The Creation (band)
Encyclopedia
The Creation were an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

, formed in 1966. The most popular Creation song was "Painter Man
Painter Man
Painter Man is a song by the music group, The Creation. The song was the group's second, and most successful, single."Painter Man" was later covered by the 1970s pop group Boney M., and reached number 10 in the UK single charts in 1979...

", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in late 1966, and reached #8 in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 in April 1967. It was later covered by Boney M
Boney M
Boney M. is a Eurodisco group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba...

 in 1979, and reached the #10 position in the UK chart. Their song "Makin' Time" was used in the movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, Rushmore
Rushmore (film)
Rushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer , his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume , and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross . The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson...

. Guitarist Eddie Phillips described their sound as: "Our music is red – with purple flashes."

Pre-history: The Mark Four (1963-1966)

Most of the members of what would eventually become The Creation were initially members of The Mark Four
The Mark Four
The Mark Four were a pop band from Hertfordshire, England. Members included Kenny Pickett , Eddie Phillips , John Dalton and Jack Jones . The group released four singles, then Dalton left to join The Kinks and Bob Garner replaced him...

, a British beat group based in Cheshunt
Cheshunt
Cheshunt is a town in Hertfordshire, England with a population of around 52,000 according to the United Kingdom's 2001 Census. It is a dormitory town and part of the Greater London Urban Area and London commuter belt served by Cheshunt railway station...

, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

. By late 1963 The Mark Four was a quintet consisting of Kenny Pickett (vocals), Eddie Phillips (guitars), Mick "Spud" Thompson (rhythm guitars), John Dalton
John Dalton (musician)
John Dalton is a British bass guitar player, best known as a member of The Kinks' from 1969 to 1976, replacing original member Pete Quaife.- Biography :...

 (bass), and Jack Jones (drums). This line-up played regularly in the UK and in Germany before issuing two non-charting singles for Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

 in 1964.

Dalton then left the band, later joining The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...

 as a replacement for Pete Quaife
Pete Quaife
Peter Alexander Greenlaw "Pete" Quaife was an English musician, artist and author. He was a founding member and the original bass guitarist for The Kinks, from 1963 until 1969....

, and was replaced by new bassist Tony Cooke. Around the same time, Thompson left the band and was not replaced. This Mark Four line-up issued two further non-charting singles: "Hurt Me (If You Will)" (Decca, August 1965) and "Work All Day (Sleep All Night)" (Fontana, February 1966).

In April 1966, the group signed a management deal with Tony Stratton-Smith
Tony Stratton-Smith
Tony Stratton-Smith was an English rock music manager, and entrepreneur. He was best known as founder of London based independent record label Charisma Records which he began in 1969. Groups he managed included The Nice , Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator...

. He promptly suggested replacing Cooke with new bassist Bob Garner (previously of the Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...

 Band), and a name change. The band took him up on both suggestions: it was Pickett who came up with the name The Creation, based on a reference he found in a book of Russian poetry.

Initial success (1966)

The band's style, produced by Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter, arranger best known for his work in London with The Who and The Kinks in the 1960s, with a role in many other English bands including Cat Stevens and Pentangle...

 was, at this point, loud pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...

, similar to early records by The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

.. Their first single, "Making Time", was a Pickett/Phillips original. Released in June 1966 on Talmy's own label, Planet (distributed in the UK by Polydor and in the US by Jay-Gee), it reached #49 on the UK chart. Almost immediately thereafter, The Creation suffered another line-up change when Jack Jones was fired and replaced by new drummer Dave Preston. However, the band was unsatisfied with Preston's live work, and in less than three weeks Jones was asked back and rejoined the group.

Their next single, October 1966's "Painter Man", became their biggest hit, reaching #36 UK and the top 10 in Germany. The track featured Phillips playing his electric guitar with a violin bow
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....

. He was reputedly the first guitarist to use this technique, although Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

  later did it to greater acclaim.

The Creation took their pop art experimentation slightly further when, during live performances of "Painter Man" Pickett would spraypaint a canvas during their concerts, before a member of the road crew set light to artwork on stage.

The Bob Garner era (1967)

"Painter Man" was the last single issued by the original line-up, and their last single to chart in the UK. In early 1967, the band brought in Kim Gardner as their new bassist, and former bassist Bob Garner moved into the lead vocal slot in June 1967, leaving Kenny Pickett out of the group, at least for the time being.

