Creation-17

Creation Records

Albums 161-170

Rating Key

••••••

CRE 161
Conspiracy Of Noise - Chicks With Dicks And Splatter Flicks

1) Losing My Grip
2) Business Is Business
3) Content And Contempt
4) Jerk Off
5) Hurt
6) Henry
7) I'd Love To Plug You In
8) F.L.D.
9) Young, Dumb And Full Of Cum
10) E:meriker

••••

There truly are no limits to Ed Ball's contributions to Creation Records, and here he unleashes another of the strangest records the label ever released, a howling beast of a Brit-core (or grind-core) album put together with the help of Phil Vane of Ipswich's Extreme Noise Terror. And in all honesty, it's really rather good. From a rather slow build up, 'Losing My Grip' explodes into action and you can then settle down to enjoy half an hour of relentless aural assaults that can't fail to bring a smile to your face. Vane is a class act, singing like a husky dalek with a sore throat, and Ball's musical constructions, imbued with some decent sampling, complement his voice admirably. There are plenty of highlights, but 'Henry' with its repeated scream of 'Death!' as guitars crash and soar and the rhythm section pounds away relentlessly is really rather splendid, especially when Vane explodes in a violent fit two-thirds of the way through. Occasionally things get a little repetitive, but other moments sounds like the Osmonds on really bad acid and you can't say better than that.

CRE 162
Dread Zone - 360 Degrees

1) House Of Dread
2) L.O.V.E.
3) Chinese Ghost Story
4) Good The Bad And The Dread
5) The Warning
6) Far Encounter
7) Skeleton At The Feast
8) Dream On
9) Rastafarout

•••

A bit of a coup for Creation, this one, releasing the first recordings of a band put together in 1993 by former Big Audio Dynamite drummer Greg Roberts and Tim Bran, who had previously worked as both musician and sound engineer for Julian Cope. Given their name by Don Letts, Dread Zone (two words at this stage of their career) produced an eclectic sound, heavily dub and reggae influenced electronica incorporating more classical rock sounds and a sprinkling of samples. Running for nearly an hour, the album was released on both vinyl and on CD, though the sound quality of the vinyl was criticised by DJs for being poor as there was simply too much music squeezed in. The CD was housed in a curious plastic case with the artwork stuck on as a label, the only time Creation produced something like this. The Rocky sampling 'The Warning' featuring vocals from All Saint Melanie Blatt was released as a single (single 160) and like the album attracted a lot of airplay from John Peel. Elsewhere 'The Good The Bad And The Dread' is a lovely techno-reggae fusion of Ennio Morricone's music for A Few Dollars More, sampling Charles Bronson in Once Upon A Time In The West, and the shimmering 'Dream On' is another major highlight.

CRE 163
Hollyfaith - Purrr

1) Bliss
2) Who Is You
3) Delicacies
4) Watching, Waiting, Turning
5) Zero
6) Voodoo Doll
7) Whatsamatta
8) Whirlwind
9) Color Of Blood
10) Needs

••

The positive reaction to 1991's Chameleon had underlined the huge success of Atlanta quartet Hollyfaith on the Southern touring circuit in America, their songs driven by huge riffs from guitarist Kevin Morrison and highlighted by the effective growl of vocalist Ron Aldridge. With the band much fancied to move on to bigger things, Creation took up the option of releasing the follow-up album Purrr in the UK, despite the fact it was far from standard fare for the label. Disappointingly, Purrr was a huge let-down, lacking life, enthusiasm and innovation and sounding like a pretty average rock 'n' roll album. Whether due to the production of Don Fleming, or the band's lack of spark, many of the tracks sound insipid and tired and ultimately the album represents yet another failed foreign adventure for Creation. It's not all dreadful as 'Delicacies' has some guts, 'Color Of Blood' fizzes along nicely, and the ballad 'Needs' all pulls together in the right direction. 'Bliss', another of the better tracks, was released as a single (single 116), but made as much impact as a sneeze in a wind tunnel.

