Creation-12

Creation Records

Albums 111-120

Rating Key

••••••

CRE 111
Teenage Filmstars - Star

1) Kiss Me
2) Loving
3) Inner Space
4) Apple
5) Flashes
6) Kaleidoscope
7) Vibrations
8) Soulful
9) Hallucinations
10) Moon

••

After The Times and Love Corporation, Ed Ball's new incarnation was revealed as Teenage Filmstars, an obvious joke at the expense of Teenage Fanclub, as was the naming of the 'debut' album Star, following on from the release of the Fanclub's Bandwagonesque, a heartfelt tribute to Alex Chilton's Big Star. As Ball had a penchant for mimicking other bands' styles, it might have been expected that what would follow would be a series of Big Star pastiches, but though the first track is very much in that style, the remainder of the album turns out to be very different indeed. The immediate impression is of a very muddy production which weighs the album down and contributes in part to the unusual achievement of making nearly every vocal completely indicipherable. Following the annoyingly repetitive opener, the remainder of the album sees Ball entering the territory usually occupied by My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, creating a series of soundscapes rather than more orthodox songs. 'Loving' has nice wailing guitars and breathy vocals and would have been pretty decent if everything hadn't been tucked away in the background and dragged out to five minutes. And the rest of the numbers follow suit with loads of distorted guitar effects, buried, incoherent vocals, and tracks going on far too long, especially on the excruciating side two.

CRE 112
Jasmine Minks - Soul Station

1) Cold Heart
2) Forces Network
3) Veronica
4) Somers Town
5) Think!
6) Where The Traffic Goes
7) The Thirty Second Set Up
8) Ghost Of A Young Man
9) Still Waiting
10) Cut Me Deep
11) The Ballad Of Johnny Eye
12) Soul Station

•••

Having already released one Jasmine Minks retrospective, Creation followed that up with a second in 1992 that, peculiarly, ignored the band's fourth album, Scratch The Surface. With the Minks' last album being one of their better offerings the reasoning behind this is hard to fathom, especially as three tracks are included from the disappointing Jasmine Minks, the band's full-length debut. Two of those were the late includions, 'Cold Heart' and 'Forces Network' which are decent enough numbers, though 'The Ballad Of Johnny Eye' is not one of the stand out tracks. There are also four tracks from the debut mini-album 1234567, All Good Preachers Go To Heaven, including the early single 'Where The Traffic Goes' and the impressive 'Somers Town'. Thankfully, the band's best album, Another Age is not passed over and four tracks from that collection are included here. 'Cut Me Deep' remains the best thing the Minks ever recorded, and 'Soul Station' (after which this collection is named) is also very good indeed. The two others, 'Veronica' and 'Still Waiting' are fair enough choices, and it seems reasonable to include the band's debut single 'Think!', but on the whole with a bit of refinement this could have been transformed from a decent enough compilation into something very special indeed.

CRE 113
Momus - Voyager

1) Cibachrome Blue
2) Virtual Reality
3) Vocation
4) Conquistador
5) Spacewalk
6) Summer Holiday 1999
7) Afterglow
8) Trans Siberian Express
9) Voyager
10) Momutation 3

•••

Another year, another Momus album. And for a while it appeared this was going to be something different, Nick Currie's Young Americans, no less. Opening with a typical, deadpan, spoken word vocal over gentle piano and strings, we are then treated to a soulful choir and diva wailing away in the background and the happening mood is carried into 'Vocation' where Currie sings a bouncy number to orchestral strings and more soulful backing. 'Conquistador' is almost funky with a sax playing underneath whirling instrumentation and echoing vocals, and 'Spacewalk' (single 134) even namechecks the 'soul train' with the vocal getting uncharacteristically passionate. This is all very encouraging, but it must have got too much for the artist who appears to give up totally on side two. Piano, string sounds and the customary French bit decorate the unremarkable 'Summer Holiday 1999' before Currie talks his way through the following two numbers, nine minutes of monotone to a deathly beat with only very occasional melodic refrains to break the monotony. 'Voyager', to a dance beat, then tries to make amends by throwing too much into the mix and only succeeds in sounding muddled, before the album concludes with a continuation of the disco theme; an instrumental that goes nowhere and has little appeal. Half a record, then, and you can't hear all the words which is inexcusable when that is the whole point of the record.

