Creation Records



Albums 241-250

Rating Key

••••••

CRE 241
Oasis - The Masterplan

1) Acquiesce
2) Underneath The Sky
3) Talk Tonight
4) Going Nowhere
5) Fade Away
6) The Swamp Song
7) I Am The Walrus (Live)
8) Listen Up
9) Rockin' Chair
10) Half The World Away
11) (It's Good) To Be Free
12) Stay Young
13) Headshrinker

••••

14) The Masterplan

Some bands care little about the quality of their b-sides or whether they have been previously available, but fortunately Oasis were not one of these. Indeed, most of the tracks they recorded for this purpose were no less impressive than their a-sides and album tracks and, as a collection of these relatively obscure numbers, The Masterplan ranks among the better albums the band ever released. Opening with the towering 'Acquiesce', which was a damn sight finer than its accompanying a-side 'Some Might Say', you get a huge hint as to the class of these recordings and there is very little dip in standard as we are presented with three tracks from 'Some Might Say' and 'Cigarettes & Alcohol', two from 'Wonderwall' and 'Whatever', and one each from 'Don't Look Back In Anger', 'Stand By Me', 'Roll With It' and 'D'You Know What I Mean'. There is a pleasing range of contrasting styles with the uncomplicated 'Going Nowhere', one of the band's earliest songs (which wasn't recorded until after Be Here Now was released) looking forward to the trappings of fame with the plea of, "I could do with a motor car / Maybe a Jaguar or a plane," while the storming punk rock of 'Fade Away' is lyrically more reticent lamenting that "the dreams we have as children fade away." 'I Am The Walrus' is a cracking live take of the Beatles' most psychedelic moment with some fine guitar moments, while 'Talk Tonight' is a thoughtful acoustic number and 'Headshrinker' a veritable tornado which leads into the gorgeous closing track 'The Masterplan' from the 'Wonderwall' EP, replete with strings and one of Noel Gallagher's most inventive guitar solos. Vinyl versions of the album are tricky to find and include a double gatefold twelve-inch release and a box set of seven ten-inch singles which is generally ludicrously overpriced by sellers. Over an hour of music here and it's well worth getting hold of.

CRE 242
Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla

0) Citizen's Band
1) Check It Out
2) Do Or Die
3) The Turning Tide
4) Northern Lites
5) Night Vision
6) Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)
7) A Specific Ocean
8) Some Things Come From Nothing
9) The Door To This House Remains Open
10) The Teacher
11) Fire In My Heart
12) The Sound Of Life Today

••••

13) Chewing Chewing Gum
14) Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy

The third studio album from the Super Furry Animals was released in June 1990 to generally favourable reviews, and reached No.10 in the UK albums chart. With regular producer Gorwel Owen unable to oversee proceedings, the band opted to go ahead on their own and recorded some twenty-five songs at the Real World Studios in Wiltshire before whittling the collection down to fourteen named tracks they believed would combine to form a commerical pop album capable of challenging the mainstream. Of course, they ended up with nothing of the sort, with Guerrilla as eclectic and tinged with glorious madness as all of the band's other releases. Eschewing guitar tracks in favour of uptempo numbers dominated by keyboards and samples, Guerrilla often sounds colder than the band's usual output and is possibly harder to love as much, but there is still enough here to bring a smile to your face on a winter's night, not least the three tracks lifted by Creation as singles. 'Northern Lites' (single 314), with its Latin horns and rhythms, stormed to No.11 in the singles chart, the highest position the band was ever to reach, while the brilliant, slow-paced 'Fire In Your Heart' (single 323), with its fantastic 60s harmonies, made it to No.25. The band's final Creation release 'Do Or Die' (single 329), a two-minute storm, reached No.20. Add to these the madly see-sawing 'Night Vision', the stomping 'Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy' and 'The Teacher', driven along by big guitars until overwhelmed by insanity, and there is the basis of a very fine album here despite a group of short, needless instrumentals and the novelty (i.e. annoying), looping 'Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)'. The CD release came with two hidden tracks, 'Citizen's Band' is at the very start of the album and can only be accessed by winding back from the beginning of track one, while a six second reprise of 'Chewing Chewing Gum' comes in at 10:19 of the album's closer. The former was apparently hidden as it didn't fit in with the overall sound of the album, though it it is another fine track, reminiscent in places of the band's debut Creation single 'Hometown Unicorn'. The CD version of Guerrilla was also released in a limited edition, fold-out hardback book format with the disc housed in a concertina-effect pocket.

