Creation-09

Creation Records

Albums 081-090

Rating Key

••••••

CRE 081
Various Artists - Keeping The Faith

1) Fluke - Philly
2) Hypnotone - Dream Beam
3) Love Corporation - Palatial
4) Primal Scream - Come Together
5) JBC - We Love You
6) My Bloody Valentine - Soon
7) Sheer Taft - Cascades
8) World Unite - World Unite
9) Primal Scream - Loaded
10) Hypnotone - Hypnotonic
11) Crazy Eddie & QQ Freestyle - Nena De Ibiza
12) Sound Of Shoom - I Hate Hate

•••

Knowing the nature of the label, it was only a matter of time before Creation emerged with a compilation of dance tunes, and Keeping The Faith was just that, featuring twelve tracks that had all previously been released as singles. Of course, there are mixes and there are remixes, suffice it to comment only on those making the album format for the first time. 'We Love You' (single 83) was a track produced by DJ Steve Proctor for which The Jazz Butcher offered their services. Despite the inevitable cries that this was a cynical cash-in on the dance movement, what emerged was a fairly innovative reworking of the Stones' psychedelic classic which lends itself surprisingly well to a dance beat. Andy Weatherall's treatment of MBV's 'Soon' (single 73) begins with a hopefully ironic 'Here We Go' sample that must have been the antithesis of everything the band then embodied. The track itself is an amazing testment to how dance and extreme indie rock could fuse. 'Cascades' (single 80) is a lively number with dubbed female vocals, and 'World Unite' (single 97) is a strangely appealling long tune with Middle Eastern flavoured vocals and a nursery-rhyme refrain. The famously missing 'Hypnotonic' has Carlos Manning rapping over a firm beat as keyboards cascade all around and is better than most of the tracks that did appear on the second Hypnotone album. 'Nena De Ibiza' is forgettable with its familiar Belearic breaks, and 'I Hate Hate' is a bassy number with a soulful vocal from the talented Eusebe.

CRE 082
Various Artists - Pensioners On Ecstasy

1) House Of Love - Shine On (Fuck Version)
2) My Bloody Valentine - Instrumental
3) Biff Bang Pow! - Back To The Start
4) Les Zarjaz - Drastic Fantastic
5) Electric Cowboy - Powerline
6) Jazz Butcher - Mr Odd
7) The Times - Wah! Kylie
8) Nikki Sudden - Such A Little Girl
9) Nigel Golding - Dancin' On
10) Up - Swoop
11) Momus - Poison Boyfriend
12) DJ6 & The Escape Committee - Thanks For The Trip Dad!

••

As Creation scraped the bottom of the barrel in their desperate attempt to get product on the shelves, they took the opportunity of releasing an album of songs that had not been considered good enough to be released in the first place. 'Shine On' is a crackly acoustic version recorded in Holland during Guy Chadwick's well-documented breakdown, whereas the MBV track was taken from the bonus seven-inch single given away with the Isn't Anything album. 'Back To The Start' was rejected from The Girl Who Runs The Beat Hotel sessions and is a bit of a mess with its struggling falsetto. The track by Les Zarjaz was intended to be a single but never happened, probably because it was rubbish, and Electric Cowboy was former Primal Screamer Paul Harte and his track is a pretty straightforward rocky number. 'Mr Odd' comes from a radio session and The Times' track was rejected from the Et Dieu sessions which is telling in itself. 'Such A Little Girl' is a thrashy number recorded with Peter Buck of REM, and Nigel Golding's offering is another rejected single, an unremarkable dance number with plenty of screaming. 'Swoop' is yet again a single reject, a dance distortion that is better than some, whereas the Momus track was also from a bonus seven-inch, given away with his third album. This is probably the high point before an early Ed Ball disco number kills off a miserable excuse of a record.

