The White Room (Director’s Cut) is the fourth entry in the Samplecity Thru Trancentral series, released on all major streaming services on 23 April 2021. It is the first chapter not explicitely announced on the original flyposter.
The Director’s Cut is meant to fill a historic gap between the scrapped movie soundtrack and the later commercial album, presenting an alternate unreleased version of The White Room completed in 1989. Since this version predates the 1991 release it does not include some of the later tracks, most notably of course the later radio versions of What Time Is Love? and 3 a.m. Eternal as they had not been recorded at that point in history. It does, however, feature the original versions of Go To Sleep and The Lover’s Side (or edits thereof) as well as the previously promo-only Madrugada Eterna (Club Mix Edit).
Promotion & Advertising
Once again flyposters had been put up in the usual place, announcing the release date alongside a brief description and tracklist.
THE WHITE ROOM – Director’s Cut by The KLF is a version of The White Room that was completed but not released in 1990.
THE WHITE ROOM – Director’s Cut by The KLF was constructed in various recording studios by The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, between early 1989 and sometime in 1990.THE WHITE ROOM - Director's Cut Flyposter
Tracks & Formats
The White Room (Director’s Cut)
| Digital Album / 23 Apr 2021 | ||
| 1 | Go To Sleep | 3:15 |
| 2 | Make It Rain | 3:49 |
| 3 | Madrugada Eterna (Club Mix Edit) | 3:02 |
| 4 | Church of The KLF | 1:42 |
| 5 | Last Train To Trancentral (da Force, Over & Out) | 5:49 |
| 6 | Build A Fire | 4:41 |
| 7 | The White Room | 3:47 |
| 8 | No More Tears | 9:22 |
| 9 | The Lover’s Side | 3:54 |
| 10 | Justified & Ancient (Black Steel joins The JAMs) | 4:44 |
As with previous releases in the Samplecity Thru Trancentral series, some of the tracks included on the Director’s Cut have been slightly altered or updated.
- The fadeout on Go To Sleep happens earlier than on the soundtrack version, probably to avoid the sample of the Todd Terry Project’s Bango included with the original edit.
- Make It Rain lacks the ‘Pump, pump, a little harder’ sample.
- Church of The KLF starts with the reversed fade in from the original soundtrack version, omitting the ‘Take me, u-hu, take me…’ sample performed by P.P. Arnold. The Director’s Cut version also does not segue into the following track, though keen listeners will be able to hear a brief bit of new drum samples from the original soundtrack version played during the fadeout.
- Last Train To Trancentral starts right after the string section and features a completely new additional verse from Ricardo Lyte after the breakdown.
- The White Room is shorter than the album version.
- The Lover’s Side has some of the “Ho-ho-ho-ho-hold me” bits removed and is slightly shorter than the soundtrack version.
- Justified & Ancient has a slightly longer wind noises during the intro.
Oh goodness. They butchered the segue from Church to LTTT by giving Church a lengthy fade out instead of directly segueing to LTTT. Almost every version (yes, even the US version) of the 1991 album did exactly that, surely they’ve forgotten?
Might be an alternate version – you can hear some of the drums from the original version of ‘Church…’ during the fade-out. Keeping the original transition would have been the best option, though.
It’s Hard reading some comments that truly just go against everything the Klf stood for – the system , the media , the no corporate sponsors or aphilliates being able to control a single thing about anything you want to express in any single way on any single day just because you felt like it . They owned the whole system and answered to no one not even a postman putting Klf media into cardboard boxes .
THE ONLY DISCORDIAN LEGENDS TO NEVER CHANGE A THING ABOUT THE WAY THEY PUT OUT WHAT THEY FELT PURE & UNINFLUENCED BY THE MEDIA N MONEY CIRCUS THE BUBBLE PEOPLE CALL THE MUSIC IND
:insertPGREDBLKLG:DoNotBend:
“” Q:WHAT ARE YOU LEFT WITH IF YOU BURN ALL THE MATERIAL THINGS THAT ARE SADLY UNAVOIDABLY GENERATED LIKE A SIDE EFFECT WHEN YOU MAKE SHARE AND SEND OUT YOUR PRODUCTS/MEDIA?
