Track Listing

1. Brownsville Turnaround On The Tex Mex Border
2. Pulling Out Of Ricardo And The Dusk Is Falling Fast
3. Six Hours To Louisiana Black Coffee Going Cold
4. Dreamtime In Lake Jackson
5. Madrugada Eterna
6. Justified And Ancient Seems A Long Time Ago
7. Elvis On The Radio Steel Guitar In My Soul
8. 3am Somewhere Out Of Beaumont
9. Wichita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard
10. Trancentral Lost In My Mind
11. Lights Of Baton Rouge Pass By
12. Melody From A Past Life Keeps Pulling Me Back
13. Rock Radio Into The Nineties And Beyond
14. Alone Again With The Dawn Coming Up

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19564 in Music
• Released on: 1993-03-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

CD Description
Say what you will about mind-expanding drugs, but without them, the world wouldn't have SERGEANT PEPPER'S, DARK SIDE OFTHE MOON, or KLF's CHILL OUT. The very concept of a chill-out room only became necessary within the rarified rave culture of the '80s and '90s, when club-goers needed a respite from Ecstacy-induced whirling and the random hugging of strangers.
On CHILL OUT, listeners are treated to a sonic collage that works as both fascinating listening and an aural blanket in which to wrap oneself to counteract the affect of too many pinging synapses. Each song here is a hallucinatory vignette, filled with sounds that could have been collected from dreams. A sleepy sax floats over ocean noises and seagulls in "Melody From a Past Life Keeps Pulling Me Back", whileelsewhere are heavenly choirs, railroad ambience, Tibetan chants, stuttering synthesizers, a snippet of Elvis Presley singing "In the Ghetto", sounds of thunder, and disembodied voices off the radio. It adds up to one of the most original and enduring examples of a musical genre that has subsequently been mined past the point of usefulness.

Customer Reviews

Trancentral Lost in my Mind
After a 1989 of failed films, unreleased trance singles, and one huge commercial disaster (the "Kylie Said to Jason" single), Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty (with help from Alex Patterson of the Orb) began to explore a style of music they termed "ambient house", originally appearing as b-sides and obscure CD single tracks. By January 1990, "Chill Out" was concieved as a "live jam" recorded at the KLF's Trancentral studios, featuring ambients samples and beatless keyboards fading in and out of three main tracks: "Madrugada Eterna" (an improvised guitar piece by the Triffids' Graham Lee), "3 AM Eternal" (originally an ambient piece called "Mommy Don't") and "Last Train to Trancentral" (here renamed "Witchita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard)". "Chill Out" was recorded live, over a process of about two or three days. Each time, if a mistake were made, the KLF would return to the start of the album and record again from scratch. Some strange alchemy in those sessions produced an album of incredible intrigue and blissed-out beauty, that's as well loved now as it was nearly 17 years ago when first released. Subsequent 1990-1991 ambient pieces, such as Jimmy Cauty's solo "Space" LP and the debut "Ultraworld" by the Orb, were far darker in hue than this imaginary journey through the States. A classic!

If the KLF had done nothing else in their who career - no hit singles, no unreleased films, no money burning - "Chill Out" would have been enough. If, however, you want to trace the evolution of the KLF's ambient phase, I would recommend tracking down: "Warehouse Raves 4" (a compilation which includes the original 1989 trance versions of "What Time is Love" and "3 AM Eternal", "Orbsessions 1" (which included the original Orb "Mommy Don't", which evolved into "3 AM Eternal") and "Auntie Aubrey Excursions 2" which includes the "Orbital Blue Danube" mix of "3 AM Eternal". Also, keep your eyes peeled for a bootleg 12" dance mix of "Madrugada Eterna" - a spring 1990 single release that never saw the light of day.

BEST EVER
I bought this album when it was first released on vinyl back in 1990 , out of interest i payed £5 each for "chillout" & "space"....Chillout was the better of the 2 albums although space is a lot more rare...Its now 13 years later a not one artist has released a chillout album in all that time to come near the feelings this gem draws out of your mind. I can put it on now and it still sounds as good as the day i bought it just doesn't seem to sound dated at all...If you are in to chillout music you need this in your collection because without it you don't know nothing about "chillout"....PS years later i did pick up the CD version to save those vinyl grooves...

The best Chill Out ever
I've owned about 3 copies of this in my time due to 'lending out, never seeing again' catastrophe's. I can guarantee, when you hear this, you'll never want to let go of it either. Rather thinking of this as a series of tracks, I think of it as one long 45 minute musical journey. It tends to follow a consistant theme throughout the album. Train noises, sheep baaaaa-ing, dogs barking, the sound of shepherds at work, clanking bells, planes flying by, cars driving past. All set to an eerie choral synth noise, low strange ethnic chants which then change to uplifting synths and gorgeous steel guitars. Snippets of Fleetwood Mac, Elvis, Justfied Ancients float in and out of the mix. Tracks 9 & 10 see some beats introduced for a dramatic orchestral early trance excursion. It never gets monotonous or samey though, different moods float in and out of the mix as you progress through the CD. Sometimes uplifting, sometimes eerie!

Those of you who have heard The Orb's A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain The Rules From The Centre Of The Underworld or the FULL 40 minutes of Blue Room should know what to expect from this. For several years, this was stuck on just as I was drifting off to sleep, the ultimate chilling album. Completely different class to anything you have heard before. Easily up there with The Orb and Global Communication.

Now go burn all copies of Ministry's Chill Out series and tell them that they're VERY naughty...