CRE 243
Rackit - Album
Unreleased

CRE 244
Mishka - Mishka

A lot of people felt the writing was on the wall for Creation when Alan McGee returned from a holiday in the Caribbean having signed up local windsurfer, part-time singer and white rastafarian Alexander Mishka Frith to his label. The creator of a series of gently reggae-tinged pop songs, this was so far away from Creation's usual fare that it appeared the final nail in the coffin had been hammered home, with a once-groundbreaking label now appearing content to release anything in order to gain even a measure of commercial success. The ten tracks here are certainly harmless enough, and definitely radio friendly, with the debut single, the plaintive 'Give You All The Love' (single 311), spending two weeks in the charts in May 1999 and making it to number 34. This was followed by the lightly bubbling 'Lonely' (single 321) which did not meet with quite the same success. However, Creation had invested heavily in promoting these releases and their failure to set the charts alight was not only a surprise to McGee, but a major blow to Creation's hopes of repositioning itself as a more diverse, transatlatic label. Both singles had been released as two CDs and well as on seven inch vinyl and the 48-minute album was released in a limited edition, fold out card sleeve, as well as the standard CD issue. There was no vinyl release. Of course, it is difficult to rate a record such as this; it is fine for what it is, but what it is is not fine for Creation Records or most of their followers. Better than a poke in the eye with sharp stick, but not a lot.

CRE 245
One Lady Owner - There's Only We

1) Weird Dream
2) Wheelkings 1973
3) I Haven't Been To San Francisco
4) Cathode Queen
5) Police Car Sex
6) MPH Is Everything
7) Planet XXX
8) Car Crash
9) Trick Chest
10) Blue Chrome Zoo
11) I Do Need You



••

CRE 247
Unreleased

CRE 248
Bernard Butler - Friends And Lovers

1) Friends & Lovers
2) I'd Do It Again If I Could
3) Cocoon
4) Smile
5) You Must Go On
6) No Easy Way Out
7) Everyone I Know Is Falling Apart
8) What Happened To Me
9) Let's Go Away
10) Precious
11) Has Your Mind Got Away
12) You'll Feel It When You're Mine


••••

Some eighteen months after releasing his debut solo album, Bernard Butler followed it up in October 1999 with the 50-minute Friends And Lovers which offered a completely different sound. Though written and produced by Butler again, he left himself with less to do on the playing side, allowing him to focus more on his guitar and the instrument plays a much greater role. Thankfully, the country elements to the music are abandoned, though out and out rockers remain an exception and this is a shame as when he does let go, Butler makes a hell of a decent noise. 'I'd Do It Again If I Could' is the prime example, and the highlight of the whole album, churning along on a big blues riff with a decent solo built on a nice Doors organ break. Vocally, Butler even manages to sound a bit like Liam Gallagher, and his voice throughout is stronger and more confident than on People Move On, something underlined by his performance on the slower numbers such as 'Cocoon', 'Everyone I Know Is Falling Apart' and 'Precious'. Elsewhere, 'You'll Feel It When You're Mine' is almost jaunty, and 'Has Your Mind Got Away', the only track much over four minutes (another improvement), sees Butler in his best Pink Floyd mode, constructing a mildly psychedelic epic with a pretty fine Gilmour guitar break. Creation continued to throw their weight behind the artist, with 1,000 ten-inch picture discs of 'Friends & Lovers' (single 302) given away through Butler's website and a similar seven-inch picture disc in a foldout pvc sleeve helping to promote 'You Must Go' (single 324). The former is a classicly-structured, clean number with a decent riff which could have benefited with a longer guitar break, whilst the latter is almost joyful and breezes along to a terrific guitar backing. Unfortunately for Butler, the album was released shortly before the closure of Creation Records and the singer's promotional UK tour had to be cancelled, with the somewhat stranded album failing to break into the charts.