CRE 083
Nikki Sudden - Back To The Coast

1) Back To The Coast
2) Death Is Hanging Over Me
3) In Your Life
4) Jangle Town
5) Feather Beds
6) Flower Bed Romance
7) The Last Bandit
8) Great Pharaoh
9) Crossroads
10) Broken Tooth

•••

Another retrospective for which the punters possibly were not beating down the doors was this collection from the now-departed Nikki Sudden. Offering three tracks from Texas, two from the collaboration with Rowland S. Howard, Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc, two from Groove and one from the 'Jangle Town' EP, there was strangely no track from his second Creation offering, Dead Men Tell No Tales, though two new numbers saw the light of day. These, predictably, offered little new to the Sudden oeuvre, 'In Your Life' being a faster number with a nice mess of noise in the background, and 'Flower Bed Romance' being a bit of a non-starter with its bluesy guitar overpowered by an awful lot of banging noises. The single track 'The Last Bandit' is a more standard Sudden ballad and the rest is pretty solid Sudden fare and well worth a listen, although it must be said that these tracks work better when listened to in the context of the albums from which they were plucked. A gentle reminder of what the label had lost, displaying a raw edginess that few of their other artists were to come close to achieving. Sadly missed.

CRE 084
Slaughter Joe - The Pied Piper Of Feedback

1) I'll Follow You Down
2) She's So Out Of Touch
3) Surely Some Of Slaughter's Blues
4) Fall Apart
5) Napalm Girl
6) Positively Something Wild
7) Tangerine
8) I Know You Rider
9) The Lonesome Death Of Thurston Moore
10) Shiny And Black
11) If I Die Before I Wake

•••

Described as two half-albums, this compilation was a cobbling together of the two sessions Joe Foster recorded for Creation when he was not acting as the label's house producer. Side One contains five tracks recorded in the 'I'll Follow You Down' sessions, four of which appeared on the original 12-inch release (single 19), in addition to 'She's So Out Of Touch' which eventually saw release as a single in its own right (single 35). The b-side includes the two tracks that appeared on that latter 12-inch release, plus three that had not previously seen the light of day. As producer of the Mary Chain's momentous first single, Foster is given credit here for shaping that wild feedback sound, but his own use of noise is considerably more refined. In fact it is only used as a weapon on some of side one, 'Fall Apart' being the most evocative of that band, though using a far less restrained vocal, and 'I'll Follow You Down' and 'Napalm Girl' using the technique to good effect. 'She's So Out Of Touch' is a gentle number with strings and 'Surely Some of Slaughter's Blues' an r 'n' b track with heavy harmonica. Side two is less convincing. 'Tangerine' sounds like a stab at a Felt number and 'Positively Something Wild' introduces some good noise, but the remaining tracks are pretty slim on thrills. It would have been good to have heard some total carnage from the Pied Piper.

CRE 085
The Weather Prophets - 87

1) Why Does The Rain
2) Head Over Heels
3) Poison Mind
4) Like Frankie Lymon
5) Worm In My Brain
6) She Comes From The Rain
7) Mayflower
8) Your Heartbeat Breathes The Life Into Me
9) The Key To My Love Is Green
10) Hollow Heart
11) Almost Prayed

•••

With everything possible being thrown out to the shops, the now defunct Weather Prophets were the next in line with Creation putting out their first live album since the label's debut compilation, Alive In The Living Room. Recorded in Europe in the Spring of 1987 thankfully this was far better recorded than the label's debut; in fact the sound quality is top notch all the way through. Creation missed a trick in giving the album, titled 87, the catalogue number 85 when it would have taken little thought to have moved it up a couple of places. The set includes six tracks from the band's debut Elevation album Mayflower and only two from the later Creation release Judges, Juries And Horsemen and as the playing is fine the songs remain pretty faithful to the recorded versions, thus rendering the live set only as good as the songs were in the first place and on Mayflower that was often not that good. 'Poison Mind' from the second album is the best track and 'Worm In My Brain' is also attractive, possibly as it is the one number that sounds like The Loft. The first Elevation single 'She Comes From The Rain' remains weak, though 'Mayflower' is the nearest the recording comes to bursting into life. As the band builds up to their finale, 'Hollow Heart' without the effects on the vocal is gentler and less effective, whilst 'Almost Prayed' is lengthy and beefy, losing the subtlety of the single. A nice sounding record from a band that never really lived up to its potential.

