Merchandise

From T-Shirts to Books, from Promo Videos to home-made DVDs – there have been many non-CD releases and collectibles during all those years. Read more about them and find out wether they are still available.

Merchandise

Yes, firstly two official releases were made:

Waiting (KLF VT007)

A very rare 42-minute ambient video filmed on the Isle of Jura, was released in November 1990 and sold via mail order only, is now deleted and is PAL/VHS only. I doubt you’ll ever find a copy. In it the KLF are filmed waiting for their equipment to arrive, recording the sounds of nature (birds, surf etc.) and then re- broadcasting the sounds back at the ocean, along with some techno. Sheep feature quite prominently. It was filmed on the estate on Jura belonging to an old school pal of Drummond’s and is considered by many list members to be “quite boring”.

Stadium House

A commercially available compendium of the three ‘stadium house’ hits presented as a pretend live concert at Woodstock Europa. The versions of 3 am Eternal and What Time Is Love? are different from the original promos. The videos feature Wanda Dee (!). Catalogue info can be found in the discography. The UK release adds a bonus ambient feature about the making of the videos as well.

The video is still available outside the UK, and UK copies are easy to find in second hand record shops.
There are various KLF promo videos which may turn up in specialist dealers, etc. Generally these are single video promos for TV use. We don’t know how many copies there might be of these. Non-UK licensers of KLF product may have made their own promos too. However especially interesting are two different videos of the Rites Of Mu, and a promo video compilation called ‘1991: ‘The Work’ released in 1991, which featured various promos from their entire career to date.

One lucky list member has proclaimed: “I found a copy of “Indie Top Video – Take Three” (1990 UK Picture Music International MVP 9912153). It claims to be a companion to Volume 8 of the Indie Top 20 LP/CD/CASS which is included in the KLF Discography. On it is a version of the Kylie Said To Jason Promo Video. It differs from the one found on the “This Is What The KLF Are About” compilation, in that instead of the cue clock at the start, it shows a still from the White Room Film overlaid with text explaining that the Promo contains clips from the forthcoming film – The White Room. Playing over the top is a short ambient soundtrack that blends into the start of Kylie Said To Jason and then the Video starts as per the normal. The end is also slightly different in that it fades to black as the music ends instead of freezing on the satellite dish at the end. The best things about this compilation is (a) the Video is a pristine first generation copy and (b) it only cost me 2 UKP (yes that’s right 2!) 🙂 ) ”
Then there are two bootleg compilation tapes which crop up around:

This Is What The KLF Are About

A 150 min extravaganza of the ‘Work’ and ‘Waiting’ videos, various other promos, and lots of bad quality TV appearances. Its not in stereo, and there are some patches of nothing (although these were on ‘Work’ as well). Track listing can be found in the discography as well. This video was available (June 94) from Mike Dutton, but he allegedly stopped making them a long time ago. The video can occasionally be found in second- hand record shops.

KLF-OLOGY

A three hour compilation which describes itself as having very high visual quality, most of the material being only second generation, and excellent quality sound, all in stereo. This is a lie. The quality of the TOTP appearances is poor, both in sound and vision, but this quality improves slightly with the Waiting and Stadium House videos. Again a PAL/VHS release.
Finally, various list members have copies of other rarities, such as the original White Room film and the Omnibus documentary, which they are quite willing to copy for interested parties.

Lately, some of them have compiled their own DVDs, most notable an extended version of ‘The Work’ that features some bonus tracks, and the original ‘White Room’ film. Their sound quality varies due to the fact that the audio was taken from the videos as well, but the picture quality is far beyond anything you might have seen in the various videos on file sharing programs or the FTP server. As these two are non-profit works, list members should be willing to do copies for free.

Filed under Merchandise
Tag: video

The number of publications by or about The KLF and its members has been growing over the years. Head over to the Publications page for a hopefully complete list of books, pamphlets and what not.

(Julian Cope’s autobiography, Head On (Head Heritage 0-9526719-0-5) and Holly Johnson’s autobiography A Bone in my Flute (1994 hardback ISBN: 0-7126-6145-X. 1995 Arrow Books paperback ISBN 0-09-939341-7) feature some details about Drummond’s carreer in the early 80’s Liverpool scene. They will be added at some point.)

Filed under Merchandise
Tag: book

Official KLF/JAMs Merchandise

The original t-shirts were deleted along with the KLF back catalogue but might appear on eBay every now and then. Given their age you obviously should not expect them to be in mint condition, though.

What can be picked up on eBay quite regularly is the 2K shirt with large letters on it shouting ‘Fuck The Millennium’, either as part of the 2K bag handed to the audience at the Barbican in 1997 or on their own. And yes, this is an official shirt.

Another run of t-shirts got released through the L-13 webshop between 2017 and 2019, with the former reading “2023 What The Fuuk Is Going On?” and the later sporting the original K2 Plant Hire Ltd. logo. Both have since sold out.

Unofficial/Fan Prints

A wide range of clothing and other items can be found at 23Eternal’s shop front on Redbubble, with available designs ranging from cover art replicas to custom designs on various possible and sometimes outlandish apparel – if you ever felt like your bathroom lacks a KLF-themed shower curtain this is your chance.

More KLF related items including t-shirts and backpacks can be found on the Etsy profile of Eight Ball Designs.

A bit less on the nose but obviously heavily inspired by the works of Bill is the store of Page 93 Photography which features various slogans from the government’s public Covid-19 campaign, all in the style of the later books published by Penkiln Burn.

We are also hosting a small store over at TeePublic ourselves, with profits usually being reinvested in obscure K-related items on eBay.

Filed under Merchandise