Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMS)

Green/brown sleeve with "The KLF" in the upper left, T-speaker logo in the upper right and the single's title "Justified And Ancient" at the bottom, all arranged around a pink/white ice cream with "Freshly Made For You" written on its side.

Justified And Ancient is the final single commercially released by The KLF in 1991, considering America: What Time Is Love? had already been released in the US a month before. Since the chorus had already appeared on 1987 it could also be considered the one the longest in the making.

An updated version featuring the talents of Errol Nicholson had already been included on The White Room the same year before, and for the single release the duo intended to record a more radio-friendly mix with resident vocalist Maxine Harvey. However, they felt the newly recorded vocals lacking and were close to dropping the single altogether, when Jimmy suggested to bring in a rather unusual guest singer – none other than the First Lady of Country Music herself.

Jimmy turned to me. ‘What this song needs, Bill, is Tammy Wynette.’ Jimmy is always right.Bill Drummond (45)

They Called Her Up In Tennessee

A couple of phone calls and a rewrite of the original lyrics later, Bill headed to Tennessee the next week to meet Wynette and had her record vocals for their song. Wynette was not used to perform over a pre-recorded backing track, though, and the recording session turned out not as straightforward as Bill had hoped. However, back in London the duo was able to adjust her vocals to the track with the help of some new studio equipment.

With a rather unconvential track and the instant star appeal of featuring Tammy Wynette once again the duo had ticked all the right boxes, and once the single had entered the UK charts at #5 another Number One seemed to be inevitable. However, despite everybody’s predictions Justified And Ancient was denied a No. 1 spot due to the untimely death of Freddie Mercury and the subsequent re-release of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in November 1991.

A singer dying always messes up the agenda.Bill Drummond (45)

While the single went to Number One in several other countries, The KLF had to content themselves with only a New Year’s Number Two slot in their own home market instead.

Promotion & Advertising

Adverts for Justified And Ancient started to appear in the NME during the second half of November. The ad did not give away the single’s name, only reading “Freshly Made For You” instead as a reference to the ice-cream theme.

Advert for The KLF’s “Justified And Ancient” (NME, 23 Nov 1991)

To further promote their single after its release The KLF also released a full-page A3 advert in the following issue of the NME, featuring the single’s cover artwork taken by photographer Paul Graham and Scott Piering’s narrated lyrics from the song’s breakdown.

Full-page advert for The KLF’s “Justified And Ancient” (NME, 30 Nov 1991)

Similar full-page adverts also appeared in local industry magazines all around the world.

German advert for The KLF’s “Justified And Ancient” (Unknown, 1991)

Reviews

Half of the Smash Hits office is sick to death of this record because the other 50% of us insist on playing it 99 times a day.
Smash Hits, Nov 1991 (Single Of The Fortnight)
‘Justified And Ancient’ lacks the sheer frantic rush of ‘Last Train’ and the gobsmacking gonads of the remainder of the Stadium House trilogy, but in a dance world riddled with the humourless, de-humanized likes of Altern 8 and Bizarre Inc (bleep bloody bleep, as Roadrunner once said) The KLF model a spiritual crown which elevates them several tower blocks above their amateur peers.
NME, 7 Dec 1991
English art-school losers hire country legend to sing an unbelievably beautiful disco song about an ice cream van. Any questions?
Unknown, Rolling Stone, 13 May 1999
Unknown

Tracks & Formats

The general catalogue number “KLF 099” and the mix title “Make Mine A ’99′” are references to a specific kind of ice cream, keeping with the overall theme of the ice cream van. You can read the FAQ to find out more.

(it probably also allowed The KLF to circumvent the question whether the follow-up single to KLF 008 should be 009 when that number had already been attributed to the 1989 issue of The Manual and the subsequent releases where either unreleased or limited at best – Ed.)

KLF 099

7″ Single / 25 Nov 1991
A Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMs) 3:37
B Justified And Ancient (“The White Room” Version) 5:04

KLF 099C

Cassette Single / 25 Nov 1991
A1 Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMs) 3:37
A2 Justified And Ancient (“The White Room” Version) 5:04

KLF 099X

12″ Single / 25 Nov 1991
A1 Justified And Ancient (All Bound For Mu Mu Land) 7:45
A2 Justified And Ancient (Make Mine A ’99’ – Edit) 3:17
B1 Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMs) 3:37
B2 Justified And Ancient (Let The Eat Ice Cream) 6:31

KLF 099

CD Single / 25 Nov 1991
1 Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMs) 3:37
2 Justified And Ancient (“The White Room” Version) 5:04
3 Justified And Ancient (All Bound For Mu Mu Land) 7:45
4 Justified And Ancient (Make Mine A ’99’) 5:52
5 Justified And Ancient (Let Them Eat Ice Cream) 6:31

CHOC ICE 1

12″ Promo Single / 1991
A Justified And Ancient (All Bound For Mu Mu Land) 7:45
B Justified And Ancient (Make Mine A ’99’) 5:52

CHOC ICE 2

12″ Promo Single / 1991
A Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMs – 12″ Version) 5:31
B Justified And Ancient (Let Them Eat Ice Cream) 6:31

A and B side labels just read “TAMMY” and “TONY” respectively, where the former is a reference to Tammy Wynette performing vocals on the A side, and the latter to Tony Thorpe having mixed the B side version. As the mix title suggests this is the only official KLF Communications release on which the extended version of the “Stand By The JAMs” version can be found.


CHOC ICE 3

12″ Promo Single / 1991
A Justified And Ancient (Anti A Cappella Mix) 7:10

7 thoughts on “Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMS)

  1. J&A Anti Acappella is my preferred cut here, again, no idea where my copy came from, the early 90’s are quite foggy with a lot of gaps in the memory 😀

  2. Think I found something similar to the “Rolling Stone” quote in a book called Love Is A Mix Tape (2007) by Rob Sheffield (during a chapter about songs heard on Z95.3 in 1992):

    “Nobody remembers The KLF today, but they made one of the decade’s most sublime one-shots in 1992 with their hit “Justified And Ancient”. A couple of English art school poseurs hire Tammy Wynette to sing an incredibly beautiful disco song about an ice cream van? Genius! And of course it became a gigantic international hit.”

    1. So either Rob Sheffield also wrote the original ’99 article, or somebody at Rolling Stone copied their homework. Well spotted!

  3. Sanity check if anyone could confirm/deny/recall etc…

    Was one (or more) of the Japanese Toshiba and/or EMI releases of J&A badly ‘pressed’ on CD (or any other medium)? I seem to recall at least one version of J&A was playing at a slightly, but still noticeably, slower tempo.

  4. The new Solid State 2 list on YouTube says the version linked is Make Mine A 99 (12″ A side) – it isn’t, it’s the promo only (Choc Ice 2) Stand By The Jams 12″.

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