CRE 086
Black Eg - Black Eg

1) Just Vincent
2) British Gas Makes It Alright
3) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
4) Get A Job
5) The Mi-Lai Hotel
6)
7) African Disease
8) Drugs
9) Monster Man
10) Jesus Right Now
11) The Twilight Zone
12) So Easy (No New York)

•

One of the most remarkable albums ever released. "It was made on my four-track. Alan (McGee) got to hear of it and he said: 'Pat, Pat - put it out.' I'm going: 'No, it's unreleaseable.' I had to fuck off to LA to sing with the Blue Aeroplanes, and just before I left I dropped off a cassette of some mixes on Alan's desk, with a note saying: 'There you go. Unreleaseable, isn't it?' When I got back from LA Creation had cut the record. Because it was free! Anything that could raise them another fifty quid to keep Kevin (Shields) in the studio, they would do." So the Jazz Butcher's Pat Fish was quoted in David Cavanagh's The Creation Records Story (Virgin, 2000). And, of course, it is completely unlistenable and must stand as the greatest ever curiosity from a label that was renowned for the occasional unusual release. Packaged in a surprisingly good cover and accompanied by a ludicrous tale of how the record came into being, the liner notes admit it was a poor recording taken from a cassette. Largely consisting of looped samples and guitar distortion effects, it is punishing to the ears. 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' is nine minutes of samples playing over a primitive drum machine beat whilst a guitar plays Ennio Morricone, and 'Get A Job' is ninety seconds of Norman Tebbitt samples. And they are two of the better ones. There also appears to be an unnamed and uncredited track six, certainly having its own track number on the CD release. These are studio larks, made for fun, and never intended to be unleashed on the outside world. But you have to admire the nerve.

CRE 087
Pacific - Inference

1) Shrift
2) Autumn Island
3) Mineral
4) Barnoon Hill
5) I Wonder
6) Henry Said
7) Jetstream

•••

Extra tracks on CD release
8) Shrift

Yet another release with neither title nor band name on the front cover which is reminiscent of the work Vaughan Oliver was producing for 4AD, especially the graphics on the reverse. This was the twelfth album by the label to do this (thirteenth if you count The Acid House Album which was stickered on the cover). Again, this is a collection cobbled together from single releases, though one that took a fair while to emerge as the songs had been recorded way back in May and November 1988. The first three tracks are taken from the 'Shrift' EP (single 64) and the last four from the 'Barnoon Hill' EP (single 58). The CD release came with the addition of the 12-inch version of 'Shrift'. The immediate reaction on listening is to note how dated and awful 1980s drum machines can sound and there is little doubt this album would have been considerably improved with the addition of a real drummer. As it is, Inference is a collection of songs loaded with strings and horns, some fairly decent male and female vocals and some decent songs. The two single lead tracks are the best, appealingly evocative, with 'Barnoon Hill' perhaps stealing the top prize. Even the instrumental numbers sound like they mean it, and there is nothing that really disappoints in an atmospheric and thoughtful collection. Except for the bloody drums.

