Please any can put links for Space (The Unreleased 1989 Mix) &
Madrugada Eterna by the KLF – 2006 Orb Podcast mix
Check all links on web but no works,only see this
http://www.nuskoolbreaks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=124653
And with a bang, “Space” has landed … or something. Thanks you all who
helped find this 320kps upload ripped from the long-deleted CD
(SPACECD1), which I found of the “KLF Collectors Zone” (which has all
gone quiet for the moment with a “happy holidays” message – has it
really stopped since Christmas?)
Anyway, “Space”, Jimmy Cauty’s solo ambient album from summer 1990 …
When Bill and Jimmy initially set up KLF Communications (following the
short-lived “Sound of Mu(sic)” in mid-1987) there was a plan that the
label would release records by acts other than Drummond and Cauty
themselves. Duly, three 12″ singles by Disco 2000 were released, the
post-punk Bananarama duo featuring the then Mrs. Jimmy Cauty,
Cressida, and “Mo” (possibly June Montana, the Brilliant vocalist).
I’ll maybe upload them at some point (the third single, a cover of
Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight”, was issued as a CD single in Belgium on the
Benelux label) – and you can find the Disco(tec) 2000 track “Feel
This” on the “Eternity Project One” CD upload, as well as some earlier
D2000 tracks on the “Shag Times” CD. But really, Disco 2000 aren’t
terribly good – so I might not bother. Other than the Drummond and
Cauty production duties (where the KLF first learned dancefloor savvy,
arguably) there’s not much to recommend them.
The next (however speculatively) proposed band to release records on
KLF Communications are a good deal more interesting: the Orb. I’ll try
and be brief here, as I’m hoping to have a fuller Orb post (or even a
few) later on. Founded through Cauty and Alex Patterson’s friendship,
and their incredibly mellow DJing sessions at the Land of Oz club, in
Oakenfold’s Spectrum in early to mid 1989, the Orb (named after the
sex ball in Woody Allen’s wonderful 1973 movie “Sleeper”) released a
couple of songs on “Eternity Project One” before releasing their first
single, “Kiss”, an atypical juddering acid squelch of a record,
recorded at Trancentral in tribute to the New York radio station, in
summer 1989, as a limited edition on Wau Mr Modo. Several months
later, the Orb returned with a second single, one which came to define
their sound and attitude (jokey title and ludicrous length and all),
and filled the gap between “The What Time is Love Story” and “Chill
Out” in both Cauty’s release schedule and in musical sensibility. And
it was called “A Huge Ever-Growing Pulsating Brain That Controls From
the Centre of the Ultraworld (Loving U)”. Unveiled to the public first
as a promo 12″ (complete with original Minnie Ripperton samples, later
replaced by a soundalike), then as a John Peel session, and finally as
a full-blown 12″ remix and CD and CD remix release pack. All of these
recordings again came out on Wau Mr Modo.
The next bit is a bit dubious, and based entirely on hearsay – but
here goes. Over the winter of 1989 into 1990, Cauty and Patterson
worked on the debut Orb album, provisionally titled “Space”, modelled
on a journey through the eponymous medium. There used to be an old
discography on-line which actually featured a tracklisting, including
various songtitles not featured on any later KLF or Orb release, but
sadly I’ve lost the link, and double sadly no bootleg of these
original recordings have ever appeared. Cauty and Patterson had a
major disagreement, however, over the album’s release. Cauty wanted it
to come out on KLF Communications, whereas Patterson preferred their
old label Wau Mr Modo (which he had links with as an A&R man). Afraid
that the Orb would only be seen as a KLF off-shoot, Patterson
dissolved the partnership in April 1990 with (according to legend)
Cauty taking away his half of the recordings, and Patterson taking
away his. If you follow this logic, Patterson’s half went on to become
the travels-through-space Orb debut “Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld”
and Cauty’s half became the travels-through-space Space debut “Space”.
“Space” (both band and title) was released on KLF Communications,
appropriately enough as SPACECD1/LP1, in July 1990, a dark swirling,
Tangerine Dream-like 38 minute suite of music named after eight of the
nine planets (like Holst, Cauty leaves out “Earth” – although a track
called “Earth” appeared on the Orb debut later on the same year). To
confuse the issue of the album’s recording further, Cauty claimed at
the time that – far from being a remixed collection of Orb off-cuts –
“Space” had actually been recording at Trancentral in five days,
starting on the Monday, and with everything done and dusted by the
Friday afternoon. Cauty’s previous ambient album had been, of course,
“Chill Out” (see previous post), which he and Drummond had recorded
“live” in 45 minutes, halting the recording several times when
mistakes had been made, and starting the “live jam” again from
scratch. “Space” is a less immediate, and more imbedded album
musically, than its predecessor – presumably down to its more
structured recording time.
