) carlos barbosa-lima (2) charles mingus (2) chemical brothers (2) chris rea (2) cinematic orchestra (2) compilations (2) crosby stills nash (2) david darling (2) death in vegas (2) debussy (2) dj shadow (2) doors (2) earl sweatshirt (2) eloy (2) emilie simon (2) erik satie (2) farben (2) festivals (2) fleet foxes (2) francois and the atlas mountains (2) fripp and eno (2) gas (2) gong (2) granados (2) green on red (2) griffin anthony (2) jazzland (2) jean sibelius (2) jeff buckley (2) john coltrane (2) johnny flynn (2) josh t pearson (2) julian cope (2) kamasi washington (2) kanye west (2) kate bush (2) ketil bjornstad (2) la dusseldorf (2) lambchop (2) larkin poe (2) little feat (2) ludovico einaudi (2) magma (2) marianne faithfull (2) marvin gaye (2) mike lazarev (2) money mark (2) morton feldman (2) nektar (2) nightmares on wax (2) ninja (2) nirvana (2) nitin sawhney (2) peace (2) porya hatami (2) prefuse 73 (2) prem joshua (2) randy newman (2) robert fripp (2) ryan adams (2) scorpions (2) scott and maria (2) scott matthews (2) servants of science (2) soft machine (2) steve miller (2) susumu yokota (2) talvin singh (2) the who (2) thievery corporation (2) traffic (2) truckstop honeymoon (2) ufo (2) up bustle and out (2) weather report (2) wiley (2) willard grant conspiracy (2) wishbone ash (2) wyclef jean (2) yes (2) abba (1) acid mothers temple and the cosmic inferno (1) aimee mann (1) air (1) alabama 3 (1) alice coltrane (1) amadou and mariam (1) andy shauf (1) anthony hamilton (1) april wine (1) arcade fire (1) ashra (1) asia (1) badger (1) barber (1) beach boys (1) bee gees (1) beirut (1) bert jansch (1) beuno vista social club (1) bill laswell (1) biosphere (1) bjork (1) blow monkeys (1) bob geldof (1) bob holroyd (1) bob seger (1) bombay bicycle club (1) boubacar traore (1) broken social scene (1) bruce springsteen (1) bruch (1) byline (1) captain beefheart (1) cardi b (1) cast (1) cat stevens (1) catfish and the bottlemen (1) charles and eddie (1) chopin (1) chris child (1) christine and the queens (1) chuck prophet (1) climax blues band (1) cosmic jokers (1) crowded house (1) d'angelo (1) daft punk (1) david goodrich (1) davy graham (1) dexy's midnight runners (1) dolly collins (1) donald fagen (1) dreadzone (1) dub pistols (1) eagles (1) echo and the bunnymen (1) eden espinosa (1) eels (1) elbow (1) electric ape (1) emerson lake and palmer (1) erlend oye (1) erukah badu (1) essays (1) euphony in electronics (1) faust (1) feist (1) flaming lips (1) future days (1) gamma (1) gang of four (1) gentle giant (1) goat roper rodeo band (1) godspeed you black emperor (1) gorecki (1) groove armada (1) grover washington jr. (1) gun (1) guru guru (1) hatfield and the north (1) hats off gentlemen it's adequate (1) heron (1) hiss golden messenger (1) hozier (1) human league (1) idles (1) india arie (1) iron and wire (1) isaac hayes (1) james brown (1) james joys (1) jamie t (1) janelle monae (1) jayhawks (1) jean-michel jarre (1) jerry paper (1) jim croce (1) jimi hendrix (1) jjcale (1) john cale (1) john mclaughlin (1) jon hassell (1) jurassic 5 (1) kacey musgraves (1) keith berry (1) kid loco (1) king tubby (1) king's consort (1) kings of leon (1) kirk degiorgio (1) kodomo (1) lenny kravitz (1) lighthouse (1) love supreme (1) luc vanlaere (1) lumineers (1) mark pritchard (1) mark ronson (1) me'shell ndegeocello (1) messiaen (1) metallica (1) micah frank (1) michael hedges (1) michael jackson (1) mike west (1) mitski (1) modest mouse (1) moody blues (1) morte macabre (1) motorhead (1) national health (1) nick drake (1) nusrat fateh ali khan (1) oasis (1) omd (1) orb (1) orquesta reve (1) other lives (1) oval (1) paco pena (1) paladin (1) panda bear (1) pat metheny (1) paulo nutini (1) pentangle (1) pierre bensusan (1) portishead (1) proprio (1) protoje (1) purcell (1) pussy riot (1) queen (1) rainbow (1) ramsay midwood (1) rautavaara (1) rem (1) rhythm kings (1) richard strauss (1) robyn (1) roni size (1) ryuichi sakamoto (1) sada sat kaur (1) saga (1) sam jordan (1) sammy hagar (1) santana (1) scaramanga silk (1) shakti (1) shirley collins (1) shostakovich (1) snafu (1) snatam kaur (1) sparks (1) st germain (1) stanford (1) steeleye span (1) stereolab (1) steve reich (1) styx (1) supertramp (1) susumo yokota (1) t bone walker (1) terry riley (1) the band (1) the clash (1) the jayhawks (1) the streets (1) the wreks (1) tricky (1) tycho (1) uriah heep (1) velvet underground (1) venetian snares (1) vladislav delay (1) whiskeytown (1) whitesnake (1) william ackerman (1) yngwie j malmsteen (1) zhou yu (1) μ-Ziq (1)