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2.010: How was Chill Out recorded?

Chill Out cover "Chill Out" was apparently recorded live, without edits, in one take, by the KLF only. The whole album was attempted several times, and if a mistake was made, they started again. Here's what was written in Record Collector magazine # 140:

Cauty: "'Chill Out' was done with two DAT machines and a cassette recorder."
Drummond: "It was a live album that took two days to put together from bits and pieces. It was like jamming with bits from LPs and stuff we had lying around. We'd run around having to put an album on here, a cassette on there, and then press something else to get a flow."
Cauty: "There's no edits on it. Quite a few times we'd get near the end and make a mistake and so we'd have to go all the way back to the beginning and set it all up again."
Drummond then talks of bouncing it from DAT to DAT and playing a few pads on a synthesizer at the notorious Trancentral of legend.

The confusion concerning the recording of 'Chill Out' comes from a Volume interview with The Orb's Alex Patterson, where the interviewer writes the following:

"Alex and Jimmy Cauty started the first 'Chill Out' room at Paul Oakenfold's Land of Oz club, upstairs in London's Heaven. Using two decks and a CD player they mixed tracks by the likes of Kraftwerk and Brian Eno over bird-songs, BBC sound effects and weird tribal chants! Back in Autumn 1989 Alex DJ'd for more than six hours at an eleven-hour 'ambientathon' held at the KLF's Trancentral HQ. And much of the KLF's 'Chill Out' LP is, in fact, made up of cuts from the session! Kopyright Liberation Front: you bet your bottom, matey!"

However since this is not a direct quote from Paterson, it is more reasonable to believe the KLF's actual statements. It is possible that the interviewer was confusing 'Chill Out' with the Space album, which was recorded originally as an Orb album by Jimmy and Alex, then they split up and Jimmy kept the master tapes (since they were recording in his house at Trancentral), reworked it, removed Alex's contributions and added some others of his own, finally releasing it on KLF Communications. There were infamous weekend-long parties held at Trancentral though. Patterson will have had some guiding/inspirational input to 'Chill Out', but it's really the interplay between Bill and Jimmy that makes the KLF great. 'Chill Out' is unquestionably a KLF record - just listen to steel guitars and sheep noises.

The best way to listen to this album is as follows:
  1. Close all curtains, and switch off all lights and make sure you won't be disturbed.
  2. Lie on the floor, pillow under your head.
  3. Close your eyes and relax.
  4. Play Chill Out fairly loud and listen to the whole thing in one go.
Various other good times to hear it include 'in the office on an afternoon' or over the piped music in shopping malls or cinemas.
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