CRE 114
Various Artists - Area Code 212

1) Project XYZ - It's Just An Ecstacy
2) Yohan Square - Love Of Life
3) Roc & Kato - Jungle Love (Sax U Up)
4) DJ Delite - I Said I Like It
5) A Bitch Named Johanna - I'm A Bitch
6) Larry Tee - Love Machine
7) Grooveline - You Are The One
8) MK - Play The World

••

Having rediscovered their love for guitar bands, Creation had not put out any dance records for some time, the last being the Keeping The Faith compilation, some thirty-three releases earlier. Their answer was to unleash three in a row, beginning with a collection of American dance tunes, mostly licensed from underground New York labels and compiled by Chris Abbot. In truth, there isn't too much here to get you excited; the best number is Roc In Kato's 'Jungle Love', a cool track with sax playing over a bouncy beat with nice bass and enough variety not to drag over six minutes. Next comes Yohan Square's 'Love Of Life', a mellow number with a spoken vocal and a Detroit-style backing chorus. That's about it, though. The opener is an inexorable seven-minute plod with light, almost Balearic breaks, and 'I Said I Like it' is dull and a bit annoying. 'I'm A Bitch' is a lot of swearing to minimal accompaniment, and 'Love Machine' has too many repeated samples, though it is one of the better moments. 'You Are The One' has the odd groovy moment before 'Play The World' by Mark Kitchen ends the show with looped female vocals and Ibiza piano breaks. This is the only track to have been recorded specifically for the album. These may all sound fantastic when drugged up to the eyeballs at three in the morning, but in the cold light of day, you won't spin this very often.

CRE 115
Various Artists - Keeping The Faith Again

1) Love Corporation - Give Me Some Love
2) Primal Scream - Don't Fight It, Feel It
3) Bass Bumpers - Can't Stop Dancing
4) Hypnotone - Yu-Yu
5) Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun
6) Hypnotone - Electraphonic
7) The Lilac Time - Dreaming
8) MK - Play The World
9) Sheer Taft - Atlantis

•••

The second of three consecutive dance releases was a second volume of the Keeping The Faith singles compilations, though not quite all of the numbers this time actually saw single release, with a couple of album tracks thrown in for good measure. 'Give Me Some Love' (single 86) is an Andrew Weatherall remix lasting over ten and half minutes, whilst 'Dont Fight It, Feel It' (single 110) is a five-minute Graham Massey remix. It is the first time on an album for the Bass Bumpers 'Can't Stop Dancing' (single 106), a female vocal rap over Balearic backing, and Hypnotone's 'Yu-Yu' is taken from the A1 album. Primal Scream's second offering is the 'Dub Symphony In Two Parts' featuring legendary ex-PiL bassist Jah Wobble and taken straight from the Screamadelica album. Hypnotone's second track was only previously released as a white label promotional 12-inch and is an extended version of the track that appeared on the A1 album, running in at about one minute longer, with the introduction to the song drawn out. 'Dreaming' (single 104) is Stephen Duffy and Hypnotone in perfect harmony from the Astronauts album, and 'Play The World' is lifted straight off the Area Code 212 compilation. 'Atlantis' also makes it to an album for the first time, a female vocal over dinking piano and attacking keyboards.

CRE 116
Love Corporation - Intelligentsia

1) Translucent
2) Don't Fight It, Flaunt It
3) Twilight In Babylon
4) Cathedrals Of Glitter
5) And Then We'll Have World Peace
6) Unconditional Love's Going Out Of Fashion
7) The Majesty of Melancholia
8) Beware The Tranquil Trap
9) Mind Gangsters
10) Your Mama Don't Dance And Your Daddy Don't Acid House
11) What Price Art?
12) Translucence

