Customer Reviews

Our Music Is Red-With Purple Flashes

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The Creation was an excellent, excellent band! It's a shame they never managed to keep it together. Comparisons to the Kinks and Who are both accurate and unfair. Because they had the same producer (Shel Talmy) as the early Who and Kinks, their sound is similar, but the Creation is distinct enough to be uniquely their own.

And the music is incredibly memorable! I had never heard of the Creation before, and saw them locally on a whim. I wanted to get their CD immediately, but held off for about a month. It is amazing how many songs I recognized from their concert, having only heard them once!

There really isn't a bad song on the CD, save for a few poorly chosen covers ("Mercy, Mercy," "Hey Joe"), and one could almost hear the evolution and emergence of a great band, had they stuck it out.

As sad as it is that this band had such a brief recording career, what's even more tragic is how virtually unknown they are. Surely, they were as good as any other band in the mid-sixties, and deserve to be part of classic rock stations' play list as much as the Zombies, the Animals, and any other of the lesser British Invasion bands.

If you like the Kinks and Who circa 1966-67, then you need to include the Creation into your collection. They're that good!

If you like mid '60s garage, freakbeat, Mod, British Invasion stuff, get this. Its something of a must have for aficionados of '60s mod rock. I've been in many bands that covered Creation songs and really feel at home with much of this material. Most people will recognize "Making Time" from the movie Rushmore.
Not every song works but there are enough good ones to merit the price. It has the first use of a bowed guitar, before Jimmy Page even. Lots o fun.

If you're a HUGE Creation fan, look no further: this collection gathers all the recorded output of the late 60s U.K. "freakbeat" (insider record fan genre that basically means power pop with psych touches) band in 1 disc. As an extra, you also get rare singles "Ostrich Man" and "Sweet Helen".

The band did innovate in its guitarist's use of viola bow to play and the use of "paint bombs" in their onstage performances. Performance art, though, translates to video and DVD...not CDs. What they'll be judged on HERE is their music.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Making Time" comes charging out of the gate with an insistent riff. The Who-like "Painter Man" details the saga of an art school grad who discovers no ones cares about his work. (That is, until he begins to draw nude postcards.) "Try and Stop Me" is in the Hollies mode..a nifty pop nugget, while "Can I Join Your Band?" is a witty Brit version of "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star" featuring this lyrical gem: "Can I join your band?/My new guitar/my coat is suede...I'm a hippie guy/Always stoned and 8 miles high."

LOWS:
The biggest curse of albums of this vintage is a profusion of cover songs to pad out albums. Often, this was done without regard to whether the tunes fit the band well. On here, the most egregious examples are the pallid remake of "Like a Rolling Stone" and the limp "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" which won't have anyone getting rid of their Buckinghams CD.

BOTTOM LINE:
Diehard 60s "acid/garage rock" heads will probably find this a must but for the rest of us, it's hit and miss. If you find it in a bargain bin (as I did), definitely get it...the great stuff is worth having. But do NOT pay the hefty import price.

This collection of the short lasting , British , not to mention Brilliant, mid 60's garage group,"The Creation", are by far one of the great unknown legends of rock n roll. With over 20 tracks of melodic ,acidic, arangements with eye brow raising lyrics, "Our Music is Red with Purple Flashes" is by far my favorite album at the moment. The Creation could of easily been taken into high acclaim in the mid to late 60's ,alike The Who The Yardbirds,The Pink Floyd(with Syd Barret not the overated Dave) and The Animals, they were unknown and brilliant which is why buying this album is a really great idea, if your into the eary 60's garage sound, and the sort of "pyscadellic" phase, buy this!!!!! My favorite tracks include, "Making Time" (currently famous from the soundtrack of Wes Anderson's Rushmore)
"life is just begining" , "painter man" (later coverd by The Television personalties, along with making time) "The girls are naked and they dance"

Aside from the Small Faces, the best band of the Sixties. Anyone enjoying this comp should check out the Idle Race, a similarly amazing group from the same time period.

The first Creation songs I heard were covers of "Making Time" and "Painter Man" performed by Television Personalities. Then, when I heard the Creation version of "Making Time" on the Rushmore soundtrack, I decided to get this collection. I'm very glad that I did. This band really rivals the Who for mod/power-pop aggression. If you like 60's pop, I definitely recommend checking this one out!

If you've seen the movie Rushmore, you've already heard "Making Time." The choppy Kinkish riff, snarling vocals, and Who-style feedback make the song of one of the highlights of that film's soundtrack. I already knew the song from a cover version by Television Personalities (which appears, along with a cover of "Painter Man" on "They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles"), but it was the movie that made me actively search out this album. I was not at all disappointed. With this record, you have essentially the complete works of Creation (although true completists will probably want the two volume set). The band that they most closely resemble is The Who (ca. 1966-67)(in fact, the opening chords of "Biff Bang Pow!" sound a lot like the opening chords of "My Generation"). But Creation were no mere Who knock-off. Songs such as "Nightmares" and "For All That I Am" have a psychedlic feel that recalls Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd. The hard-edge pop of "How Does It Feel To Feel to Feel" and "Through My Eyes" augers the nihilistic agression of Punk (I've read that the Sex Pistols used to cover "Through My Eyes" - which is included on the soundtrack for The Filth & the Fury - and the Clash also used to cover Creation songs). The only major flaws are the lame covers of "Like A Rolling Stone" and "Hey Joe" (the latter, though, includes an unintentionally hilarious spoken word interlude that gives it a sort of camp value). Though the Creation don't quite reach the level of any of their British Invasion peers, this album is still a must for anyone interested in mid-sixties British pop.

Maybe I don't like the "purple flashes" part of it. Creation is a nice band, but there's very little POP in their pop. Still, this is a nice, affordable, convenient, summary collection and a good starter for the curious. I was curious and bit based on the overwhelming reviews written prior. But I've been disappointed. And here's why. Stack this up to any of the greatest hits of the Who and the Small Faces, and with the exception of "Making Time" (great garage rock riff), Creation comes in third every time. They lack Townshend's hooks, Moon's drumming or Marriott's soulful howls. The material is fairly dated -- it sounds very much in the mode of the Who's so-so "My Generation" or "A Quick One" albums, not altogether a BAD thing, but not CLASSIC. "Making Time" is a great tune, hands down ... some others of note: "If I Stay Too Long," "For All That I Am," and "How Does It Feel to Feel (US version)." The pop is nowhere near as hooky as the Who (or even the Move) and the R&B isn't as gritty as what's cranked out by the Small Faces. Good for collectors of the British Invasion, but ... I guess you had to be there (Creation apparently had wild, multi-media, pyrotechnic shows in the mid '60s).

This CD was from start to finish an awesome listen. I discovered the Creation's music playing in a thrift store in San Francisco, but held out on buying their music simply because I couldn't find it in any local record stores. Recently though I ordered it from Amazon and it has been in steady rotation in my stereo. If you love the sixties Kinks, Who, and that general mod sound from England, this band will not disappoint you. They had a lot going for them, so check 'em out.

These Shel Talmy produced gems are brilliant, and basically blow away the Kinks or Who from the same period. First, play "The Who Sings My Generation" and then pop in this mutha; you'll know instantly why Pete Townsend was their biggest fan. It wasn't until "Live At Leads" that the Who managed to capture the full fury of their sound on record, but the Creation had it all right here in 1966-- raw pop hooks woven around the slashing accents of Eddie Phillip's violin bow (nice try Mr. Page, but not even 'that' trick you used to do is original).

Put down Sgt. Peppers, The Who and Cream, and pick up "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" "SF Sorrow" and this compilation by The Creation to understand mid-sixties U.K. sike pop.