Saturday 19th July 1986

The day I hopped in the Ford Escortron and headed to Kingfisher Music in Fleet to buy my first Casio CZ230S synthesizer, £249.00, I still have the receipt! I still have that keyboard as well, along with another just like it, both of which have really earned their keep over the years, from the first recording I made with one 2½ weeks later, to today's theme from Mick Magic's Radioshow To The Stars. The picture on the right there is that first keyboard sat on Teddy's lap, clipped from the first band promo picture we ever had taken, but it'll be next April before that falls 40 years in the past. Sad tale about Teddy, who dramatically quit the band merely days after. He cited musical differences, but we knew his issues ran deeper. From that point onwards, it was just a long and slow decline into the gutter, spiralling through drink, drugs, and then selling sexual favours to lonely soldiers in nearby Aldershot on weekends. I'd see him from the taxi some evenings, he'd look the other way. He was found dead in a crack den in the summer of 1988.

It was just a jam with a mate from work, but it went on to become a firm part of Magic Moments At Twilight Time folklore. The mate in question was one Steve Jack, we worked together in the offices of Blacknell Buildings in Farnborough at the time. I'd been not long doing a bit of home recording (nothing worth bothering you with yet, trust me), he played guitar as well, so the invite for a weekend get together was kind of inevitable. The track we picked to record? Oh yes, all the secrets are coming out here... it was an Elvis song, "Burning Love" of all things! As I recall, the ending, which was the two of us doing some half decent freestyle duetting over the rhythm track with a bit of lead and some synth work, actually saw the light of day on the original "W20 Advance Guard" demo, but that was barely distributed at all and widely forgotten about, not without some justification if I'm honest. Which is probably why, in early 1988, by then a four piece proper band with a couple of albums under our belt, we were looking back at said forgotten early recordings for "The Time Machine" project. The idea was that the other three would hop in the Ford Escortron spacetime continuum vehicle (photo above, I don't just make this stuff up) and travel back

Saturday 23rd August 1986

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in time 16 months to the W20 Sessions, thus being able to join in and help make the first demo better, therefore changing the history of the band and making us more successful from the beginning! Da-da! The best laid men of mice with plans, as they say. However, we did discover that when "Jamming With Steve" was reversed, it was an absolutely perfect fit for the theme tune of "The Time Machine", so all was not lost...

   The Time Machine (4:23)

(originally from the album of the same name,

Music & Elsewhere, C-4017, 12th February 1988,

Digitally remastered for  "Flashbax Ω Ultimate", Klappstuhl Records, 2015)

Steve Jack still knows nothing about his part in the band's history, I've not seen him since I was sacked for getting into a fight on an 'action based management training course' in Anglesey. Should he ever come across this piece by some random accident, hope he won't be a stranger. I wouldn't bother asking about your royalties though, I fear you'd be desperately disappointed...

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