The album came housed in a very handsome, Cauty-designed sleeve,
featuring a montage of images including photographs of Neptune,
recently taken by the NASA spacecraft Voyage II, and the Earth with an
astronaut (possibly Bruce McCandless, who did the first unaided
spacewalk from the Space Shuttle in 1985) superimposed upon it. Also,
in an echo of Jimmy Cauty’s current art projects, the painting “The
Raft of the Medusa” (also seen on the cover of the Pogues’ “Rum,
Sodomy and the Lash”) is featured in the bottom left corner, with all
the unfortunate victims now wearing KLF t-shirts.
Like “The What Time is Love Story”, “Space” is a KLF Communications
release which was never licenced out or re-released in other countries
on other labels, and is therefore a highly sought-after rarity.
Musical echoes of its dark ambient undertones can be heard in a few
comtemporaneous KLF releases, including their remix of “It Must Be
Obvious” by the Pet Shop Boys, along with the soundtracks to “Waiting”
and “The Rites of Mu” and the “Virtual Reality Mix” of “What Time is
Love?” (the only ambient reworking of the tune, and the only 1990-era
remix to never appear officially on CD). But the album itself stands
alone as Jimmy Cauty’s only solo outing.
Not surprisingly, “Space” has been heavily bootlegged over the years.
If you are interested, there are various ways to spot an original – on
vinyl and CD the sleeve should feature the phrase “Made in England”
(the bootleg doesn’t), and of course the vinyl should have a
“hand-written” groove rather than a printed one. Most interestingly,
with the CD, if you lift up the black holding tray you will see,
underneath, the “SPACE” word in its logo typography printed into the
plastic in an eerie, reversed, ghost-like image (this only works, of
course, if you have the original packaging).
The first “Space” bootleg was released on CD in 1993, and is
apparently very accurate, even though I’ve never seen one other than
photos on Ebay (many sellers try to pass off bootlegs as originals, so
beware). Other than the missing “Made in England” message, its big
error is the CD itself – which has black writing or a red background,
rather than the original’s red writing on a black background (see the
top photo). Cassette and CD bootlegs from 1994 and 1995 were also
pressed, only this time housed alongside “Chill Out” (see the “Chill
Out” post for more information). In 2000, “Space” was featured – if
that’s the right word – in the mass reissue/bootlegging vinyl KLF
campaign that seemed to originate in the Netherlands (alongside
SPACELP1, JAMSLP1, JAMSLP3, JAMSLP5 and KLF8R all miraculously
reappeared, with slightly wonky art work, in legitimate record shops
just after the turn of the millennium). “Space” was the only one of
the five to also be bootlegged also on CD in 2000, famously sold for
£20 a pop through Sister Ray Records in London. This time, rather than
a black-on-red CD, the colouring was corrected. However, the “Made in
England” message is still missing above the barcode, and any
difference in the cover are instantly recognisable if you compare it
to an original CD for a decade earlier. The biggest error in the disc
is, again, the CD itself – this time, the “SPACE” logo is the right
colour, but is stretched awkwardly and does not resemble to usual KLF
font. Also, the disc is (obviously) not a PDO disc, since PDO stopped
producing CDs at some point in 1994. It has a pronounced and obvious
bump or groove in the CD, circular around the central hole, which
really gives the game away!
“Space” has not been bootlegged again since (probably due to the album
appearing on-line in a usually easily-grabbable format). However, in
2005, an Orb compilation of off-cuts and rarities appeared called
“Orbsessions Volume 1″, which featured, as the last track “Pluto
Calling“. This slightly reworked version of “Space”’s last few minutes
was creditted (of course) to the Orb, and is thought by many to be an
excerpt from the original Orb-recorded “Space”. It certainly features
Jimmy Cauty, as does the first track on “Orbsessions Volume 1″, the
remarkable “Mummie Don’t”, which for all the world sounds like an
early demo of “3 AM Eternal (Orbital Blue Danube Mix)” with its
childrens’ samples pointing the way to both “Charley Says” by the
Prodigy or even “Music Has the Right to Children” by Boards of Canada.
This view was bourne out in 2006 when “Orbsessions Volume 1″ was
re-released without “Mummie Don’t” on it – apparently because Cauty
objected to its inclusion because it wasn’t “really” an Orb track, and
was more the KLF. See what you think
Finally, in 2006, the Orb released a Podcast through their website
which featured not only the KLF’s “Madrugada Eterna” with added Orb
whistles and bells, but as track tantalisingly called “Space (1989
Unreleased Version)” which sure enough featured a fair chunk of the
“Space” album, again with added Orb whistles and bells. Rumours than
began to circulate that “Orbsessions Volume 2″ was going to be a full
release of that debut Drummond and Cauty album, as originally planned
for KLF Communications, but sadly it has yet to appear. Maybe the
Orb’s twentieth anniversary (technically, probably due in only a few
months time) may bring about a re-release (or even an internet link)
of the original “Space” tapes!
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