Search And Destroy: Bill Drummond & Jimmy Cauty

Search:

1. almost all KLF singles, the exception being 'Kylie Said to Jason', which is sucky, and maybe that one with Tammy Wynnette which doesn't really have a kicking beat. Apart from those, you really want all the singles. Every possible remix of every possible song. Then put every remix of a song one after another on a tape, so it's like 'What Time Is Love?' (or whatever) goes on forever.

2. all the Timelords stuff. All of it. Again, it's many remixes of one song. the ones with Gary Glitter are especially brilliant.

3. "Chill Out". Well nice to er chill out to.

4. Justified Ancients of Mu Mu's 'It's Grim Up North', if only for its laughable claim that Chester is in the north of England.

5. There are some JAMs compilation albums that are fun too.

6. Bill Drummond's "45" book is fun, although Drummond's complete bonkersness gets a bit wearing after a bit.

7. Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction's 'prime mover', and the idea of Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction.

8. Other stuff I can't remember.

9. Oh yeah, 2K's 'Fuck the millennium' All the KLF singles rolled into one.

10. the "Bad Wisdom" book. Well, I am a dirty vicar.

11. Don Lucknowe

Destroy:

1. 'Kylie said to Jason'. It's sucky.

2. "The White Room". It doesn't have a proper mix of 'Last train to trancentral' on it, and the mix of 'What time is love?' has that long drawn out intro which makes it impossible to DJ with or put on mix tapes.

3. the whole extent to which Jimmy and Bill have become famous as pranksters and stuff like that rather than as people who made top music.

45 is GRATE! I'm a bit worried that you thought Bill Drummond came across as bonkers though. He seemed pretty sane to me, which has worrying implications for my own sanity.

Oh, and Chester is in the north of England. Admittedly, you wouldn't think so from watching Hollyoaks, but it is north of the midlands which is good enough for me.

The North of England starts at Toddington Service Station. Everyone knows this.

I've been to Chester. It's only in the North of England in a purely geographical sense. Like the way Malahide (where I'm from) is not actually on the North side of Dublin.

Chester - Watford - Brighton - Rye was how we used to amusingly change the words of the song to annoy our Chestrian friends.

Toddington sounds about right. That's so far south I had to look it up. I've never been that far. We scientifically proved that "the South" was anywhere south of Sheffield and "the North" was apparently anywhere north of the first Morrison's supermarket.

Richard, I seriously worry for you if Drummond comes across to you as sane in "45". I mean, what about all that stuff about Iceland and energy from the centre of the Earth? Or the way he obsesses about everything? I reckon being Bill Drummond must be hell, he can't just sit back and enjoy music or any other artform, he is continuously deconstructing it in his head. Frightening.

I actually find Cauty the more fascinating of the two, but that's maybe because he is the more silent, and does not periodicially issue screeds to the media.

*I* continuously deconstruct everything in my head. And look where it's got me ...

OK, so the leyline stuff was a bit weird, but it was hardly insane. It seems no stranger to me than the beliefs of your average subscriber to any of the major world religions. I thought most of the rest was eccentric at most, and a lot of it, like his cartography obsession, really struck chords with me. The constant deconstruction of things probably is unhealthy, but it's something I have tendency to do myself so I don't regard it as particularly odd.

I dunno, I've been friends with a couple of people who had periods of borderline insanity and Bill comes accross as perfectly normal in comparison.

To clarify, oh Boy of Badgers (and how I would love such an epithet), obsessive deconstruction of everything has got me to both a very satisfactory level of mental self-satisfaction *and* a disturbing tendency to walk into far beyond every time spring comes around. So, you know, swings and roundabouts.

Oh shit, why didn't anyone ever tell me about the JAMs album? I dl'ed 1987: What the Fuck is Going On? last night, and there are now tatters of grey matter hanging from my eardrums.

SEARCH:

Bill Drummond was in Big in Japan, a raucous little combo led by the wonderfully precocious Jayne Casey. Their few recordings stand up next to fellow Liverpudlians Teardrops and Echo.

Bill Drummond: The Man had its moments - "Julian Cope is Dead" being the rare novelty song that's actually funny.

I also dl'ed Chill Out, but haven't had a chance to hear it yet. God, I love the internet sometimes.