Magic Moments At Twilight Time So, as we have Sam here, I suppose we can ask her what she remembers of those sessions in sunny Plumstead?
Sam Lancaster I was nervous as I’d never recorded before but really enjoyed listening to it all come together
Sam Lancaster The wrap party was fun
Magic Moments At Twilight Time I remember you being in something of a state of terror, though I don't know why, your voice isn't bad at all, it's just practise from there on in. Have you ever fancied doing more? Not wrap parties, I mean singing...
Sam Lancaster I think I’d like to do more! I sing a lot when I’m driving. Twizz does tell me to stop sometimes though!
Magic Moments At Twilight Time As do the police... ;)
Sam Lancaster That’s another story ...
Magic Moments At Twilight Time I'm far too much of a gentleman to embarrass you, as you know (she got a speeding ticket)! ;) Well, keep practising, and you may get a job or two on "In Search Of Albert", sound good?
Sam Lancaster Can’t wait to hear some of your new music x
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Me neither! Well, thanks for shouting up the stairs, give Mini Magic a kiss from me, see you for supper! -x-
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Going back to Gary, I should really explain how I came to ask him to do the job in the first place; going all the way back to early '85 and that rather awful cabaret we were involved with, he did this wonderfully funny 'cod-Elvis' impression. As "Rock & Roll Lifestyle" is meant to be thoroughly tongue in cheek, like every cliché I could think of (if I missed any, sue me), including wanting to die young, he was just what I wanted. I don't really want to die young. Actually, it's too late for that anyway, I already get free prescriptions now. So, amongst the things we used to do in the 'Terry Daniels Show' was the Elvis bit, and it was thinking back to this that made me think he would be perfect for 'Rock & Roll Lifestyle'. With apologies to any fans of The King, this is Gary doing his cod-Elvis 'CC Rider', me on guitar and backing vocals, upon which I am joined by a certain Shona Moments...

Magic Moments At Twilight Time Take it on down, baby... :)
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Have a heart, it's just a rehearsal tape! ;)
Magic Moments At Twilight Time The party scene was absolutely genuine too, though not a wrap party for our album as I seem to have mistakenly remembered, actually something to do with Candor Records. Nevertheless, Marc and I took full advantage of a roomful of alcohol inspired people to record those "give me sex and drugs and rock and roll" bits for the mid section of "Rock & Roll Lifestyle", accompanied by Damien Page's nifty fifties guitar licks. Amongst the guests was young pop wannabe, Jonny Was, great guy with a lovely sense of humour, who thoroughly indulged my piss taking. I couldn't believe it when he was willing to sing "Summer Lovers" with me, bless him for that. Sorry, Jonny, I still think it's quite awful, but I'm going to let people judge for themselves. The backing band, incidentally, are Marc Bell's Thamesmead Rollers, no less! More on them in a minute, first, Jonny Was, "Summer Lovers", oo-er... ;)

Magic Moments At Twilight Time Which brings us to the engineer of the whole thing, Mr. Marc Gordon Hendley Bell himself, owner of Brain Dead Studio and TMR Records, and the man behind the new analogue remaster of "Creavolution Reborn". Marc first invited me up to his studio to do a bit of guitar, synth and backing vocals for one of his Thamesmead Rollers tracks in late '93, that track was "Armegeddon Time", and it went something like this...

Magic Moments At Twilight Time This is Marc playing sound engineer. Quite a well known picture now, amazing likeness to the cover art by Thayen Rich.

Magic Moments At Twilight Time And I think this is my favourite

picture of The Thamesmead Rollers. Derek's a Charlton Athletic fan, they have that effect on people... ;)
Magic Moments At Twilight Time And it was because of a simple favour like that that Marc offered to let us record "Creavolution" at his studio for absolutely nothing, for which we remain eternally grateful. With the album finally finished, all we had to do was get the packaging sorted out for it and get it manufactured, that couldn't be much of a problem, surely? Master of understatement, I know! :) For the artwork, we went to talented "2000 AD" artist Thayen Rich, who did an amazing job. I interviewed Thayen here a couple of weeks back, you can read all that and see the artwork on the link... An Online Chat With Thayen Rich

Magic Moments At Twilight Time It is worth repeating this particular version of the cover art from the original CD though, so I can tell you about 'the face in the sky'. The girl I chose to be the face of 'Darkness' (not in a bad way, I assure you) was singer with popular M&E band, Sabotage QCQC, Isabelle Gernand. Not just one of the most beautiful faces I'd ever seen, she also had a voice that could turn my brain to slush. This is my personal favourite Sabotage track, "Slavery", written by band member, Marc Werner. Enjoy muchly...

Magic Moments At Twilight Time For the artwork, we made a perfect choice, for the manufacturer, however, oops...