Of all the aspects of the brief, strange career of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, a.k.a. the KLF, the music is usually the least discussed. For good reason, too: between the ridiculous pseudo-mythology, the publicity stunts (flying journalists to a rave where the KLF played "3 a.m. Eternal" at, you guessed it, 3 a.m.), the lawsuits, the releases withdrawn due to uncleared samples, the book (The Manual, a guide to making a No. 1 record), the joke 12-inches, the defaced billboard ads, the wiping of their entire back catalog from print following their 1992 breakup (since restored, obviously), and — oh yes — the burning of the million pounds, Drummond and Cauty have given us so much to chew on that the music almost seems beside the point.

Except that, even two decades removed, it takes one listen to The White Room to understand why people who don't read the music press loved what these guys were doing. The copy I had on cassette in high school was only nine tracks — the first nine on the digital version — and its brevity was striking, under 40 minutes at a time when albums — especially dance albums — were routinely… read more »