CRE 164
18 Wheeler - Twin Action

1) Sweet Tooth
2) Nature Girl
3) Kum Back
4) Golden Candles
5) The Revealer
6) Honey Mink
7) Gram
8) Prock Shake
9) Hotel 167
10) Suncrush
11) Frosty Hands
12) Life Is Strange
13) I Won't Let You Down

•••

14) Wet Dream

It must be frustrating for 18 Wheeler that they have gone down in history as the band Oasis were supporting when they were first noticed by Creation boss Alan McGee at King Tuts in Glasgow in 1993 rather than for any of their own musical efforts. Indeed, they came in for some pretty savage criticism from the music press throughout their existence for being too generic or simply being not very good. There is probably some truth in the former for 18 Wheeler were the sort of band who would have suited Creation down to the ground in their early days: Scottish guitar merchants with a retro feel to their music who weren't afraid to parade their love of Big Star, the Beach Boys and Gram Parsons. But on this, their debut album, there are some promising moments along with some pretty amateurish ones. The label obviously had faith in them, releasing two singles from the album, with 'Kum Back' (single 148) and 'The Revealer' (single 188) both pretty sprightly with some nice guitar work. 'Nature Girl' and 'Suncrush' had also been released as singles by Creation offshoot label August Records, with 18 Wheeler being the only act from their roster eventually to move on to the parent label

CRE 165
Adorable - Fake

1) Feed Me
2) Vendetta
3) Man In A Suitcase
4) Submarine
5) Lettergo
6) Kangaroo Court
7) Radio Days
8) Go Easy On Her
9) Road Movie
10) Have You Seen The Light

••••

Creation had expected Adorable to burst on the scene like the new Sex Pistols, but despite admiration for their early releases, the band had made few friends through their perceived arrogance and this had led to growing tensions between the band and label, and within the band itself. Singer Piotr Fijalkowski later admited in an interview with Select, "I should have kept my mouth shut. Our mouths turned out to be our Achilles' heel," and agreed things were already on a downward spiral when the second album Fake was released in September 1994. More introspective and less gloriously confident than its predecessor, the record is not helped by an annoying, muggy production, but most of Fake is still bloody good: meaty, raucous and intelligent. It was a sign of a band in retreat that the first single 'Kangeroo Court' (single 172) hit out at the music press, complaining, "Every single word that I said was written down and then misread. Now I find myself alone. I'm accused of being someone that I do not even know." And 'Vendetta' (single 177) seemed to echo this belief, "I'm uncertain but one thing's for certain: you're going to use these words against me." Both prospered in the indie charts, but neither made the national charts, nor did Fake which was originally released with a giveaway seven-inch single, and Adorable broke up on stage in Brussels later that year. Which was a shame as both albums are well worth a listen.

CRE 166
Ruby - Salt Peter

1) Flippin' Tha Bird
2) Salt Water Fish
3) Heidi
4) Tiny Meat
5) Paraffin
6) Hoops
7) Pine
8) Swallow Baby
9) The Whole Is Equal To The Sum Of Its Parts
10) Bud
11) Carondelet

•••

Abandoning Silverfish for Ruby and London for Seattle in 1993, November 1995's Salt Peter marked a major change in direction for Leslie Rankine. The ferocious aural assault of her previous work is here swapped for a far more gentle trip-hop experience created almost entirely on computers in cahoots with producer Mark Walk whom she had first met when working with Pigface. Explaining the change, Rankine said, "I didn't use a band on this record because I honestly believe that I was not put on this earth to share my life with a bunch of other people." Basing their new sound around drum loops, repetitive bass lines and electronic effects there is room here for Rankine for sing and the quality of her voice is one of the highlights of the album. She is especially good in the opening track, the inventive and complex 'Flippin' Tha Bird' where she sounds almost soulful but the new style has not made her any softer as she proclaims, "I laugh when you die ... and I scream because I want to." Creation took three tracks to use as singles, the lilting 'Paraffin' (single 165), the driving 'Tiny Meat' (single 173) and the buzzing 'Hoops' (single 227). Despite some promotion and double CD releases, none made an impact on the charts, though the label was impressed enough to follow the main release with an album of remixes. Some interesting stuff here.

CRE 166R
Ruby - Salt Peter Remixed (Revenge, The Sweetest Fruit)

1) Flippin' Tha Bird
2) Salt Water Fish
3) Heidi
4) Paraffin
5) Hoops
6) Tiny Meat
7) Heidi
8) Swallow Baby
9) The Whole Is Equal To The Sum Of Its Parts
10) Bud
11) Carondelet

•••

Following hard on the heels of the original album was a remix version, sub-titled 'Revenge, the Sweetest Fruit'. Track one was taken on by Ceasefire; track two was remixed by DJ Peshay; track three by the Scream Team; track four by Red Snapper; track five by Da Lata; track six by the Monkey Mafia; track seven by STS; track eight by Tim Brown; track nine by Fila Brasilia; track ten by Rootless and track eleven by Karen Parker and David Harrow. As is common with remix albums, you tend to lose the spirit of the original in return for more danceability and this is good or bad depending on your outlook on life. The better moments are 'Flippin' Tha Bird' which takes on a harder, dubbier edge, a slightly submerged but effective 'Paraffin', a vigorous reworking of 'Hoops', and a nicely deconstructed 'Swallow Baby'. The worst moments are an interminable 'Salt Water Fish', an unrecognisable 'Tiny Meat', a dull, plodding 'Bud' and an annoyingly bitty 'Carondelet'. Flip of a coin, this one.

