Creation-10

Creation Records

Albums 091-100

Rating Key

••••••

CRE 091
The Times - Pure

1) Brown Ball
2) Pink Ball

••••

What to make of this? An album of two tracks (compressed into one on the CD release), each of which contains elements of other tracks in the manner of a mini-opera by The Who, the only conceiveable reason for the use of the Mod target on the cover, there being little here to appeal to the average Mod audience. 'Brown Ball' opens up with 'From Chelsea Green to Brighton Beach', a guitar number interpersed with samples and pretty decent but for another nasty drum machine beat. 'A Girl Called Mersey' features some nice guitar from Dick Green and backing harmonies, whilst 'From LA To Edgbaston' doesn't seem to contribute much before the track launches into the oddity of 'Lundi Bleu', Ed Ball's French language take on New Order's 'Blue Monday'. This features some terrific guitar work from Paul Heeren and is a slow take without the dynamic drum beat, sounding more orchestral and guitar-driven with a PiL sample thrown in for good luck. 'Pink Ball' opens with a female rap and lots of sexual moaning with the changing bpm constantly registered before moving into a female narrative to a light dance beat with meandering sax. The final segue moves us into 'Another Star In Heaven' which has the lot thrown into the mix: police sirens, more female narrative, guitars playing 'The Stars & Stripes', looped gasping, dance beats, big bass and pipes. Blimey!

CRE 092
Dave Kusworth & The Bounty Hunters - Wives, Weddings & Roses

1) Yesterday's Hearts
2) Paint And Sugar
3) All The Violet Lights
4) I Don't Know Why I Still Love You
5) Dollar Kiss
6) Streets Of Gold
7) Wives, Weddings And Roses
8) Riverboat Blues
9) The Truth I Gave To You
10) Scarlet Ribbons

•••

Extra tracks on CD Release
11) It Only Happens With Her
12) The Lines That Cut You In Half
13) Everything's For Her

Having released one album by The Bounty Hunters, Creation trawled the archives to uncover an earlier collection from the band, recorded four years earlier in 1987 and originally seeing the light of day on Kaleidoscope. This is an album focused on frustrated romance, relationships that had left the singer broken, in which he had had his emotions manipulated before being cast aside. Pretty much the helpless victim, Dave Kusworth laments he is searching "to pick out one feeling that is mine / not someone else's they've led astray." Self-pitying, then, but in an attractive way, this album is quite an easy listen. Kusworth's voice is never the best, but it has its moments and doesn't grate, whilst musically we are treated to what is basically a collection of power ballads, generally well constructed. 'Yesterday's Hearts' and 'Paint And Sugar' are the highlights; Kusworth always makes fine work of combining acoustic and electric guitars, and there is always plenty going on behind the scenes. The odd number doesn't quite make it and the title track is a ballad that builds up slowly but comes to no certain conclusion, but on the whole the album tends to deliver. The CD release came with additional demos of songs, two of which were to appear on the later Threads, A Tear Stained Scar album, already released by Creation.

CRE 093
Swervedriver - Raise

1) Sci-Flyer
2) Pile-Up
3) Son Of Mustang Ford
4) Deep Seat
5) Rave Down
6) Sunset
7) Feel So Real
8) Sandblasted
9) Lead Me Where You Dare

••••

Having found its way back to its roots with Oxford's Ride, Creation continued to deliver on the indie guitar front with the signing of that band's hometown rivals, Swervedriver. Perhaps having more in common with the US grunge groups than the UK shoegazers, and heavily influenced by the US freeway culture, Swervedriver were championed as much in the rock press as in the indie-leaning weeklies. Here they deliver a thumping debut which features their first three Creation single a-sides: 'Son Of Mustang Ford' (single 79), 'Rave Down' (single 88) and 'Sandblasted' (single 102). Self-produced, the album falls into two categories: songs in which the guitars sound sharp and focused; and songs where everything is muffled and distorted, with the instruments so far in the background as to make them almost an afterthought. The first category works the best. 'Sci-Flyer' is an electric tour de force with a weighty rhythm section attacked by growling, singing and straining guitars, with the vocals remaining an impassionate menace. 'Son Of Mustang Ford' pounds and crashes, whilst 'Rave Down' chops and soars; all solid, hard stuff. In the second category 'Deep Seat' is heavy and distorted, but could have gone supernova, whilst 'Feel So Real' is the low point, it being hard to fathom why everything is so tucked away. No big ending, either, but a pretty big beginning for the band.

