Released in May 1990 as the third single from Depeche Mode’s album Violator, Policy Of Truth features The KLF’s Trancentral Mix, a slighly more ambient (though still grooving) rework of the original track that drops most of the original vocals with the exception of bits of the chorus, and the line “I’m not a politician, I’m a businessman” sampled from Bob Hoskins’ speech in the film The Long Good Friday.
A lot more straightforward in its production than their remixes for the Pet Shop Boys, it is notable for being one of the two remixes The KLF did for other high-profile acts during the very early 90’s. And while the former rarely (if ever) pop up on any later PSB anthologies The KLF’s remix of Policy Of Truth got re-released regularly on all kinds of official DM compilations both physical and digital.
Reviews
Mainstream music press in 1990 rarely singled out the KLF’s Trancentral Mix for extended review. Most contemporary coverage discussed Policy of Truth as another single from Violator and focused on the François Kevorkian single/club mixes or the main song and video.
The Melody Maker single notice that month, for example, critiqued the release in general terms — the review called the single “ineffectual” — but it did not dwell specifically on the Trancentral Mix. In short, there isn’t a trove of contemporaneous, standalone press pieces that evaluate the KLF remix by name.
The closest to an actual review was published by the NME, which described its ambient house sound as “[…] New Age music for baggy people who have taken too much Ecstasy and need to chill out”, and summarized it as “[…] f***ing boring”.
Because of that scarcity, later fan retrospectives and specialist write-ups become the clearest documentary traces of how the Trancentral Mix has been perceived: collectors and Depeche Mode chroniclers consistently call it one of the more adventurous and atmospheric remixes issued for Violator, appreciating the KLF’s willingness to subvert the song’s pop thrust.
Tracks & Formats
L12 BONG 19
| 12″ Single / 7 May 1990 | ||
| A | Policy Of Truth (Trancentral Mix) | |
LCD BONG 19
| CD5 Single / 7 May 1990 | ||
| 1 | Policy Of Truth (Trancentral Mix) | 5:55 |
Some releases seem to switch tracks around so there was some confusion about which of the mixes was The KLF’s – if in doubt just go with the one featuring sheep bleats during the middle section.
Unsure if it’s a bug or etc.(?) but the tables oddly have a highlight when you look over it as if it’s selectable?
Ah bollocks I just put in the wrong name from auto-predict.
Ah, seems like it was missing a closing tag. Should be fixed now.