Customer Reviews

We Are Paintermen

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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this is an incredible peice of music history unknown to almost the entire american record buying public. very comparable with early who small faces and stones and is at the top of the 60's psychedelic/mod/garage heap. the creation were the first to use the violin bow on the guitar, as well as pioneering other musical endeavors such as feedback before hendrix refined and mastered the art of it and even supposedly using a baked potato against the strings(that legend has is was eaten afterward). making time is an absolutley incredible rock song that blew me away, as well as the rest of the album, notably how does it feel to feel, ostrich man...hell there's not a single song on the album that isn't rediculously great. i can't believe these boys aren't as well renowned as there contemporaries. it's a shame to think of the music they may have made if things went the way they should of for them.

First released in 1967, this looks to be the Creation's only full-length lp of all new songs. Guess the rest I've seen are compilations. Here, you get the album's twelve 'original' tunes, plus twelve bonus tracks of completely different songs. Very nice! Songs that's sure to keep this CD reissue in my current rotation stack for sometime are "Making Time", the awesome "Through My Eyes", Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone", "Can I Join Your Band", The Leave's "Hey Joe", "Biff Bang Pow", "I Am The Walker" and "Sweet Helen". Should draw in fans of The Action, early Who, Outsiders, Q 65 and Skip Bifferty. Essential British psychedelia. Need I say more? Most highly recommended.

The Creation had surprisingly little success, given the quality of these mid-60s sides. Fans of the early mod-styled Who will find The Creation in the same league, with the brashness of their guitar-and-drums comparing favorably to immortal singles like "I Can't Explain" and "I Can See for Miles." One need look no further than "Making Time," which lent its punchy intro and Daltrey-esque vocal to the film "Rushmore." No surprise that the Creation had such a gutsy recorded sound, given that Shel Talmy produced. The instrumental "Sylvette," which borrows its melodic center from "Too Many Fish in the Ocean" is another raving winner.

This is the ultimate shoulda-been band, with great vocals, powerful guitars and drums, and catchy in-band songwriting. They played garage mod, psych-heavy rock and highly electrified folk with both muscle and melody, and compared well with their contemporaries. One can only assume they were doomed by a confluence of inadequate distribution (they were on the indie Hit Ton label in the UK), line-up changes, and management that couldn't sustain commercial velocity. Listening to their catalog it's nearly impossible to imagine this band wasn't a huge, chart-topping success.

Repertoire's CD reproduces the band's sole LP (tracks 1-12) and adds a dozen extras for good measure - all mono. This is an excellent single-disc introduction to the band's short catalog (Edsel's "How Does it Feel to Feel?" is another great single disc view). The Retroactive label has issued a complete 2-CD set ("Making Time" and "Biff Bang Pow") that may be too much for some, but once you get a taste, you're likely to want everything they recorded. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

I found out about The Creation from an appearence they did on Beat Beat Beat (German TV version of American Bandstand)where the Bass player sang Painterman. But, I saw another version Painterman on Beat Club and that version just wowed me (and I thought the first show I saw was good)! I bought this CD because their music is the kind of music I dig. Oddly enough after buying it, my favorite song they did was Can I Join Your Band? - wish they'd done that one live!

Creation released this album after their sucess with the single Painter Man and it would get a four, however you no longer need this one with the release of Making Time And Biff Bang Pow Having all the essental tracks so it only gets a two.