A: PURELY WHAT YOU WANTED TO FEEL/EXPRESS AND MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD SEE OR DO UNTOUCHED OR STAINED BY ANYTHING YOU HAD TO GO NEAR TO COMPLETE YOUR MASTERPLAN AND GO HOME AGAIN
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED – THIS PAPER WITH A MILLION NUMBERS ON THEM WILL SELF DESTRUCT AND BURN IN 30 SECONDS ….. “
-Fact 74: Wiki
You cant follow the one two three four steps of fictional fame to MuMu , the path needs a 1/3 time signature to fit your peripheral’s
Uhm… ok, I guess?
So are these the outtakes that were mentioned rather than one of the five chapters?
I’m afraid it doesn’t hold together well as an album, the old demo tracks sat amongst the newer finished product if you like. The sound quality however is impeccable.
According to KLFRS.com: “There are rumours of A Lost Chapter. Maybe even A Hidden chapter”. And this release is A Lost Chapter.
It’s very on-brand for the KLF to subvert the rules. Especially their own rules. Make a list, then deviate.
KLFRS.com stated back in February 2021 that both “A Lost Chapter” and “A Hidden Chapter” were promised as part of the series. According to the site, this serves as “A Lost Chapter” (yes, it’s spelled exactly like that there). They’re not subverting their rules, they were part of it.
How do we know “The Lost Chapter” isn’t The Black Room?
Tracks comparsion: Go To Sleep / The Lover’s Side (1989 vs 2021)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSyyfC2DOVW/
Tracks comparsion: Make It Rain / Church Of The KLF (1991 vs 2021)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CS1MBh5D62y/
I swear there is NO DIFFERENCE between Justified & Ancient in The White Room UK (1991) and The White Room – Director’s Cut!
From March 1991 to today, if you had listened to this Album 50 Million times (like I have) and you listened in the 90s through a NAD amp & XP2 Wharefdales to today’s DRE Solo beats and have a better set-up you do need an musical ear’ you then can hear the difference straight away! Even in just this tune. Amazing work – underestimated indeed! Well done guys- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I couldn’t help noticing the mention of a NAD amp and XP2 Wharefdales, I used a NAD turntable, NAD amp, and Mission speakers back in 1991.
I have no idea what DRE Solo beats are like, but Samsung Sound Buds 3 are pretty good for bass, as for HiFi, Rega Planner 2 – virtually the same as NAD 513 turntable, same cartridge Goldring Elektra – Sony amp and same Mission speakers.
Streamed versions are noticeably different through Sound Buds, but through Bluetooth via Sony amp and Missions the volume has to be at a sweet spot to tell any difference, only a few people would be able to hear a difference – anyone who has listened to the album a lot of times over the years, maybe?- and I am not sure how much is lost via Bluetooth and streaming? I have not tried listening through my Dad’s Sonos set-up, but he swears blind that it beats Bluetooth hands down!
I have The White Room – Lost Original 1989 Version on vinyl – via The KLF Facebook group, and that is near enough the same track listing as the 2021 version. It sounds fantastic on my HiFi, and I would go as far to say it is better engineered than the original commercial release in places! Bass always sounds better from vinyl, in my opinion and the 1989 version sounds far punchier!
I thought that similar to CD, digital audio cuts some high and low range frequency sound to enable more storage space, only losing bits that the human ear can’t hear anyway, and because of the cut off points the bass is affected?
I maybe wrong as I am hearing impaired, diagnosed aged 5 and now at 48 am starting to notice the decline more! Hearings Aids are alright for speech – person to person- but digital Aids struggle to process music, especially anything produced electronically!
23 Seconds to Eternity – Blu-ray- wired to the stereo (No Dolby Surround or whatever) is a great listen, but I can’t remember how much of the soundtrack is different from the 2021 version?!
I think between 1989, 1991 and 2021 versions, they’re all slightly different in some form or another. The 1989 and 1991 versions barely have anything similar, I think a few tracks carried over but most entirely replaced.