CRE 094
Slowdive - Just For A Day

1) Spanish Air
2) Celia's Dream
3) Catch The Breeze
4) Ballad Of Sister Sue
5) Erik's Song
6) Waves
7) Brighter
8) The Sandman
9) Primal

•••••

On a roll now, Creation uncovered yet another new guitar band in Reading's Slowdive, again thoughtlessly thrown into the Shoegaze collective by the media. Slowdive were more ambient-minded than other Creation bands, presenting another stark contrast to the still popular dance movement. For a band with three guitarists and two singers, Slowdive created a surprisingly gentle sound, forming layers of sculpted noise; pleasingly atmospheric; occasionally haunted and occasionally spiritual. Just For A Day was released on the back of two successful and acclaimed EPs, 'Slowdive' (single 93) and 'Morningrise' (single 98) and continued in the same vein. 'Spanish Air' is etherial and captivating with fine use of the cello, and 'Celia's Dream' plays out its guitar effects in choirs of sound, with soothing vocals. Single track 'Catch The Breeze' is hymn-like in its intensity, washing over the listener in waves. 'Ballad Of Sister Sue' features an effective ghostly vocal interchange, 'Erik's Song' is an instrumental that mirrors the wind and waves, and 'Waves' threatens to carry you off in ever-swelling waters. Yet 'Brighter' is the peak, Rachel Goswell singing the verses and Neil Halsted the chorus, to a chiming accompaniment. Quite beautiful. 'The Sandman' sounds like the coming of Spring and 'Primal' is a sad, pulsating number building to an almost frantic climax, if such a thing were possible for this band.

CRE 095
Various Artists - American Pensioners On Ecstasy

1) Love Corporation - Warm
2) Synchro - Synchro
3) Bill Drummond - The Manager
4) House Of Love - Destroy The Heart
5) Swervedriver - Son Of Mustang Ford
6) Counterfeit - Good Samaritan
7) Peter Astor - Submarine
8) TV Personalities - Biff! Bang! Pow!
9) Biff Bang Pow! - Jean Michel Pow
10) The Times - A Girl Called Mersey
11) The Bounty Hunters - Kings And Queens
12) The Jazz Butcher - Girl Go
13) Simon Turner - Dark Melt

•

14) Church Of Raism - Wake Up Manchester, You're Dead

Following their release of one album featuring tracks that had not been considered good enough to release in the first place, unbelieveably Creation found enough detritus to put out a second volume. 'Warm' is a different mix from the version featured on the Lovers album, whilst 'Synchro' is an early 1989 rejected single from Tony Martin, later of Hypnotone. This is a gloomy dance number on which nothing happens for three minutes and when it does, the mood does not lighten up at all. 'The Manager' is a bad recording of Bill Drummond talking for ten minutes, and 'Destroy The Heart' is a ratty House Of Love demo. Swervedriver's rejected first recording of 'Son Of Mustang Ford' is less dense and cleaner than the eventual single, and the Counterfeit track was a vinyl-only single (single 68), not particularly remarkable. 'Submarine' is an acoustic recording taken from the 'Submarine Songs EP' (single 94) and the TV Personalities number is a raw take from a 1984 flexi-disc release. Biff Bang Pow!'s track is a guitar piece that sounds like a song under construction, and The Times' song is a reject from the Pure album. The Bounty Hunters' 'Kings And Queens' was a rejected single that had already appeared as a bonus track on the Threads, A Tear Stained Scar album, and 'Girl Go' is another live American recording. The Simon Turner track is the same one already released on the A Palace In The Sun compilation, and the album ends with a poor recording of Tony Wilson interviewing Alan McGee and James Havoc about Creation Press.

CRE 096
Teenage Fanclub - The King

1) Heavy Metal 6
2) Mudhoney
3) Interstellar Overdrive
4) Robot Love
5) Like A Virgin
6) The King
7) Opal Inquest
8) The Ballad Of Bow Evil (Slow And Fast)
9) Heavy Metal 9

•••

Having already created a big reaction with their A Catholic Education album on Paperhouse, Teenage Fanclub's follow-up was a tongue-in-cheek collection of instrumentals recorded in just a day. The band's American label Matador refused to touch the album, but Creation took it in the manner it had been intended and gave it a release, but deleted it after one day, thus making it one of the more difficult Creation releases to get hold of. Most of the tracks sound like the band happily jamming and are pleasant enough. 'Heavy Metal 6' is whining and messy, and 'Mudhoney' crashing and drummy. Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive' is rocky with a pulsating bass and wailing guitars, whilst 'Robot Love' is a feedbacking charge. 'Like A Virgin' is the band's deadpan and plodding cover of the Madonna single, originally featured as a b-side to the 'Starsign' single (single 105), and 'The King' is a stuttering series of intros. 'Opal Inquest' is a heavy number with some squealing guitars, and 'The Ballad Of Bow Evil (Slow And Fast)' features some thrashy drumming and slow, muddy guitars that build into a speedy climax, but doesn't really work very well. The album concludes with 'Heavy Metal 9' which is full of distortion in the style of My Bloody Valentine. Creation's decision in giving the album a release was a good one as it sold well enough and certainly raised the band's profile, thus whetting the appetite for the first serious release on the label which was soon to follow.

