"...Biff! Bang! Pow!"
Biff! Bang! Pow!
Like most obsessives, I
slavered over the artwork of singles and LPs as much as I bent my lugholes to
the grooves. And like every other bleary-eyed 20-year old I knew in late 1978
(swept up by British Punk and New Wave), we were gawking at The Jam's "All
Mod Cons" album on Polydor Records in all its Modtastic glory looking for
secret-signs of wisdom from our new Gods – pointers on our path towards Rock
Redemption and away from the sinful ways of crooners like Andy Williams and Val
Doonican (I still feel that elicit pull, but I'm getting help).
And sure as the Lord God and
Rightful Ruler made little green Rickenbacker's - there it was. On the inner
sleeve up in the top left corner beneath a promo photo of the band with a
fold-in clock sat on top of it was a just-about-visible 45 label by some
hooligan mob Paul Weller clearly worshipped at the feet of. They were called
THE CREATION and the song exposed was "Biff, Bang, Pow" - the truly
stunning Mod-rocking B-side of "Painter Man" - another total gem over
on the A of Planet Records PLF.119 from October 1966. It was enough to make a
chap swoon and seek out vinyl slices of what clearly made the Modfather's knees
turn to jelly.
THE CREATION never managed a
British album (a crime frankly) - so their rep in Blighty revolved around a
series of incendiary vinyl singles and further colourful Euro EPs that
collectors have been lusting after ever since. Both Germany and Denmark
produced one LP in 1967 called "We Are Paintermen" on Hit-Ton Schallplatten
and Sonet Records respectively (see Notes below the track lists) and Germany
also popped out a "Best Of" on Hit-Ton Pop in 1968 when the gig was
up. The band’s first two UK singles on Planet Records sold copies because "Making
Time" and "Painter Man" made brief 1 week and two-week
appearances on the UK charts in July and November 1966 (No. 49 and No. 36
respectively).
The five-piece also
showcased guitarist/songwriting talent in the shape of Eddie Phillips (ex The
Mark Four) famously using the violin bow on his electric guitar before
Zeppelin's Jimmy Page made it his (almost) trademark. The other two songwriters
in the group were Vocalist Kenny Pickett (also ex the Mark Four) and Bassist
Robert Garner who'd done time with The Merseybeats. Doug Sandom had bashed his
kit for the earliest line-up of The Who before joining The Creation, whilst Mick
Avory (long-time drummer with The Kinks) and Ron Wood of The Artwoods, Faces
and The Rolling Stones also joined the ranks briefly too.
Produced by SHEL TALMY of WHO-fame
- The Creation were the musical link between The Who and The Kinks and have
been darlings of The Mod, Freakbeat and Psych circuits for over five decades
now. A huge fan, Alan McGhee famously named his Creation Records after the
band, promptly making Oasis superstars. Paul Weller has been championing them
forever and their eight British 45s (four on Planet and four on Polydor between
1966 and 1968) command real money and respect in equal measure - especially in
anything better than Good to VG playing condition (even The Planet label bags
sell for fifteen to twenty quid). Hell, even Boney M covered "Painter
Man" in 1979 and made it a top-ten hit – surely the ultimate accolade.
Which brings us to this wee
Edsel CD beasty from 2015 with its vinyl replica black-coloured disc (itself a
reissue of a 1998 Demon/Edsel compilation on Diablo Records) that gives
twenty-four slices of head-jerking brilliance. Let’s get red, purple and
flashy...
UK released 2 October 2015 -
"Our Music Is Red With Purple Flashes" by THE CEATION on Edsel
Classics NINETY33 (Barcode 5014797893337) is a 24-Track CD Compilation of 'The
Classic Recordings' issued between 1966 to 1968 in the UK and Europe and plays
out as follows (70:09 minutes):
1. Making Time
2. Try And Stop Me
3. Painter Man
4. Biff, Bang, Pow
5. If I Stay Too Long
6. Nightmares
7. I Am A Walker
8. Can I Join Your Band
9. Cool Jerk
10. Like A Rolling Stone
11. Hey Joe
12. Life is Just Beginning
13. Through My Eyes
14. How Does It Feel To Feel
(US Version)
15. Ostrich Man
16. Sweet Helen
17. How Does It Feel To Feel
(UK Version)
18. Tom Tom
19. Midway Down
20. The Girls Are Naked
21. Bony Maronie
22. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
23. For All That I Am
24. Uncle Bert
NOTES:
Tracks 1 and 2 are the
A&B-sides of a June 1966 UK 45 on Planet PLF 116
Tracks 3 and 4 are the
A&B-sides of an October 1966 UK 45 on Planet PLF 119
Tracks 5 and 6 are the
A&B-sides of a July 1967 UK 45 on Polydor 56177
Track 7 is a 1967 Shel Talmy
Produced outtake first issued July 1973 on "'66-'67", a Creation LP
compilation on Charisma Perspective Records CS 6
Tracks 8, 9, 10 and 11 first