•••

The third, and final, dance album in this sequence again came courtesy of Ed Ball as Love Corporation. Remarkably, this was Ball's tenth album for Creation (eleventh including the retrospective), meaning that he had accounted for 9.5% of Creation's entire album output. Having not been signed to the label in the early days this figure moves up to 14% of albums released since his debut Beat Torture and over 16% of all newly recorded releases since that time! As for this release, the opening of Intelligentsia is not just good it is stunning as Ball finally seems to have learned to cut the length of his songs and not overfill them with samples. 'Translucent' has a great vocal from Denise Johnson, with some impressive scat singing, and the groovy 'Don't Fight It, Flaunt It' follows on with juggling organ and harmonic vocals. 'Twilight In Babylon' creates a very nice dub ambience, and 'Cathedrals Of Glitter' sees Ball playing the organ with exuberance and freedom before implementing a fresh piano break. Top Stuff. The jungle beats of 'And Then We'll Have World Peace' are alright, but then the record sadly begins to tail off. 'The Majesty Of Melancholia' sounds like My Bloody Valentine playing fairground music and is the first to drift over five minutes, and 'Beware The Tranqui Trap''s PiL-like bass rumbles on for a needless eight minutes. The glory of the early tracks is never recaptured and this is a pity as Intelligentsia could have been a very special record.

CRE 117
Various Artists - Sorted, Snorted And Sported

1) Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun
2) Love Corporation - Give Me Some Love
3) My Bloody Valentine - Honeypower
4) The Telescopes - Flying
5) Slowdive - Shine
6) Peter Astor - Streets Of Lights
7) The Times - Lundi Bleu
8) Hypnotone - Yu-Yu
9) Swervedriver - Laze It Up
10) Teenage Fanclub - Starsign

•••

Sometimes it appeared amazing that Creation sold any records at all, as the apparent lack of care taken over their releases was bewildering. The new various artists compilation from the label had three tracks simply transferred from Keeping The Faith Again on to the new disc: Primal Scream's 'Higher Than The Sun (A Dub Symphony In Two Parts)' featuring Jah Wobble, Love Corporation's epic 'Give Me Some Love' and Hypnotone's 'Yu-Yu'. Anybody who bought both records, then, was immediately penalised. Of the other seven tracks, six were single releases or EP tracks, and one was an album track, Peter Astor's 'Street Of Lights', one of the better numbers on his maudlin Zoo album. Of the singles, The Telescopes contributed the psychedelic 'Flying' (single 108), and also included was an edited version of 'Lundi Bleu' by The Times (single 114). Teenage Fanclub's unremarkable 'Star Sign' (single 105) also made the mix along with three tracks taken off EPs. 'Honeypower' is one of the best moments on My Bloody Valentine's 'Tremolo' EP (single 85) with raucous bursts of guitar interspersed with an unusually upfront vocal from Bilinda Butcher. 'Shine' is taken from Slowdive's 'Holding Our Breath' EP (single 112) and features a Rachel Goswell vocal embedded in soft waves of guitar distortion that sweep over you to the accompaniment of a gentle, but insistent, rhythm. Swervedriver's 'Laze it Up' is from the 'Sandblasted' EP (single 102), a slow, throbbing number with the usual big guitars and a (naturally) lethargic vocal. A typical Creation compilation: some good moments, some not so good, and a slightly confusing choice of material. And what is that cover all about?

CRE 118
Silverfish - Organ Fan

1) This Bug
2) Mary Brown
3) Suckin' Gas
4) Petal
5) Fuckin' Strange Way To Get Attention
6) Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal
7) Elvis Leg
8) Dechainee
9) Scrub Me Mama With That Boogie Beat
10) Rock On
11) Joos

