Creation
If I Stay Too Long

The Creation are one of the best groups in English Psychedelia, with intense distorted guitar riffs creating this destructive sound that is typical of most of their tracks; the other part consists of beautiful slow songs where the voice and organ take the spotlight. Led by Kenny Pickett and the imaginative guitarist Eddie Phillips, this mod attitude band is among the most innovative and spectacular; it is indeed Eddie who will play the guitar with a violin bow for the first time (a technique later adopted by Jimmy Page) in the video for "Painter Man." This album is one of the very first collections made of the group's music, featuring various singles; it's an excellent piece of work, not as complete as "Our Music Is Red With Purple Flashes" but still containing the band's most beautiful tracks.

"Making Time" is clearly the album's precursor, a great anthem of the Band; the guitar starts off already heavily distorted and the drums are hit with such force that at times the piece becomes confused, the vocal part is simple but effective like few others, culminating in a splendid chorus where the backing vocals lighten the previously created tension. "Life Is Just Beginning" is one of my favorite pieces, it kicks off with a moving orchestral arrangement leading into fully psychedelic singing, the soft voice retracts into itself just before the chorus, when it clearly speaks to immerse the listener in the floral tunnel of the refrain. Surely the orchestral beginning and the start of the verse are the strong points of the piece. "If I Stay Too Long" is the track from which the album took its title; the song is a mix of Soul and Psychedelia, another unforgettable chapter of the band, the chorus with choir is truly successful and this slow melody will be hard to forget, the organ is one of the most important parts of the whole song. It continues with "Through My Eyes", here you have a mix of all the sounds of the band, the verse in fact is still marked by the distorted guitar and the powerful drums, everything dissolves into a beautiful chorus that repeats the title of the song, simple but beautiful is the powerful solo. It continues with the famous "Hey Joe" also covered by this band, a good version nothing more. Closing the side is one of their most successful pieces along with "Making Time", "Painter Man" is splendid in terms of the use of the guitar with a bow that dominates in various interludes, the verse is very beautiful, the chorus a simple loop of outlandish pop.

The second side begins with a splendid cover of "Cool Jerk", truly captivating, very sixties, this drumbeat cannot help but make you want to go crazy and dance to the rhythm of "Cool Jerk"... everybody... clap your hands..."How Does It Feel" is yet another heavily distorted track, another wild guitar, splendid in the solo, effective in the verse, the choirs characterize this song sung entirely in unison, the track concludes with an increasingly chaotic tone. "Try And Stop Me" is a very floral track, elements of the early days emerge in the interludes and the verse, the chorus fully psychedelic. "I Am The Walker" is the last splendid track of the album, the mix is that of the previous pieces, nothing different. To conclude the album are "Can I Join Your Band" and "Tom Tom", pure Rock N Blues heavily distorted with splendid almost childish but very tasteful choruses.

This is one of the many compilation albums you can buy, I highly recommend Our Music Is Red... as it has more tracks and is more readily available on CD.If I Stay Too Long indeed has not been reissued on CD, the LP version dates back to 1980.

The cover is untraceable on the web so I cannot know which photo the editor will put on it, however, the cover is very beautiful and floral. On the back cover, there is this splendid note always in psychedelic characters: