I don't believe a word of the 'put together from previously unheard tapes' claims and am hugely suspicious of the provenance of this film, some of the participants claims, and some of the footage. It feels like an attempt to retrofit legendary status to a band and art movement that never really fortified its message, I suspect by the band themselves...but perhaps that's the point.
Having spent four years at art school in the eighties and danced through the nineties in my twenties I don't recall The KLF as much more than a curious novelty act who also happened to have a couple of decent tunes, and certainly not 'the hottest band on the planet with the music world in their hands' as this film claims. The horns, the wheelchairs the money burning etc always seemed an eye-rolling-inducing cry for attention to me, but like all art, good or bad, that's a bit subjective I suppose. I certainly don't remember them being the legends that this film claims them to be, but perhaps that's the point too.
The world definitely needed the KLF and their kind of pop-situationist nihilism should always have a place in the world but they were definitely of their time and this film is too meta to draw any reassuring, or even insightful, conclusions. Perhaps that's the point too.
So I can't help feeling cheated and slightly insulted by this film. They were good, but they weren't THAT good; after all these years, and in a more self-referential and cynical world, I think it would have been more interesting to get something a little more witty and perceptive from Drummond and Cauty rather than an exercise in trying (and failing IMO) to galvanise the myth, and the 'legend', especially when they seem to be saying ultimately, through a haze of regret (whether real or unreal), that their modus operandi was without purpose or any real meaning. The idea of sowing chaos, for instance, is a lot more interesting when viewed though the prism of today's world, but this is never explored.
A missed opportunity, but maybe that was the whole point. Either way, I hope the re-released back catalogue gives them a bit of a pension; just try not to 'burn it' this time.
Having spent four years at art school in the eighties and danced through the nineties in my twenties I don't recall The KLF as much more than a curious novelty act who also happened to have a couple of decent tunes, and certainly not 'the hottest band on the planet with the music world in their hands' as this film claims. The horns, the wheelchairs the money burning etc always seemed an eye-rolling-inducing cry for attention to me, but like all art, good or bad, that's a bit subjective I suppose. I certainly don't remember them being the legends that this film claims them to be, but perhaps that's the point too.
The world definitely needed the KLF and their kind of pop-situationist nihilism should always have a place in the world but they were definitely of their time and this film is too meta to draw any reassuring, or even insightful, conclusions. Perhaps that's the point too.
So I can't help feeling cheated and slightly insulted by this film. They were good, but they weren't THAT good; after all these years, and in a more self-referential and cynical world, I think it would have been more interesting to get something a little more witty and perceptive from Drummond and Cauty rather than an exercise in trying (and failing IMO) to galvanise the myth, and the 'legend', especially when they seem to be saying ultimately, through a haze of regret (whether real or unreal), that their modus operandi was without purpose or any real meaning. The idea of sowing chaos, for instance, is a lot more interesting when viewed though the prism of today's world, but this is never explored.
A missed opportunity, but maybe that was the whole point. Either way, I hope the re-released back catalogue gives them a bit of a pension; just try not to 'burn it' this time.