Bootlegs of rare KLF releases have been released aplenty over the time. While some of them can be easily spotted, others are hard to distinguish from the original issues.
Vinyl Releases
There are two known vinyl bootleg releases of ‘1987’ which are both fairly easy to tell apart if you know what to look for.
The first one changed the original sleeve’s colour scheme from black/white to red/white which makes is rather easy to spot. There is no proper JAMS LP 1 that comes in this sleeve.
LP: 19?? ?? (Unknown; JAMS LP 1) [red+white slv; good sound quality]
Reportedly, this issue has good sound quality, so if you can’t find an original copy (or don’t want to pay huge amounts for it) you can still pick it up.
The second variation got released in the Netherlands in 2000 and looks very similar to the original release, and without taking a look at the label itself it’s hard to distinguish it from the original. The big font (‘1987’) is almost the same, but the smaller writings are quite different from the ’87 release.
LP: 2000 NL (The Sound Of Mu(sic); JAMS LP 1)
On the label, though, there is a spelling mistake – the small copyright notice that circles along the outer part of the label says “ALL SOUNDS O9N…”. Additionally, the text is aligned differently on the bootleg’s label. Furthermore, the original has “MPO JAMS LP 1 A” and “MPO JAMS LP 1 B” written by hand on the run-out groove, while the bootleg is stamped “JAMSLP 1 A” and “JAMSLP 1 B” by a machine.
CD Releases
While CD bootlegs do exist ‘1987’ never got officially released on CD.
In 1991, Marshall Dickson issued 3000 copies with a slightly different ordered tracklist (so people listening to it in a record shop would find out right after the first track that it featured the infamous ABBA-sample heavy ‘The Queen And I’).
CD: 1991 US (B&M Productions; B&M-1) [x3000; monophonic]
You can clearly hear that it was mastered from vinyl, so you might get a better sound with a good vinyl copy (or bootleg).
Furthermore, there is a three track CD from 1992 with a white/orange picture sleeve that, along the original tracks from ‘1987’, also features some live recordings from Big Black and then another similar band called Rifle Sport do a few tracks, although labeled as JAMS tracks from ‘All You Need Is Love’ and ‘Who Killed The JAMS?’.
CD: 1992 UK (Unknown; KLFCD 007) [white/orange ps]
The origin of this session is unknown.
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