CRE 097
Momus - Hippopotamomus

1) Hippopotamomus
2) I Ate A Girl Right Up
3) Michelin Man
4) A Dull Documentary
5) Marquis Of Sadness
6) Bluestocking
7) Ventriloquist And Dolls
8) The Painter And His Model
9) A Monkey For Sallie
10) Pornography
11) Song In Contravention

•••

The fourth outing from Momus on Creation roused a fair amount of controversy, the French tyre giants Michelin objecting to the album's third track, another sexual tale, and the cover's adoption of the company's tyre-man logo into a pneumatic hippopotamus. Consequently, both the track and the cover were withdrawn, making the original release somewhat of a rarity. The new cover featured just the hippo's head and ran to ten tracks. As for the album itself, nothing really changes. Every Momus album is the same; there is little progression and again Nick Currie presents his stylish, voyeuristic and obsessive sexual fantasies in pretty much the same way. With no lyric sheet included it is not always easy to make out the words (though you could probably guess them by now) and the album's initial harsh electro accompaniment doesn't help in this repsect. As things progress, however, the album becomes more subdued and musical without any variation in lyrical theme. The best moments are 'Ventriloquist's Doll', which has the most rounded backing, and the atmospheric 'The Painter And His Model'. 'Pornography''s assertion that its subject matter is "just a young girl's diary rendered into photography" is interesting, but the album also features what must be one of the best backing lines in music history: "Hip-hip-hip Hippopotamomus / Pop-pop-pop Popocatepetl." Quality.

CRE 098
The Lilac Time - Astronauts

1) In Iverna Gardens
2) Hats Off, Here Comes The Girl
3) Fortunes
4) A Taste For Honey
5) Grey Skies And Work Things
6) Finistère
7) Dreaming
8) The Whisper Of Your Mind
9) The Darkness Of Her Eyes
10) Sunshine's Daughter
11) North Kensington
12) Madresfield

•••

Following a minor hit in 1983, Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy really came to prominence in 1985 when his 'Kiss Me' single had risen to No.4 in the charts and he followed this up with another Top 20 smash in 'Icing On The Cake'. Following his brief stint as a pop star, Duffy began to gain more credibility in recording as The Lilac Time, with Creation snapping him up in 1991 to release one album and one single, 'Dreaming' (single 104). The latter track, produced by Hypnotone, took advantage of the mood of the times, being laid down to a dance beat, but the selling point was still Duffy's vocal that leant itself well to the style, his lyrics tumbling into each other and decorated with only the occasional bleep. It was far from representative of the album Astronauts, which, written, arranged and produced by Duffy, is a very gentle, melodic pop album with intelligent lyrics rooted in English suburbia. This is all very well put together and nice; at its worst middle of the road, but at its best catchy and endearing. 'A Taste For Honey' is a light jangle with a lovely chorus and 'Sunshine's Daughter' an attractive 1960s-influenced number with psychedelic hints in both its vocals and guitars. Often thoughtful, though not often challenging, it is well worth a listen.

CRE 099
Biff Bang Pow! - L'Amour, Demure, Stenhousemuir

1) She Haunts
2) Someone To Share My Life With
3) Star Tripper
4) There Must Be A Better Life
5) She Paints
6) Ice Cream Machine
7) Hug Me Honey
8) Miss You
9) She Kills Me
10) I'm Still Waiting For My Time
11) Someone Stole My Wheels
12) Song For A Nail
13) Love's Going Out Of Fashion

•••

14. Girl From Well Lane
15. Baby You Just Don't Care
16. The Chocolate Elephant Man
17. Tell Laura I Love Her
18. Searching For The Pavement

Barely two years after the first Biff Bang Pow! retrospective came the second, this time containing eighteen tracks, only four of which had appeared on 1989's The Acid House Album. There are two tracks from 1984's Pass The Paintbrush Honey, two from 1987's The Girl Who Runs The Beat Hotel, only one from the band's classic 1987 release Oblivion, five from 1988's Love Is Forever, five from 1990's Songs For The Sad Eyed Girl and three from the current, disappointing Me. Why the band's best album should be so under-represented remains a mystery, particularly as any track from that release stands head and shoulders above anything from Me. The cover again features the customary mistake – track 10 being named 'I'm Waiting For My Time' and alone being deprived of a writing credit. As a collection this certainly has its moments and includes some killer tracks, but it misses out on far too many others. Weighted too heavily to the most recent, lightweight albums, it certainly cannot be described as a definitive collection, though there is too much good stuff here to brand it a disappointment. Simply a 'could have done better'.

CRE 100
Various Artists - Creation Soup Box Set

1) Various Artists - Creation Soup Volume 1
2) Various Artists - Creation Soup Volume 2
3) Various Artists - Creation Soup Volume 3
4) Various Artists - Creation Soup Volume 4
5) Various Artists - Creation Soup Volume 5

•••

How does a record label famous for releasing a whole host of compilation albums celebrate its 100th release? Simple. Release a compilation of compilation albums. The Creation Soup box set came with five volumes of collections of the label's first fifty single releases - both the a-sides and the b-sides - with ten singles on each disc. For those who always look out for the mistakes on Creation releases, these five collections create a positive field day and it looks as though the covers were written completely from memory by somebody who couldn't be bothered to check the details. The five compilations were also released separately and numbered CRE 101-105.

Please 'like' Isolation on Facebook.