The Creation (band)

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The Creation
Origin England
Genre(s) Rock
Power Pop
Psychedelic rock
Years active 1966–1968
Reunited: mid-1980s
Label(s) Planet Records, Polydor, Mercury Records
Associated acts The Birds
Website myspace.com/thecreationofficial
Members
Kenny Pickett (lead vocals)
Mick Thompson
Jack Jones (dr)
Bob Garner
Doug Sandom
Ronnie Wood
Eddie Phillips
Kim Gardner
David O'Brien (only live, rhythm guitar, 1968)

The Creation were an English psychedelic rock band, formed in 1966.

Contents

[edit] Original band members

[edit] Career

Pickett, Phillips, Thompson and Jones had previously been in The Mark Four, accompanied by John Dalton who had left to join The Kinks. Garner had previously been in the Tony Sheridan Band.

Their style was originally loud pop-art, similar to The Kinks and The Who, but developed into a more typically mid 1960s psychedelic sound. The most popular Creation song was "Painter Man", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached number 8 in the German chart in April 1967.It was later covered by Boney M in 1979,and reached the number 10 position in the UK charts. The song featured, in an intersection in the second half, lead guitarist Phillips's trademark of playing his instrument with a violin bow. He was reputedly the first guitarist to pioneer this technique, although Jimmy Page would later do so to greater acclaim.[1] Phillips was also responsible for coining many of the band's best known quotes: "Our music is red – with purple flashes" was one such soundbite that was also used in their marketing material. They took their pop art experimentation slightly further when singer Kenny Pickett would spray paint a canvas during their live shows, before a member of the road crew would set light to artwork on stage.[2]

Although most of their singles were issued in the UK, after "Making Time" and "Painter Man", there were no further hits. They even had four singles were issued in the US ("Making Time" b/w "Try And Stop Me" and "Painter Man" b/w 'Biff Bang Pow" on US Planet, "If I Stay Too Long" b/w "Nightmares", and "How Does It Feel To Feel" b/w "Life Is Just Beginning" on US Decca), without success, though they remained extremely popular in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

At the end of 1966, Garner left and was replaced by Kim Gardner; plus in March 1968 Pickett left and was replaced by Ronnie Wood (both of these new members had been in The Birds), but Pickett soon returned, replacing both Phillips and Gardner. Shortly afterwards, however, Creation disbanded; Pickett continued as songwriter for their American producer, Shel Talmy, and also became American road manager for Led Zeppelin; Ronnie Wood joined the Jeff Beck Group; Gardner co-formed Ashton, Gardner & Dyke and was later a member of Badger; Jones became a cabaret singer. Pickett and Phillips later wrote the hit single "Teacher Teacher" for Rockpile.

The Creation re-formed in the mid 1980s with Phillips, Pickett, Dalton, and Mick Avory (drums, ex-Kinks), releasing a single on Jet Records and recording an album in a more contemporary rock style. The reformed band continued to tour, with various line-up changes, capitalising first on their cult notoriety with the underground mod and garage rock audiences and subsequently in their return to cool after the success of Creation Records. Their influence on popular music has been greater than their limited chart success. In the 1970s, Boney M released a disco version of "Painter Man" that reached the UK top ten. Eighties mod band Makin' Time are among the many garage bands who have taken their name from a Creation song, while Edward Ball wrote a song for The Times, "Red With Purple Flashes", based on the Eddie Phillips quote. The most successful UK indie record label of the Nineties, Creation Records, took their name from the band.[3] They performed in the United States for the first time at the final edition of Cavestomp in November, 2001.

[edit] Trivia

  • The famous indie record label, Creation Records, was named after them.
  • There are bands called Makin' Time, The Paintermen and Biff Bang Pow!
  • Their song "Makin' Time" was used in the movie Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson.
  • The Sex Pistols, an influential punk rock band (one of the first of the genre) played "Through my eyes" in their 1989 album "Pirates of destiny". It was an informal trial from what sounds like an old studio recording that ran for 1:42. It begins when the members of the band say Johnny Rotten (vocalist of the group) will sing "Through my eyes" while the rest of the band plays "Johnny B. Goode" A Chuck Berry song simultaneously. At the start of the song, the original music of "Through..." is played (not the "Johnny...") and Rotten says some words of the lyrics but soon syops singing the song because he says he "don't know the lyrics". Then, they play "Johnny B. Goode", and at the starts Rotten says the first verse of "Through my eyes" but then he desists again and starts trying singing the lyrics of "Johnny..." but he notes that he 'don't know that lyrics too.' Then, they play "Road Runner", of Jonathan Ritchman, just to discover that Rotten didn't know those lyrics either.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • 1967 - We Are Paintermen (Hit-ton, issued in Germany and Sweden only)
  • 1999 - Power Surge (Creation)
  • 2004 - Psychedelic Rose: The Great Lost Creation Album (Cherry Red)
  • 2007 - Live at Budokan 1979 (Universal)

[edit] Singles

  • June 1966 - "Making Time" / "Try and Stop Me"
  • October 1966 - "Painter Man" / " Biff Bang Pow"
  • 1967 - "Cool Jerk" / "Life Is Just Beginning" (Germany only)
  • June 1967 - "If I Stay Too Long" / "Nightmares"
  • October 1967 - "Life is Just Beginning" / "Through My Eyes"
  • February 1968 - "How Does it Feel to Feel" / "Tom Tom"
  • May 1968 - "Midway Down" (John Wonderling/Los Shapiro) / "The Girls are Naked" (Pickett/Gardner/Jones) (Polydor 56246)
  • Bonney Moroney (Larry Williams) b/w Mercy Mercy Mercy (Larry Williams/Johnny Watson/Zawinul) (Germany only, Hit-ton HT 300210)
  • 1968 "For All that I Am" (Friedland/Kahan) b/w "Uncle Bert" (Wood/Pickett/Gardner/Jones) (Hit-ton HT 300235, Germany)
  • 1968 - "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" / "Uncle Bert" (Germany only)
  • April 1987 - "A Spirit called Love" / "Making Time" / "Mumbo Jumbo" (12" EP)
  • July 1994 - "Creation" / "Shock Horror" / "Power Surge" (CD single)

[edit] Compilations, etc

  • 1968 - The Best of The Creation (Pop, issued in Germany and Sweden only)
  • September 1973 - Creation 66-67 (Charisma, 12" LP)
  • October 1973 - "Makin' Time" / "Painter Man" (7" single)
  • 1975 - The Creation (UK collection)
  • 1982 - The Mark Four/The Creation (Eva, German collection)
  • September 1982- How Does it Feel to Feel? (Edsel, 12" LP)
  • February 1984 - Recreation (Line, 12" LP)
  • February 1984 - We Are Paintermen (12" LP)
  • May 1984 - "Making Time" / "Little Bert" (Eva, 7" single)
  • 1985 - Live at the Beat Scene Club (7" EP)
  • 1993 - Lay the Ghost (Universal)
  • 1994 - Painter Man (Edsel, UK budget collection)
  • 1998 - Our Music Is Red - With Purple Flashes (Diablo, UK collection)
  • 1998 - Complete Collection, Vol. 1: Making Time (Retroactive)
  • 1998 - Complete Collection, Vol. 2: Biff Bang Pow (Retroactive)
  • 2007 - The Singles Collection (Get Back Italy)

[edit] DVDs

  • 2004 - Red with Purple Flashes: The Creation Live (Cherry Red)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chris Hunt. Eddie Philips interview.
  2. ^ Chris Hunt. Eddie Philips interview.
  3. ^ Chris Hunt. Eddie Philips interview.

[edit] External links