Between 2021 and 1991, most tracks carry over from the 1989 and a few from the 1991 (and some from Chill Out) and are mixed different in comparison to 1989/1990/1991 versions.
Tracks comparsion: Last Train To Trancentral (1991 vs 2021)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CS4PZmMjvOM/
what happened to all the other chapters they were going to release?
Hello “signup”.
Nobody knows if and when more chapters will be released.
Me, for myself, I am a little bit upset to let us wait that long 🙁
Nice , and I’d bet part of the “Banksy collective” I’d go with a group of artists and these two included. Oops , hope I’ve not given anything away.
I think the streaming releases stopped because KLF did not earn any money with that option.
It was wrong from the beginning on!
To release no phyiscal products (CD, Vinyl) was the WRONG way because the main target group are people like me around 50 who still love to have physical products and most of us don’t stream, except film & series.
For this reason I think there will no be further releases anymore, half of the chapters are still missing.
I’m not sure if The KLF/Justified Ancients of Mu Mu hoped to earn anything from streaming these releases, I think Bill Drummond said at the time, that most recordings had been available online for years, and all they’d done was remastered the highlights of their career?
2023 saw the release of Bill Butts documentary 23 Seconds From Eternity, which featured a pretty much complete version of The White Room film with the soundtrack in the right places and all of the videos he had made with them.
I would have liked a vinyl copy of Come Down Dawn and digital audio of the Pure Trance releases – would be nice to have a CD collection of them, rather than playing my 12″ singles or YouTube videos – yet I have a feeling that they were keeping an eye on the reaction of the public?
If there had been physical releases, even in limited numbers, I reckon a lot of people would buy them, hoping to see the value rise? I think tha, because from experience old school friends and a few people I know, they contacted me asking if I wanted to sell any of my records! Same thing happened when Oasis announced their live tour, because I was known to buy vinyl years ago – and still do -and was known to look after and care for my records, they know my vinyl is near mint and original!
I swear a few people are just buying vinyl now as an investment?
As for future releases, who knows? There are so many things I’d personally like to see, even The Black Room with ENT (or a version that is like It’s Grim Up North and America WTIL) , but a Pure Trance collection with parts 3 and 4 would be top of my wish list!
As of mid September 2025, I am awaiting the delivery of The Chill Out Tapes on double vinyl from a member of The KLF Facebook group, apparently LP 1 is from Bill Drummond’s demo tape and LP 2 contains some unreleased mixes of 3am and LTTT…
Judging from Jimmy’s comments the driving force behind it all was not to earn money but clearing up the rights situation while they are still alive.
The fans would buy physical releases regardless of a digital offering.
Therefore they could release all the material as streaming beforehand.
As an old fan I knew most of the music of the “4 chapters” (if the previous releases can be considered a “chapter” each..) and was looking forward to new material, at least to a 5th chapter …
“To release no phyiscal products (CD, Vinyl) was the WRONG way because the main target group are people like me around 50 who still love to have physical products and most of us don’t stream, except film & series.”
Though to be fair they’d make no money off a physical release either after production run cost are to be factored into play, in fact the only people making money off a physical release are the fans who’d hoover everything up on release only to flip them onto other folks at vast inflation, have you not seen what happens on RSD in the uk? line of folk standing outside stores , products vanishing faster than you can imagine, ebay listing by the end of the day with a 1000% inflation tag on it.
Nah, stream away, might not make much money, but will make some money.
Speaking as a man whose bought maybe one or two physical products in last 20 years
Your mileage may vary and just my opinion 😀
I agree with your comment, apart from the suggestion that fans would buy physical copies to flip them – maybe if they bought two copies? – as a fan myself I’d be filling some gaps in what I do have.
I recognise the people you mention on RSD and since MSM has highlighted the increase in vinyl sales in recent years, the music industry is more cut throat than ever!
