The privilege of hearing exclusive private releases can sometimes be the most rewarding and fulfilling musical experiences in an archivist’s life. And so it is with this brand new edit. The history and context of its composition is cryptic and shrouded in mystery, with very few search results on the internet, (I count three in total at the time of this drafting), which make the honor of receiving a copy all the more exciting.
From the very little information available publicly, it seems that this was originally released in an unknown number of exclusive edit singles, (at least 39 as evidenced by what members have compiled and contributed to theritesofmu wixsite at
https://theritesofmu.wixsite.com/klf...he-past-puzzle). It appears that the new complete(?) cut titled,
"Welcome To The Past (Unedited)" was issued June 30th and distributed directly by the artist via private email in WAV format.
One of the previously-issued segments have been filed on Discogs here:
https://www.discogs.com/The-KLF-Welc...lease/12381982
But the new complete (?) WAV now has an entry of its own:
https://www.discogs.com/The-KLF-Welc...lease/13822393
The WAV's Discogs entry sheds little additional light on this mysteriously wonderful release. It has what appears to be placeholder artwork as I've found no record of official art for the track, but the Discogs entry does provide a few other pieces of information.
First, it confirms the total run time of the track to be 41:47 (corroborated by the WAV file I received), and bears the style tags of "ambient," "synth pop," and "trance." It also offers a catalog number as part of the unofficial (but intensely professional) series, with this entry marked as “KLF 000RE.”
Distribution is denoted as UK and Europe, but with my understanding that this was a non-physical digital release issued via email I would say that the UK and Europe designation serves more a point of origin rather than an official region for the release. (I am in the US.)
But on to the track itself. The KLF Recovered & Remastered series is infamous and highly-prized for good reason, with several titles outshining even the original incarnations by Bill and Jimmy, themselves.
Live From The Lost Continent is the greatest concert that never was.
This Is Not What Space Is About and
This Is Not What Chill Out Is About are each a pure triumph of the art of remixing and are powerfully epic listening which transport the listener to new worlds of experience.
Welcome To The Past (Unedited) is no exception to the incredibly high standard of production and musical cut-up artistry maintained consistently throughout the continuing Recovered & Remastered saga. It is frankly astonishing how much dynamic and fresh content its creator has been able to construct from the finite bank of the KLF's catalog. He effectively breathes new life into their music and meticulously and masterfully assembles an array of seemingly innocuous samples of sirens, trance beats, and train station field recordings into a seamless and transportive opus of provocative proportions.
The final minutes of the mix are evocative and stirring, tugging wistfully at the heartstrings of every KLF devotee who has followed their zenarchistic madness from
1987 to the present day. Perhaps it is silly to romanticize trance music built upon discordian mythos and mayhem, but
Welcome To The Past is an exquisite specimen of remix culture and a pure and proper celebration of the legacy of The KLF.
Five stars. Pure joy. “This is what the KLF are about. Over and out.”