The KLF produced some of the most original videos and short films of their era and fans will now get a chance to watch them all in 23 Seconds To Eternity, released on limited-edition BFI Blu-ray and DVD (Dual Format Edition) on 6 November. You can pre-order it here.

The BFI will also be screening the collected films and videos on the big screen when BFI Southbank presents a special release day launch screening followed by a Q&A with producer/director Bill Butt on 6 November. Further UK cinema screenings are to be announced.

This release is the first ever compilation of KLF Communication’s films and includes previously unreleased material along with an illustrated booklet.

The KLF became the biggest selling singles act in the world in 1991 with a series of international smash hits including acid house anthems 3 A.M. Eternal, Last Train To Transcentral, and Justified & Ancient, released on their own KLF Communications record label.

23 Seconds To Eternity includes the film The White Room (1989), an ‘ambient road movie’ following American police car, Ford Timelord and Jimmy Cauty (Rockman Rock) and Bill Drummond (King Boy D) on a journey cross-country in search of the ‘White Room’.

Remastered and regraded from the only existing film print, The White Room features a new soundtrack specially recorded for this Blu-ray/DVD release.

23 Seconds To Eternity also features a newly restored version of The Rites Of Mu (1991), a 29 minute feature narrated by Martin Sheen, documenting a Summer Solstice event organised by The KLF on the Scottish island of Jura in 1991, plus the previously unreleased short, Krash (1992), edited in 2022, a record of the final and violent destruction of Ford Timelord.

The soundtrack to Krash is a track from The Black Room, the unreleased album by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.

23 Seconds To Eternity brings together the music videos for the hit singles Doctorin’ The Tardis (1988) by The Timelords, It’s Grim Up North (1991), by The JAMs and the rarely seen Kylie Said to Jason (1989), as well as the  STADIUM HOUSE TRILOGY featuring the KLF’s international hits during 1990/91, 3 A.M. Eternal, Last Train to Trancentral and What Time is Love?, plus the single, Justified & Ancient (1991).

Released in the UK in March 1992 to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the discovery of America by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu in the year 992, the music video for America: What Time Is Love? is a guitar-heavy techno-metal version of their 1990 anthem.

Shot on the James Bond stage at Pinewood the film includes a Viking longship (acquired by Bill Butt) and submarine, with vocals from Glenn Hughes (of Deep Purple). It was the fifth and final Top Five single by the KLF in the UK.

In other KLF news, the British Library has today announced that it has acquired The Acetate, a unique disc containing a reconstructed version of 1987 (What The F**k Is Going On?) by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and all surviving KLF Communications mastertapes.

The Acetate is the only existing physical copy of 1987 (What the F**k Was Going On?), officially credited to The Ice Kream Van (unpublished by KLF Communications, London 2023).

From 11:23 on 23 August 2023, for one week only, the recording will be added to the Library’s free Sound Gallery for everyone to listen to.

From 30 August 2023, the album will be available to listen to in the Library’s Reading Rooms in perpetuity for research, inspiration and enjoyment. 

Karoline Engelhardt, Curator of Popular Music Recordings at the British Library, said: “This is a very special year in the history of the British Library as it marks our 50th anniversary. The Sound Archive became part of the British Library only a decade later and, from the beginning, its mission was to preserve the nation’s sound heritage in all its creative facets. The KLF Kollection is another exciting piece of popular music history that will now be available to explore at the British Library for generations to come.”