One of the rarer KLF releases as 2,000 copies of Last Train To Trancentral (Pure Trance Remixes) were pressed of which around 1,000 got warped and were destroyed.
The track itself is based on the chords and signature string section of the unreleased Go To Sleep, though despite the description in KLF Info Sheet #7 it’s not clear how much – or little – the original 008T would have derived from the version from the White Room Soundtrack.
A similar version of the single had previously appeared on Chill Out as ‘Wichita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard’ a couple of weeks before, with the main elements of the track mixed into the sounds of a passing freight train. Since the name ‘Last Train…’ never appeared anywhere else up until the single’s eventual release it is well possible that this is what triggered the change of names.
Bootlegs regularly appear on eBay so make sure to check our FAQ to spot the differences.
Promotion & Advertising
As with all other Pure Trance singles Last Train To Trancentral received no advertising other than the usual mention in one of The KLF’s info sheets.
Both the A and B side are radical remixes of the original which is yet to see the light of day.
The A side is so literal it may be totally unlistenable to anybody who is neither a freight train enthusiast or flat on their backs and out of their heads.
You have been warned.
The B side is The KLF back in their Pure Trance, crashing the millenium, leaving it’s predecessors “What Time Is Love” and “3a.m. Eternal” in the debris of the late eighties.KLF Info Sheet #7 (Dec 1989)
Reviews
Tracks & Formats
KLF 008R
| 12″ Single / Mar 1990 | ||
| A | Last Train To Trancentral (Remix 1) | 5:50 |
| B | Last Train To Trancentral (Remix 2) | 6:45 |
The B-side is also known as the “1989 Pure Trance Original” (despite being released in 1990 and released on the ‘remix’ variant of KLF008).
Another prized possession, one of the lucky unwarped 1000 made it way to me and even better not a bootleg, yes it has a bar code etc 😉 picked this up in a record store for about a fiver , everyone I knew was playing the stadium house one and I was playing this tripped out thing.
Last Train To Trancentral (Remix 1) is featured (as far as I know) in digital format only on the
CD Compilation:
[1990] Ambient House – The Compilation By DFC
03- Last Train To Trancentral (Remix 1 )
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Ambient-House-The-Compilation-By-DFC/release/497053
Remix 2 is the famous Last Train To Trancentral (1989 Pure Trance Original) Version, that Remix is easy to find on digital formats (CD) for example the 1991 LTTT CD singles.
According to the Info Sheet excerpt you put here, The KLF intended the B-side to be the proper “Pure Trance” version and the A-side as a “train journey” (hence why it appeared on the 1991 CD single).
Considering this is the “Remix” release (008R) and both tracks are labeled as such it’s impossible to confirm this was actually meant as the proper “Pure Trance” version intended for 008T. Listing it as the “Pure Trance Original” on later singles wouldn’t be the first time of The KLF retconning their past. 😉
I’m starting to think the B-side might’ve actually been the intended B-side to the unreleased “Go To Sleep” single, and it was meant to be called “Go To Trance” (seeing it has similarities to Kylie Said Trance). I think it’s presented unaltered here (sheep sounds and all), and the CD single would’ve included Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard as a third track for obvious reasons.
This tells us there could’ve been an 7″ edit of Go To Trance in the vaults.
Hang on, maybe “Go To Sheep” is a better title. I hadn’t listened to that mix at the time of writing.