CRE 167
Sand -Guitarchestra
Unreleased

CRE 168
Slowdive - Pygmalion

1) Rutti
2) Crazy For You
3) Miranda
4) Trellisaze
5) Cello
6) J's Heaven
7) Visions Of LA
8) Blue Skied An' Clear
9) All Of Us

••

The third and final album from Slowdive was released in February 1995 and made virtually no impact as musical tastes had sheered away from the abstract to more classical guitar sounds. Not that Pygmalion followed in the pattern of the band's previous two albums, losing the warmth of the customary dreamy guitars and the ethereal qualities that had made some of their recordings so uplifting. These were replaced by a colder, minimalistic sound, still layered in effects, but lacking beauty. Indeed any attractiveness is hard to find. The album opens with the blank, plodding 'Rutti' that begins to grate hardly before it has started but drags on for ten minutes and 'Crazy For You' fails to lift the atmosphere. The Rachel Goswell sung 'Miranda' nicely echoes Dead Can Dance but is annoyingly overcome by Space Invaders and the ambient 'Trellisaze' only serves to give you a headache. Goswell's second song, 'Visions Of LA' is a more straightforward acoustic number but fails to break two minutes, while Neil Halstead's best vocal is 'Blue Skied An' Clear' which harks back to the older Slowdive sound with some grace. 'All Of Us' is a fittingly sombre conclusion to the recorded works of a band that once seemed to have so much to offer.

CRE 169
Oasis - Definitely Maybe

1) Rock 'n' Roll Star
2) Shakermaker
3) Live Forever
4) Up In The Sky
5) Columbia
6) Sad Song
7) Supersonic
8) Bring It On Down
9) Cigarettes & Alcohol
10) Digsy's Dinner
11) Slide Away
12) Married with Children

•••••

What can you say about Definitely Maybe which has gone on to become one of the most famous debut albums in history? Released in August 1994 it simply caught the mood of a nation, storming straight to number one, becoming the fastest selling debut album of all time, and going platinum seven times. It was rightly feted for its sheer optimism in a musical landscape dominated by the downbeat though it was probably a little over the top when the NME named it as the greatest album of all time in 1996. The record took Creation into a different league, wiping out their considerable debts and catapulting them into the big time. They were certainly eager to cash in, releasing four singles in 'Supersonic' (single 176), 'Shakermaker' (single 182), 'Live Forever' (single 185) and 'Cigarettes And Alcohol' (single 190), all of which charted, the latter two breaking into the top ten. It is difficult not to admire Noel Gallagher's songwriting skills: he simply absorbs a myriad of influences and moulds them into joyous anthems that brush all doubts aside with brash assurance. It's all good and there isn't much more to say.

CRE 170
The Cramps - Flame Job

1) Mean Machine
2) Ultra Twist
3) Let's Get F*cked Up
4) Nest Of The Cuckoo Bird
5) I'm Customized
6) Sado Country Auto Show
7) Naked Girl Falling Down The Stairs
8) How Come You Do Me?
9) Inside Out And Upside Down (With You)
10) Trapped Love
11) Swing The Big Eyed Rabbit
12) Strange Love
13) Blues Blues Blues

•••

14) Sinners
15) Route 66 (Get Your Kicks On

It's probably easy to understimate the popularity of the Cramps, especially in Britain, as they seemed to be a constant in the musical landscape from their rise to prominence in the late 1970s until the sad death of mainman Lux Interior in 2009. It was never a popularity that reflected in record sales as they only twice bothered the singles chart, their best effort being the fantastically-picture covered 'Bikini Girls with Machine Guns' which made it to No.35 in February 1990, but this was band who could sell out six dates at Hammersmith on one tour, three at the Odeon and three at the Palais, so can never be dismissed as merely a novelty act. This, their eleventh album, was released by Creation in October 1994 and, of course, offered little new to the 'psychobilly' genre, rock 'n' roll songs with many double entendres and Interior singing along like a cheap horror movie version of Gene Vincent. It's big time party music and only a churl would fail to enjoy it. Two singles were taken from the album, the atmospheric 'Ultra Twist' (single 180) and the brilliantly-titled 'Naked Girl Falling Down The Stairs' (single 196). The album is worth having for 'Swing The Big Eyed Rabbit' alone, a real monster of a song, but there is a lot more to enjoy here.

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