Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 | 07:24
The KLF - The White Room
I just wrote this on Amazon:
When I discovered The KLF they had already broken up. Not being British I didn't know this yet. I bought the tape based a half-remembered video and played it nearly every day for months. When I eventually upgraded to CDs it was one of my early purchases. I tracked down many of their other releases, including singles, and when MP3s came to the fore I sussed out their lost tracks and remixes. This one album turned into an obsession with a band so adept at self-mythologizing that I was fully prepared to buy into The KLF, the White Room, and the entire Justified Ancients of Mu Mu concept.
I didn't know dance music when I got the tape. I'd seen the What Time Is Love video once or twice and I'd heard C+C Music Factory, but the rest of my life was rock and whatever pop I couldn't avoid on the radio. When The KLF say they created stadium house, I believe it. That's what this album is: dance music designed to fill stadiums. Designed to be played in stadiums. Designed to be as big as Madonna or Queen. That it never came to that is due more to the idiosyncracies of the Cauty/Drummond duo than anything lacking in their sound. This was dance music that deserved to take over the world. Only their willful departure from the music industry robbed us of that blessing.
That said, only about half the album has a dance feel to it. The rest is slower, moodier, almost bluesy. Not ambient as their classic Chill Out, but significantly more reflective than What Time Is Love. It contributes to their Justified & Ancient mythology and furthers the White Room narrative. Beyond the hugeness of the sound and diversity of the songs, however, is an emotional heft that I can't quite explain. While dance music exists primarily to move bodies on a dancefloor, something in this music, despite its ridiculous story and complete lack of reality, is emotionally affecting. The listener becomes enmeshed in The KLF's quest to find the White Room and becomes invested in the outcome. The journey captures your attention and carries you along with them.
Where previous Jams releases took a jokey approach to this concept, on this album the band plays it straight and revolutionizes dance music in the process. The KLF were big, but they should have been huge. They should have been world beaters. This album should be heard on every radio in America. You should have it already. You should make your own journey to find the White Room.