issued on the 1967 LP "We Are Paintermen" released on Hit-Ton
Schallplatten HTSLP 340037 in Germany and Sonet Records SLPS 1251 in Denmark
(both in Stereo). "Can I Join Your Band" (Track 8) also showed up as
one of four-tracks on the 1967 "Tom Tom" EP out of France on Vogue
International INT. 18144. "Cool Jerk" (Track 9) also showed up as a
German 45 A-side for January 1968 on Hit-Ton HT 315002 (B-side was "Life
Is Just Beginning")
Tracks 12 and 13 are the
A&B-sides of an October 1967 UK 45 on Polydor 56207
Track 14 is the B-side of
"Life Is Just Beginning", a November 1967 US 45 on Decca 32227
Tracks 15 and 16 first
issued as 1967 Shel Talmy Production outtakes on the September 1982 UK LP
compilation "How Does It Feel To Feel" on Edsel ED 106
Tracks 17 and 18 are the
A&B-sides of a January 1968 UK 45 on Polydor 56230
Tracks 19 and 20 are the
A&B-sides of a April 1968 UK 45 on Polydor 56246
Tracks 21 and 22 are the
A&B-sides of an August 1968 German 45 on Hit-Ton HT 300210
Tracks 23 and 24 are the
A&B-sides of a December 1968 German 45 on Hit-Ton 300235
If you want to sequence the
12-Track "We Are Paintermen" German/Danish LP from this CD, use the
following sequence:
Side A: 1. Cool Jerk 2.
Making Time 3. Through My Eyes 4. Like A Rolling Stone 5. Can I Join Your Band
6. Tom Tom
Side B: 1. If I Stay Too
Long 2. Try And Stop Me 3. Biff, Bang, Pow 4. Nightmares 5. Hey Joe 6. Painter
Man
The gatefold card sleeve
offers little by way of info (track names, times and overall copyright dates)
and as there's no booklet of any kind, so you're probably going to learn more
from my notes above than you are from this release. The supposed 'Edsel
Classics' gimmick turns out to be a black CD with record grooves on the label
surface to mimic an old record (plain black on the playing side) - but it feels
superfluous to requirements. This is a band and release that cries out for
written appreciation and it’s a damn shame none is there. Apart from the 2015
Demon Music Group notation, there isn't even a mastering credit. But the Audio
rocks - those incredibly punchy Mono single mixes on exclusive licence from
Shel Talmy Productions.
I ran a playlist on my Mac
to simulate the German album and man what a great listen. It seems
inconceivable now that such a hugely hip combo of songs weren't given a British
LP release – a major missed opportunity. But I suppose as single after single
didn't make any dent on the charts – someone must have thought – why bother?
Songs like "If I Stay Too Long" have melody but they also sound
'huge' in their power and even ahead of their time in terms of sound - that
haunted vocal and almost clunky guitar. That outtake "I Am A Walker"
again feels brilliant - first issued on a budget-label Charisma Records
compilation in 1973 and then forgotten about. You can Weller's Jam in the
kick-ass guitar opening of "Can I Join Your Band" - always stoned and
eight miles high mentioned in the lyrics while he sung "Can I Join Your
band" chorus feels like The Who's "Tommy" two years before the
event.
Fans had to wait until 1982
to hear the very poppy "Ostrich Man" (words going round and round)
and "Sweet Helen" outtakes (a girl came out of the blue). The
"Midway Down" UK single could easily have been The Hollies while the
naked dancing girls of Amsterdam get immortalised on he flipside. Cool Sixties
bleeds into Guitar-Rock on the Euro-Only 45 "Bonney Maroney" - a
Larry Williams Rhythm 'n' Blues 50ts hit getting thoroughly rearranged and
fuzzed up with some fantastic guitar and piano. They get all Playboy sexy on
the fabulous melody of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" - another Williams
cover. And it ends on the thrashing Who-sounding "Uncle Bert" - a
relative with his trousers hanging down as a dog named Rover bites his leg.
By way of info and if you're
a vinyl-lover - Record Store Day 19 April 2014 saw "Our Music Is Red With
Purple Flashes" issued by Demon/Edsel as "The Singles
Collection" - a 11 x 45 seven-inch vinyl singles Box Set on Demon/Edsel
CREATIONBSRXD using the same artwork (Barcode 5014797890695) but with One Bonus
Track “Sylvie” only available as a download. That was in turn made into a 24-Track
2LP set for 10 July 2015 issued on Demon Music DEMREC48 (Barcode
5014797891203). Next came our CD in October 2015. That has once again been
reissued onto a VINYL 2LP set 17 June 2017 on Demon DEMREC223 (Barcode
5014797896024) as part of the HMV promotion for Vinyl Week (a limited edition
of 1000 copies, one LP in Red and the other coloured Purple).
The 2015 British CD for The Creation's "Our Music Is Red With Purple Flashes" is now
deleted and can cost up to twenty-quid in 2020. But what a biff bang pow...
