In 1988, Hawkwind and Huw Lloyd-Langton were still my most in important musical inspirations. In April, Hawkwind released their final album of the decade: Xenoncodex; which to me was their best album since The Chronicle of the Black Sword three years earlier, and featured some tremendous guitar work from Huw Lloyd-Langton.
Dewi I and went to see Hawkwind twice on this tour; at Nottingham’s Rock City on April 5th, and Leicester De Montford Hall on April 25th. Hawkwind returned to Rock City at the end of the year; and little did we know that when we saw them on December 7th, that it would be the last time we would be the last time we would see Hawkwind with Huw, for almost 15 years. In the meantime, Jim Ward and I took a trip down to the famous 100 Club in London, where we met up with Huw Lloyd-Langton and his wife Marion, where LLG played a storming gig.
Meanwhile, in the latter part of 1987 I’d begun a series of home recordings which continued right through into 1989, although about two thirds of the material was produced in 1988. The Tascam Porta-studio was designed to record onto cassette, and during this period I recorded more than half a dozen C90minute cassettes worth of material. I have to admit of course that although I’m very proud of some this music, there is quite a lot of long, self-indulgent stuff in there which only the most ardent Hawkwind fan and/or acid-head would appreciate. But although a lot of it was modelled on Hawkwind, including many of my own versions of their songs. I also recorded a handful of Rock ‘n’ Roll tracks; reflecting the nostalgic affection I have always felt for my Dad’s record collection, which were some of my earliest influences. As well as the new material and songs which I composed in this period; As part of the ongoing project, I recorded versions of all the songs that I had written myself up to that point; going back to the first songs that I wrote for Dancing Shiva between 1982 and 1984. I no longer had a bass guitar at the time, so most of it is without bass; although I did use the keyboard for some bass lines, and Jim Ward loaned me his bass for some of the other material. In addition to the Yamaha Keyboard, I also used a Wasp synthesizer on some of the material; which I’d loaned from ex-Dancing Shiva stalwart; Bones Millott.
I called my first tape Wayne in Space, largely because most of the music was quite mellow and spacey. The first few tracks were recorded towards the end of 1987, and can be heard on the previous page. Here is a small selection of other tracks which were recorded in the first couple of months or so of 1988. Some of the tracks on this tape are a bit muddy, due to me being paranoid about tape hiss, and mixing it with a lot of bass. Also, I hadn’t accounted for the fact that over the years the cassettes themselves would erode. But I think some of the tracks don’t sound too bad. They definitely sound better through headphones, because that’s how they were mixed.
My second tape, recorded in the spring of 1988,was called I.D.I.C. (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) I ‘borrowed’ the title from the Star Trek universe. This tape was a mix of spacey/experimental stuff, along with some Rock ‘n’ Roll style songs, and more Hawkwind covers. The song: Psychedelic Buskers was written for my old bandmates Dave and Jim, about our busking escapades. Meanwhile my old friend Dewi guested on a cover Hawkwind’s Star Cannibal. He did the guitar and vocals, whilst I did all the keyboard work. Unfortunately, this particular cassette seems to have suffered most badly of all due decades of storage, and again, a few of the tracks sound rather muddy. But I think they are listenable. and again, I think they sound a lot better through headphones.
The next tape that I made during late summer and autumn of 1988, I thought was a little bit better in sound quality. I called it Hypnosis Factory. I felt that I was starting to get my head around the mixing and sound aspects a bit more, and there was a little bit of an ‘industrial’ or factory theme for some of the tracks which I put together. Also on this tape I used the previously mentioned ‘Wasp’ synthesizer, and played bits of acoustic guitar for the first time. I also recorded my first version of a Lloyd-Langton Group song; Got Your Number, as well as a couple more Hawkwind covers; and the song Spirit of the Gypsy was inspired by the Travellers Aid Trust movement.
In the last couple of months of 1988, I recorded a tape of all the songs I’d written for Dancing Shiva and Stoney Road, during the five period between 1982 and 1987, including my very first song: Vision of You. Some of the Dancing Shiva songs had previously appeared on the two demo tapes that we recorded at the time; but I felt that I want that I wanted to re-record them and present them at their best. Also included were some ideas that had never come to fruition, which I in effect, finished off. Given the nature of the material; I called this tape: Reincarnation. The recording of some of the songs spilled over into 1989, and the tape was finished at the end of January, 1989. Here is a small selection of the tracks with I think are the best ones.
After finishing this tape; I made one more in the early months of 1989, but this next year would see a year of change.
Wayne's random blog 