CRE 249
Various Artists - Whatever Soundtrack

1) The Pretenders - Mystery Achievement
2) The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
3) David Bowie - Janine
4) Patti Smith - Dancing Barefoot
5) Rush - Tom Sawyer
6) Blondie - The Hardest Part
7) The Jam - In The City
8) Iggy Pop - Gimmie Danger (sic)
9) The Cramps - What's Inside A Girl
10) Siouxsie & The Banshees - Playground Twist
11) The Ramones - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
12) Aimee Mann - I Should've Known


•••

What was left for Creation apart from film soundtracks? Whatever is a 1998 film, the debut feature from director Susan Skoog, which is set in New Jersey in 1981 and is a coming-of-age tale from the sexually liberated era before the fear of AIDS set in. Liza Weil stars as aspiring painter Anna Stockard who wants to escape the confines of her poor home life through winning a scholarship to a presitgious art school. Her plans fall into disarray through her growing attachment to the wrong crowd who lead her into a life of partying, drinking, trouble and sex, causing her studies to falter and throwing her chances of a successful future into doubt. The most noticeable thing about the film is its soundtrack featuring a huge array of top artists, the royalties for the use of which reportedly took up over half Skoog's filming budget. It's easy to see the attraction for Creation in releasing a record featuring Blondie, Siouxsie, The Jam, David Bowie and The Ramones, even if was just for the prestige. Certainly the film made no great waves at the box office and doesn't appear to be available on DVD today. The songs themselves are all pretty familiar: Blondie's is taken from the Eat To The Beat album, Bowie's is from Space Oddity, The Ramones' are from the fourth album Road To Ruin and the first album Ramones respectively, The Jam's was their debut single, Siouxsie's was also an early single, Patti Smith's was from Wave, The Pretenders' from their debut album, Iggy's was from Raw Power, and the Cramps' was from A Date With Elvis. There were also tracks from Rush and Aimee Mann. Heard together they make a curious, if not unpleasant, mixture and a few of them are very fine records indeed.

CRE 250
Le Tone - Le Petit Nabab

1) Intro
2) Joli Dragon
3) La Biche Égarée
4) Expression Du Domaine De La Lutte
5) 7th Floor
6) Mauvaise Graine
7) Pietrafitta
8) S
9) Is It Love
10) Avenue Permentier 8pm
11) Rocky VII
12) The Ray Cup Racing
13) Bitter Crop

••

14) Lessivé

Creation's last dance record was another oddity, being a collection of tunes pieced together by Paris-based electronica experimenter Tone. After three years of developing his own style of music, Le Petit Nabab was released in 1999 and met with some success in the UK and Australia. In general, this is a collection of samples, weird noises, bleeps and blips, and occasional female vocals set against gentle dance beats. Of course, it is as irritating as hell, seemingly sparing no effort to discover more squeaky, high pitched noises to perforate your eardrums and give you a storming headache. And it is doubly irritating as it is so obviously pleased with itself it is a little surprising it didn't arrive with its own smugometer. We can't imagine where this stuff went down well, but there was obviously demand for it, and the drugs at that place must have been very special indeed. This is electronica for children's holiday camp entertainers and that they dared sample Billie Holliday on one track is an insult almost too much to bear. One single was released from the album, the stickily happy 'Joli Dragon' (single 320) with vocals from Judith. We hope it wasn't the peak of her career. Horrible.

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