••••

Noise terrorists Silverfish had already released two EPs, 'Dolly Parton' (1989) and 'TFA' (1990) on Wiija, and an album Fat Axl (1991) on Southern before they were snapped up by Creation in 1992. Fronted by the fearsome Lesley Rankine, who was famously recruited by the band when they saw her being thrown out of a Terminal Cheesecake show for starting a fight, Silverfish pioneered a brutal punk-metal noise that was dubbed the 'Camden Lurch' by the media. Their debut for Creation was prefaced by an EP 'Fucking Driving Or What' (single 113) the lead track of which, 'Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal', gained certain publicity when Madonna was spotted wearing a t-shirt spelling out the song's 'Hips, Lips, Tits, Power' refrain. It's a top tune with punishing guitars and a powerful vocal, and Organ Fan follows in the same vein. Some of the tracks, such as 'This Bug', are more straightforward heavy rockers; some, such as 'Mary Brown', are more chaotic with crazed guitars and Birthday Party deconstruction; and others, such as 'Suckin' Gas' are fast and furiously hardcore. It's all pretty decent, if not easy listening, and other highlights include a brilliant cover of David Essex's 'Rock On', and 'Joos' with its razor guitars, Bond theme trumpets and whirlwind chorus. Produced by the legendary Jim Thirlwell, this is a monster of a record and ultimately very satisfying, and where else could you find a lyric such as 'Bo Bo Diddley / Was he ever so wiggly?" Class.

CRE 119
Razorcuts - Patterns On The Water

1) I Heard You The First Time
2) Brighter Now
3) The World Keeps Turning
4) Snowbird's Don't Fly
5) First Day
6) Snowbound
7) Storyteller
8) Eight Times Around The World
9) The Last Picture Show
10) I Won't Let You Down
11) A Contract With God
12) Change
13) A Is For Alphabet

•••

14) Mary Day

The retrospective from the Razorcuts was a little more interesting than usual as it contained six tracks that had been released by other labels before the band signed for Creation. All four tracks from Flying Nun's 1987-released 'I Heard You The First Time' EP were included, along with two tracks from the earlier Subway days, 'Snowbirds Don't Fly' and 'Mary Day', both of which were taken from the 1986 'Sorry To Embarass You' 12-inch single. Though it is interesting to see how the band developed over the years, it is clear that Razorcuts improved with every release, and who knows what they would have been capable of if they had continued after the stunning The World Keeps Turning album. As it is the Subway songs have little of the substance of the later numbers, the vocals certainly are far weaker and a bit insipid, though the combination of bass, acoustic and lead on 'Snowbirds Don't Fly' is terrific. The Flying Nun tracks show a marked improvement and capture more of the band's expressive later sound. 'I Heard You The First Time' is the best of them with lovely guitar and stronger vocals; 'First Day' is a little strained; 'Eight Times Around The World' is evocative; and 'A Is For Alphabet' is a pleasant enough jangle though the vocal is again a little dodgy. Add these to four tracks from Storyteller and four from The World Keeps Turning and this is a release worth looking into.

CRE 120
The Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever

1) Spaniard
2) Towards The Light
3) Losing It (Song For Abigail)
4) Memory Babe
5) Skyscraper
6) I Feel Nothing
7) Room At The Top
8) Does This Hurt?
9) Sparrow
10) Smile Fades Fast
11) Firesky
12) Song For The Morning To Sing
13) Lazy Day

•••••

14) Paradise

Creation continued to sign major new talent as they snapped up The Boo Radleys following the collapse of the Rough Trade label in 1991. The band had released their debut album, Ichabod And I on the local Action label in 1990 and had followed this up with a Rough Trade EP the following year, with their first releases for Creation being the 'Adrenaline' EP (single 124), and the 'Boo Forever' EP (single 128). Both the lead tracks from those releases were included on Everything's Alright Forever, 'Lazy Day' an infectious, noisy jaunt with glorious guitars and all over in one and half minutes, and 'Does This Hurt?' a rocky, umptemo number with a more upfront vocal than is usual on this album, and full of startling guitars. It is a sign of songwriter Martin Carr's confidence that he doesn't feel the need to drag songs out for no reason and there are a few on the album coming in at under two minutes, yet having a huge impact. 'Towards The Light' is one, with heavy guitar effects swamping Simon Rowbottom's gentle vocal, and is quite excellent. With the songs written by the band's guitarist, the vocals often take second stage, but 'Smile Fades Fast' has the best written vocal that feels a part of the song and actually leads the noise that builds around it. The album's opener, 'Spaniard', is another highlight, a gentle, muted number with a suitably soft vocal and ending with a serenade of Spanish trumpets. It doesn't all work so well, but this is a terrific album written by a man focusing on melody, craftsmanship and exploration, and it is a journey well worth taking.

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