albums

Rip It Up, Issue 166, 1 May 1991, Page 28

albums

THE KLF The White Room

(Liberation) v The 12" remix of the Kylie single ‘Step Back in Time’ sounds great to my ears; it's not that Stock Aitken

Waterman have got any better, more that everyone else has sunk to their level. Which brings us to the KLF, who | like even more.

The KLF, aka the Jamms, have very little in the way of natural talent or charisma, relying instead on promotional gimmicks, apeshit production and bare-faced plagiarism

— a formula which has worked well for Paul Simon, Sinead O'Conner and

every recording artist since 1981. They had a hit with ‘Doctorin’ The Tardis’; were sued by ABBA for their pirate remake of ‘Dancing Queen’; their

self-authored book on how to have a no. 1. The Manual, remains the greatest chronicle of rock in the 80s; and the single '3am’ can shake the mould off bathroom ceilings. We're talking

credible here. ; Now the KLF have The White Room a kind of greatest hits LP released along with a movie-length video, a

precocious piece of self-congratulation that is anything but overdue. Who needs to get fat and top themselves in a Parisian bathtub to stay famous forever? Not the KLF, buddy, they want fame and they want it now. Like black hip-hop artists, the KLF mostly sing about themselves, throwing in bits of other peoples’ songs when things get boring. This fills the dancefloor, jams (sic) student radio and saves lazy hacks like myself the time it takes thinking up new words to . describe them. They're like everything you've heard before, but somehow

less respectable, more scuzzy and

squalid and generally looser.

Comparing Kylie to the KLF is like comparing Citizen Kane to Withnail and |— know what I'm sayin’2 Betcha don't cause if you had any brains, you'd own the album already. : CHAD TAYLOR

TOMZE Best of (Brazil Classics 4) (Sire) Not having ever been much of a fan of David Byrne | thought his recent delving into Brazilian music was a little dubious in a Paul Simon sort of way, but so far this Byrne compiled Brazil Classics series has proven to be absolutely brilliant.

Number 4 features North Eastern weirdo Tom Ze and it's a truly captivating recording. The liner notes talk of Cultural Cannibalism, a Brazilian institution where Anglo culture and styles are reworked into a Brazilian perspective and Tom Ze really is a brilliant example of this. His sound is heavy Latino but all sorts of elements float in and out. One moment you'll hear a Rock'n'Roll backbeat, the next, an inane nursery rhyme sound will appear from nowhere and it’s all underlined with some great tropical percussion. Last month’s Stalling extravaganza and this funky silliness should be played together a lot this summer. KIRK GEE