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Rating: “Our music is red, with purple flashes.”
With these words, guitarist Eddie Phillips defined the music of his band, the Creation, one of the most important groups of the English psychedelic era. This splendid collection, released in 1998 by the English Demon Records Ltd., chronologically traces the entire adventure of the London group, starting from their first two singles “Making Time” b/w “Try And Stop Me” and “Painter Man” b/w “Biff Bang Pow”, both from 1966, which gave the Creation a certain popularity, also thanks to their excellent chart success. The first is a scorching garage/blues with a noisy guitar that draws an obsessive and claustrophobic riff, and a noise-laden solo that Phillips achieved by playing with a violin bow (long before Jimmy Page); with the B-side in a perfect power-mod-pop-style, markedly Who-like flavor. The second single is one of the masterpieces of English psychedelia, a perfect link of all the lysergic visions circulating in the capital (from the Beatles to Pink Floyd) and a typically British sense of humor describing the adventures of a house painter. Its B-side is the Townshend generation, completely stripped of blues sweat and clad in mod-style attire with a clanging solo.
The events in their homeland didn't see them as protagonists as expected, and the overwhelming success of their singles in Germany led them to move there to pursue its mirage. They lost Pickett's vocal fury, and Phillips replaced him with a softer and more adjustable voice, suitable for the themes of the tracks. Two albums were released between 1967 and 1968, but the Creation's fortunes were marred by continuous lineup changes and a success that never embraced them. The most significant tracks from the two German LPs are included in this collection and oscillate between the guitar-driven power-pop of “If I Stay Too Long”, the flower-psychedelic and claustrophobic of “Nightmares” and “I Am The Walker”, or the northern soul of “Cool Jerk”.
But it is still the two singles from 1967 that leave one speechless... “Life Is Just Beginning” is a beautiful, perfectly psychedelic track with symphonic inserts and an obsessive rhythm. With “How Does It Feel To Feel”, the Creation reached the absolute peak of their production, and of the two versions present, the one released for the American market is incredibly noisy, a distorted and sick blues, with distorted guitars tearing through the murky and sensual pace of the track... sonic. The English version, released a few months later, transforms the piece into a perfect Brit-pop anthem, on which hordes of young English “shoegazers” studied, from the Reid brothers of The Jesus And Mary Chain to the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, not excluding even Thom Yorke for his beginnings with Radiohead.
At this point, Ron Wood joins the lineup as lead guitarist, coming from The Birds and departing for the Rolling Stones. His presence coincides with a more canonically rock turn for the Creation, who, along with the psychedelic matrix, also gradually lost the inspiration to compose songs, leaving us with a second part of this collection much more tied to American “chart” influences, and the cover of Williams' “Bony Moronie” is a symptomatic example, it seems made by the Beach Boys with a distortion pedal; almost in antithesis with the excellent reinterpretations of “Like A Rolling Stone” and “Hey Joe” from the early period. The only superlative track of this second part of their career is “Uncle Bert”, British-blues to which colorful stickers are applied.
A good half of this album (composed of a whopping 24 tracks) is the testimony of a fundamental group for anyone who wants to fully understand the magic that exploded in color during that period, which I will never tire of calling fantastic, for the music produced, in particular, and for the atmosphere in general.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Making Time (02:58)
Making Time, Shooting lines
For people to believe in
Things you say, gone in a day
Everybody leavin', everybody leavin'
Why do we have to carry on
Always singing the same old song
Same old song, the same old song
Tellin' lies
Closing your eyes
Making more excuses
Pullin' the wool
Actin' the fool
people have their uses
People have their uses
Why do we have to carry on
Always singing the same old song
Same old song, the same old song
Lookin' for, an open door
Never taking chances
Take your pick, makes you sick
Seekin' new advances, Seekin' new advances
Why do we have to carry on
Always singing the same old song
Same old song, the same old song
03 Painter Man (02:52)
Went to college, studied art
to be an artist. make a start
studied hard, gained my degree
but no one seemed to notice me
Painter Man
Painter Man
Who would be a Painter Man
Painter Man
Painter Man
Who would be a Painter Man
Tried cartoons and comic books
dirty postcards, woman's books
here was where the money lay
classic art has had its day
Painter Man
Painter Man ............
Do adverts for TV
household soap and brands of tea
labels all around the cans
who would be a Painter Man
Painter Man
Painter Man . . .
La la la, la la la
La la la la la la
Painter Man
Painter Man
Who would be a Painter Man
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