CRE 088
Various Artists - A Palace In The Sun

1) My Bloody Valentine - Don't Ask Why
2) Primal Scream - I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have
3) Swervedriver - Rave Down
4) Peter Astor - Chevron
5) The Telescopes - Everso
6) The Jazz Butcher - She's On Drugs
7) Love Corporation - Lovers
8) Hypnotone - Dream Beam
9) Tangerine - I'm Telling Lies
10) Heidi Berry - Below The Waves
11) Something Pretty Beautiful - Freefall
12) Simon Turner - Dark Melt

•••

Just in case anyone thought they were slipping, Creation bundled up yet another compilation album to get us through the day, including five singles in its twelve tracks. It was the first time on album for Swervedriver's 'Rave Down' (single 88), five minutes of cascading guitars from a band far heavier and far too American influenced to have deserved their bundling up into the media-invented 'Shoegazing' genre. Ironically, they were certainly guilty of a bit of shoegazing when you saw them live. The Telescopes' 'Everso' (single 92) is an effects-laden psychedelic number full of shimmering guitars and vocal harmonies, but, apart from those, the album is much of a muchness with a handful of decent album tracks and a couple of dance numbers from Love Corporation and Hypnotone thrown in for good luck. If you look down the list it is clear this was not a world-beating roster of bands, though there are one or two real gems among them. Altogether a fair summing up of Creation in the desperate days of 1991.

CRE 089
Sand - The Dynamic Curve

1) Felatio
2) This Thinking Feeling Moment
3) Consent
4) Communion
5) Infinite
6) Absolution

••

With Biff Bang Pow! falling into permanent hibernation, Creation co-owner Dick Green needed some outlet for his musical expression and so Sand came into being, a collaboration with the ever-willing and ludicrously prolific Ed Ball. The pair produced, arranged, composed and performed the six tracks, yet what emerged is quite surprisingly uneventful; the 38-minute album of instrumentals is not particularly atmospheric with very little happening and plenty of repetition. The opener, given its title, is an unexciting orchestral piece of ten minutes with no climax, whilst 'This Thinking Feeling Moment' is piercing and uninspiring. 'Commmunion' is a dull, shuffling plod with little life and no attack, and 'Infinite' is full of robotic bleeping and Kraftwerk phasing but never goes anywhere and you begin to worry in case its title is accurate. 'Absolution' is over nine minutes of heavy breathing noises, alien bleeps and submarine dinking, whilst 'Consent' is the best moment with a muffled native beat and subdued guitar and keyboards, but still isn't nearly ambitious enough. This doesn't sound like the guitarist who let rip on some Biff Bang Pow! classics; perhaps too much effort was being put in trying to sound artistic rather than simply letting it all out. With all the problems facing the label at the time, you may have expected something more cathartic.

CRE 090
Peter Astor - Zoo

1) Six Day Weekend
2) Harvest Moon
3) We Move In An Arc Whose Grace We Never See
4) What Was And What Could Never Be
5) Street Of Lights
6) Heart-shaped Swimming Pool
7) Ghost Sister
8) Seaplane
9) Letter To Nowhere
10) The Emperor, The Dealer And The Birthday Boy
11) Blue Walking Days
12) Thirteen And Seven Centuries

•••

With his first solo album seeing the singer submerged in self doubt and despair, Zoo largely continues in the same vein, with a collection of downbeat, largely acoustic numbers which, though occasionally wistful, offer little emotional pull and make the listener wonder what had become of the passionate composer of Judges, Juries And Horsemen. Again featuring drummer Dave Morgan and The Jazz Butcher bassist Laurence O'Keefe, it is fair to say this album has better moments than Submarine, with 'Ghost Sister', featuring acoustic, electric and congas, quite accomplished and atmospheric, and two gentle tracks, 'What Was And What Could Never Be' and 'Streets of Lights' also hitting the right spot. 'We Move In An Arc' is also decent and at least you can hear Astor's vocals, something that is not so easy on the opening track where the annoying electro drum beat, piano and whining moog are overpowering. Astor may well be summing up his state of mind in 'Heart-Shaped Swimming Pool' when he intones, "You used to pray for the telephone to stop ringing, but now it's stopped you only feel afraid." This certainly isn't the album to get those phones overheating; it has too many morbid moments and ends with Astor admitting he is keeping his head down as the world goes to hell. If not abject surrender, this is certainly a man in retreat.

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