Space (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Space
Type = Album
Artist = Jimmy Cauty "as" Space


Released = 16 July 1990
Recorded = Trancentral
Genre = Ambient house
Length = 38:21
Label = KLF Communications
Producer = Jimmy Cauty
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:plc8b5p4nsqa link]

"Space" was a 1990 ambient house concept album by Jimmy Cauty under the alias Space. Originally intended to be The Orb's debut album, "Space" was refactored for release as a solo album following Cauty's departure from that group. "Space" was independently released on KLF Communications, the record label formed to distribute the work of Cauty's other project, The KLF.

Origins

"Space" began as a collaboration between Dr. Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty, the original line-up of The Orb. It was, according to Cauty's record label KLF Communications, to be The Orb's debut album, [KLF Communications, "Information Sheet Eight", August 1990 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=508 link] )] [KLF Communications (1990), Space press release ("KLF Communications Info Sheet Nine") ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=509 link] ).] but when Cauty left The Orb in early 1990 to concentrate on producing music as The KLF with Bill Drummond, he took the recordings with him. Reworked to remove Paterson's contributions, the album was released on the KLF Communications label, with Cauty alone receiving credit. [KLF Communications (1990), vinyl label notes, "Space" SPACE LP1.]

According to Cauty, "It was a jam, all done on Oberheim keyboards. Loads of samples... were chucked in there as well. I started on Monday morning and by Friday it was all done"."The KLF: Enigmatic dance duo" (1 April 1991), Record Collector ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=226 link] ).]

Composition

"Space" takes the listener on a voyage through the solar system from Mercury outwards, with vast distances of empty space between worlds represented by periods of minimalist ambience and near-silence. Synthesisers, excerpts from classical compositions and nursery rhymes (including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), sinusoidal loops, and communications from space flight controllers are among the sounds used to describe the voyage. This musical interpretation of a physical journey is also a characteristic of the early ambient house recordings "The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" and The KLF's "Chill Out".

Cauty has called "Space" "a record for 14-year-old space cadets to go and take acid [to] for the first time".

Reviews

Allmusic attributes "incredibly sparse ambience" to "Space", with "long periods of near-silence [and] only an occasional break for galactic sine-waves and similarly spacy tones". The album is "more important for who's on it than what's in it", they concluded. [Bush, J., "Space" review, Allmusic ( [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:plc8b5p4nsqa link] )]

Track listing

"Space" comprises eight contiguous pieces across two sides of vinyl or one track of a CD.

#"Mercury" – 1:40
#"Venus" – 2:00
#"Mars" – 8:47
#"Jupiter" – 6:36
#"Saturn" – 2:35
#"Uranus" – 3:08
#"Neptune" – 9:38
#"Pluto" – 3:57

References

* [http://www.libraryofmu.org/index.php Library of Mu press archive] - a library of KLF-related press clippings
*Discogs.com, [http://www.discogs.com/label/KLF+Communications KLF Communications discography]
*Longmire, Ernie et al (2005). [http://www.klf.de/discography/ KLF discography] [Compiled by Ernie Longmire, this has been the authoritative KLF discography on the internet for some 10 years or more and has been the subject of long-term scrutiny and peer review by KLF fans and collectors. It is now maintained by the fan site klf.de.]
*Author unknown (1991). "The KLF: Enigmatic dance duo" (feature and discography up to that time), "Record Collector" Magazine, April 1991.

Footnotes