This line-up issued its first single in July 1967 ("If I Stay Too Long" b/w "Nightmares"). Unsuccessful in the UK, the song did well in Germany, as did a German only follow-up single ("Tom Tom"). Their commercial momentum in Germany was strong enough for a Creation album called We Are Paintermen to be issued in mid 1967 for the German and continental European market, compiled from previously issued singles and several newly recorded songs. By this time, the band's sound had developed into a more typically mid 1960s psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 sound, which has been retroactively described as freakbeat
Freakbeat
Freakbeat is the name used for rare, collectable, and obscure British Invasion records, particularly from 1966 and 1967. Elements of the freakbeat sound include strong direct drum beats, loud and frenzied guitar riffs, and extreme effects such as: fuzztone, flanging, distortion and compression or...

.

Also during late 1966 and 1967, four Creation singles were issued in the United States, without commercial success: "Making Time" b/w "Try And Stop Me" and "Painter Man" b/w "Biff Bang Pow" on US Planet (distributed by Jay-Gee/Jubilee), and "If I Stay Too Long" b/w "Nightmares" and "How Does It Feel To Feel" b/w "Life Is Just Beginning" on US Decca. The band remained popular in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

The single "Life Is Just Beginning" was released in the UK towards the end of 1967, but almost immediately afterwards guitarist Eddie Phillps announced his departure. He was replaced for several European tour dates by guitarist Tony Ollard, but within a matter of weeks, vocalist Bob Garner also quit the group and by February 1968, The Creation had officially ceased to exist.

Pickett returns, band breaks up (1968)

However, demand was still strong in continental Europe for Creation records and live shows, and almost immediately after the band had disbanded drummer Jack Jones formed a new Creation line-up, bringing back Kenny Pickett as singer. Kim Gardner returned as bass player (after a stint in Santa Barbara Machine Head) and brought in his old bandmate from The Birds
The Birds (band)
The Birds were a popular rhythm and blues band in the United Kingdom during the mid 1960s, although they recorded fewer than a dozen songs and released only four singles. Starting out with a hard R&B sound, they later began infusing it with Motown-style vocal harmonies...

, Ronnie Wood on guitar.

This line-up debuted with the single "Midway Down", released in the UK and Germany in April 1968. However this Creation line-up splintered almost immediately, and by June, the band was no more. Two posthumous follow-up singles: "Bony Moronie" and "For All That I Am" were German only releases, appearing later in 1968.

Post-Creation careers

Eddie Phillips became bass player in P.P. Arnold's backing band during the late 1960s. He left the music business for a time in the 1970s, but by 1980 was collaborating again with Kenny Pickett as a songwriter. The two wrote the 1980 hit single "Teacher Teacher" for Rockpile
Rockpile
Rockpile were a British rock and roll group of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave...

.

Kenny Pickett continued as songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 for the Creation's American producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy
Shel Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter, arranger best known for his work in London with The Who and The Kinks in the 1960s, with a role in many other English bands including Cat Stevens and Pentangle...

, and also became Jimmy Page's guitar technician. He issued some solo recordings in the 1970s and 1980s, and later sang with The Kennedy Express.

Ronnie Wood joined the Jeff Beck Group, and later The Faces
Faces (band)
Faces are an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of the Small Faces after Steve Marriott left that group to form Humble Pie...

 and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

.

Kim Gardner co-formed Ashton, Gardner & Dyke and was later a member of Badger
Badger (band)
-One Live Badger:The band was co-founded by keyboardist Tony Kaye after he left Yes, with David Foster. Foster had been in The Warriors with Jon Anderson before Anderson co-founded Yes. Foster later worked with the band on Time and a Word...

.

Bob Garner left the music business entirely, though he later participated in various Creation reunions (see below).

Jack Jones became a cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 singer.

Reformations (1980s - present)

The Creation re-formed in the mid-1980s with Phillips, Pickett, Dalton, and Mick Avory
Mick Avory
Michael Charles "Mick" Avory is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the British rock band, The Kinks, joining them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remaining with them until 1984, when he left amid creative friction with guitarist Dave Davies...

 (drums, ex-Kinks). In 1987, they released a single on Jet Records ("A Spirit Called Love" b/w a new version of "Making Time") to minimal attention. This line-up also recorded material for a new album in a more contemporary rock style, but this project was never completed (or even titled). The reformed band continued to tour, with various line-up changes, capitalising on their cult notoriety with the underground mod and garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

 audiences.