I recently attended BBC Radio 2 in the Park 2025, and would say most of the people there suffer from FOMO, I live a 10 minute walk from where it was held and there were a few bands I have followed over the years, but a lot of people that attended could not name a single song and appeared to follow the reactions of the people around them! The number of people with phones recording the bands and DJs was unbelievable!
Knowing what I do now, I could have saved a few quid and watched the whole lot on iPlayer!
Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty formed their group as a reaction to the music industry in my opinion, so I try to imagine how they would be looking at things now?
As a fan (since 1991), but non-expert:
How much material is there approximately left for release (for how many (digital-)albums)?
And is there commercial staff in the vein of the singles still unreleased?
to remember what was planned:
1: Kick Out The JAMs
2: Pure Trance Series
3: Come Down Dawn
4: Moody Boys Selection
5: Solid State Logik (Parts 1 & 2)
Series 3 and 5 are already out.
What I personally would like to see to be released as part of the “2: Pure Trance Series” in digital format:
– Kylie In A Trance (Extended) [KLF PROMO] /until now Vinyl only
– Kylie In A Trance (Remix) [KLF PROMO] /until now Vinyl only
– 3 A.M. Eternal (Blue Danube Orbital Mix) [KLF 005R] /until now Vinyl only
– What Time Is Love (Virtual Reality Mix) [KLF 004Y] /until now Vinyl only
About 1: Kick Out The JAMs series, I don’t care, I suppose that will be their oldest stuff, 1987 and back.
About 4: Moody Boys Selection, I don’t even care, too. I always found the “Moody Boys Reworks/Remixes” kind of too weird !
“About 4: Moody Boys Selection, I don’t even care, too. I always found the “Moody Boys Reworks/Remixes” kind of too weird !”
Wierd? compared to grown men singing about ice cream vans 😀
Personally the Moody boys selection is the only one I’m sad didn’t’ see the light of day, though I kind of think it wouldn’t consist of anything not already out there, but still.
By the way, LTTT – 120 Rocksteady – mwaah ! (makes kissing movement with hand)
My favourite was always the White Room OST version, don’t know if some You-Tuber just put it together though, – the one that opens with ‘Kylie Said To Jason’. I prefer the versions of ‘Church Of The KLF’, ‘No More Tears’ and ‘The White Room’ on that. Not the best version of ‘Build A Fire’ though, but it’s still good. ‘The Lovers Way’ is sublime too. And it includes ‘Go To Sleep’ (my favourite KLF track). Although I wish in that song they’d’ve left out the ‘brass’ section which goes over the top of the string section from ‘Wichita Lineman….’. Always felt slightly out of place on the song, IMO. But they did manage to squeeze that string section from ‘Wichita Lineman….’ into other things (eg SSL Stadium House version of ‘Last Train’ …. but I wish they’d properly included it in ‘Go To Sleep’!
The Lost Ancients of Mu (The LAMs) (4) on SoundCloud has the 1989 original tracks on, unfortunately a couple tracks were dropped due to copyright being present on SSL 2 and the 2021 White Room. https://soundcloud.com/kopyrightliberationfront4/sets/the-white-room-ompst
They’re dropped due to SoundCloud laws, even if the song is copyright free (like the KLF.) But there are some on youtube which I reccomend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXtt8dQgeCk&ab_channel=RexReynolds
Rex Reynolds has quite a few rare gems on there too. – Includes the original 1989 Kylie Said to Jason (Edit) and it isn’t the 12″ Single version from SSL2.
I hear it on Spotify, while my white room is not perfect anymore.
Time has its wear.
Some music is not bad as it disappears, but the white room is an album that for me return back on my listen menu, so i am sad when some tracks damaged.
The same i have with Marleys double album Babylon by bus, that i have on LP.
A jump from the seventies into the nineties.
KLF is no reggae, but stadium house and Jamaican reggae are both typical music styles.
I listen a bit to the directors cut, and hear that other tracks, fresh and cult. Laidback and innocent. Bye mo mo’s.
To be fair the White Room on Spotify is a slight edit compared to the 1989 and 1991 releases so it’ll be slightly different regardless. But all three are still amazing.