Turn up the Strobe: The KLF, The JAMS, The Timelords: A History

by Ian Shirley

During a 10-year period bridging the 1980s and 1990s, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty created pop masterpieces at a prodigious pace, leaving behind a body of work unlike anything created before or since. From international hit singles and legal wrangles with ABBA to mysterious rituals conducted on far-flung corners of the British Isles and abandoned road movies, the duo questioned, accused and entertained in equal measure. Turn Up the Strobe tells the story of two of the 20th century’s most vital artists, and those who understood them. A story of success, fear, ego, power, graffiti, house music, independence, control, disaster, the Roland TR-808, love, sheep, marketing, God, death, 12” vinyl records, escape, freedom, populism, a Ford Galaxie and the money and fame all of these things attract. Ian Shirley respectfully charts the journey from youthful adventures in pop music and elsewhere towards the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, The Timelords and the chart-topping monster The KLF became. Drummond and Cauty have recently announced a resumption in activity planned for August 2017, and continue to be actively involved in engaging work today. The duo’s fanbase remains as strong as their mystique.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2017

Reviews

[Chris Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars if I could give it - a great read!

I loved the KLF from the Pure Trance version of ‘What Time is Love?’ during my acid house days. I was looking for some holiday reading and thought this would be a nice bit of nostalgia. I saw John Higgs book, but thought this would be a lighter read. It’s fab.

My only criticism, and the reason for not giving it five stars, is that it takes a while to get started. Whilst the exploration of the early 80s Liverpool music scene that Bill Drummond was involved in, is interesting trivia about bands I grew up listening to, I became desperate to start reading about what happened once Drummond and Cauty got together.

I get that understanding Drummond’s disillusionment with the music industry once he was in A&R at Warner is fundamental to understanding what drove the KLF, and that bit is worthwhile, but the early part could be condensed.

Having said that, once we get to Bill and Jimmy and the JAMS, this book is fantastic! Given that it’s not official and Ian Shirley couldn’t get interviews with Drummond and Cauty, he’s done a great job of piecing together the narrative from press interviews at the time and contributions from people who were in and around the band and there for all the key events.

Stories about how they did things like the ‘Grim Up North’ video and Jimmy being at Housing Association meetings about his squat when he’d just appeared on TOTP are great fun to read.

If you remember the JAMS/KLF, you’ll love this book. If only there were bands with this kind of attitude around now!

I’ll probably move on to John Higgs book as further reading for a deeper look at the ideology and philosophy driving the band, but this is exactly what I was looking for - a joyful, nostalgic look at a band that stuck two fingers up at the industry at every opportunity and produced great music to boot! Loved it!

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neither great nor horrible. Factually accurate for the most part, but bleeds most of the joy from the endeavor.

The KLF have a deep and interesting mythology; this book largely sets that aside to hone in on... the dry business of who was where, when things were happening. Given that, I feel like I should have come away with a deeper understanding of how the various players influenced and were influenced. And yet, I don’t feel like I came away with that either. So much lowercase t truth, that I didn’t find any uppercase T Truths.

This feels like a good foil to John Higgs book on the KLF; and might be best read in parallel with that. A ‘real world’ to balance the magical one.

[Gary Fowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply told version of Drummond and Cauty's musical history. Ian Shirley isn't so hot at painting a picture of the times and could really do with having someone proof read his books since this contains numerous factual and grammatical errors. He also glosses over the original White Room soundtrack, which is a pretty big failing since it contained the bones of what became The KLFs biggest album. So a bit of a mixed bag all told. Worth a read if you know nothing about the band but the definitive book about Drummond and Cauty has yet to be written.

[Jon Bounds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not baldly written (although a times the lists of people involved with 'related artists' get a bit confusing). It's a through run through of the recording output of the KLF up until they "left the music business", interesting but without the ecstatic punch of the music itself, nor the big ideas behind it.

[Joseph Bollini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough history of the KLF.

[Aris Tsoumis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it doesn't have any interviews with Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, this is an interesting account of The KLF and all other related bands.

[Jason Joachim · Rating 5 out of 5]

More about the music than the myth. Made me appreciate the albums and tracks that I already own after learning the history behind them.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve written about media to do with The KLF a few times in the past, in the form of John Higgs book and the film Who Killed The KLF? – both of these look at the all encompassing mythology (for wont of a better word) that surrounds Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty this book however, Ian Shirley’s Turn Up The Strobe: The KLF, The JAMs, The Timelords – A History, does something a bit different and focusses on the duo’s musical output in a far more matter of fact manner.

While, on one level, this sounds far less interesting, as it gets going it soon becomes clear that the musical saga of the group is just as weird and wonderful as all the other shenanigans that existed (and in some cases still exist) around them.

Starting off in the late 1970s Shirley starts out with Drummond’s pre-JAMs activity from Big In Japan to managing The Teardrop Explodes and Echo & The Bunnymen before going through Cauty’s early work leading up to the pair first encountering each other with Brilliant, which it seems left them so dissatisfied with the music industry that they joined forces as King Boy D and Rockman Rock to form The JAMs…

Read my full review at https://tommygirard.wordpress.com/202...