In 1994, the original line-up (consisting of Phillips, Pickett, Garner and Jones) got together to record the album Power Surge, issued in 1996 on UK indie label Creation Records
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...

, which had been named in honour of the group. The 1990s band Ride
Ride (band)
Ride were a British alternative rock band that formed in 1988 in Oxford, England, consisting of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence "Loz" Colbert, and Steve Queralt. The band were initially part of the "shoegazing" scene. Following the break-up of the band in 1996, members moved on to various other...

 then recorded the song "How Does It Feel to Feel?" on their album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Carnival of Light
Carnival of Light (album)
Carnival of Light is the third studio album by British alternative rock band Ride, released in June 1994 via Creation Records. "How Does It Feel to Feel?" is a cover of a song by The Creation...

.

Pickett died in 1997, but the group continued for a time with Garner as lead vocalist. The band performed in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for the first time in 2001.

In 2004, Cherry Red Records released Psychedelic Rose, made up of nine songs from the group's abandoned 1987/88 sessions including the tracks previously issued on the 1987 single, augmented by two spoken-word recollections of The Creation's history; the few reviews of the album were almost uniformly negative.

Garner and Jones both exited the band sometime in the early 2000s: the only original member left in the current line-up is Phillips. The most recent Creation touring line-up consists of Eddie Phillips (lead guitar, vocals), Simon Tourle (lead vocals), Tony Barber (bass), and Kevin Mann (drums).

Original members

  • Kenny Pickett (born Kenneth George Pickett, 3 September 1942, Ware, Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

    ; died 10 January 1997) - vocals
  • Eddie Phillips (born Edwin Michael Phillips, 15 August 1942, Leytonstone
    Leytonstone
    Leytonstone is an area of east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is a high density suburban area, located seven miles north east of Charing Cross in the ceremonial county of Greater London and the historic county of Essex...

    , east London) - lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

  • Jack Jones (born Jack Llewleyn Jones, 8 November 1944, Northampton
    Northampton
    Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

    , Northamptonshire
    Northamptonshire
    Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

    ) - drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Bob Garner (born Robert Anthony Garner, 15 May 1946, Warrington
    Warrington
    Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

    , Lancashire
    Lancashire
    Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

    ) - bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....



This line-up recorded the first two singles, as well as the 1996 album Power Surge.

Later members

  • Kim Gardner - bass, 1967/68
  • Ron Wood - guitar, 1968
  • John Dalton - bass, mid-1980s
  • Mick Avory - drums, mid-1980s
  • Simon Tourle - lead vocals, early 2000s to present
  • Tony Barber - bass, early 2000s to present
  • Kevin Mann - drums, early 2000s to present

Singles

  • June 1966 - "Making Time
    Making Time
    "Making Time" is The Creation's debut single, written by Kenny Pickett and Eddie Phillips .-Cover versions:It has often been covered by other bands, including Little Free Rock and Green Bullfrog....

    " / "Try and Stop Me"
  • October 1966 - "Painter Man
    Painter Man
    Painter Man is a song by the music group, The Creation. The song was the group's second, and most successful, single."Painter Man" was later covered by the 1970s pop group Boney M., and reached number 10 in the UK single charts in 1979...

    " / " Biff Bang Pow"
  • 1967 - "Cool Jerk
    Cool Jerk
    "Cool Jerk" is a popular song written by Donald Storball and originally performed by The Capitols. Released in 1966, it reached the number two position on the American R&B chart and number seven on the pop chart...

    " / "Life Is Just Beginning" (Germany only)
  • June 1967 - "If I Stay Too Long" / "Nightmares"
  • October 1967 - "Life is Just Beginning" / "Through My Eyes"
  • February 1968 - "How Does it Feel to Feel" / "Tom Tom"
  • May 1968 - "Midway Down" / "The Girls are Naked" (Polydor 56246)
  • 1968 - "Bonney Moroney
    Bony Moronie
    "Bony Moronie" is Larry Williams' third single, which has been covered many times, including a version translated into Spanish re-named "Popotitos". Williams' original peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #4 on the U.S...

    " b/w "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
    Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
    "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" is a song written by Joe Zawinul in 1966 for Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and his album Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club. The song is the title track of the album and became a surprise hit, reaching #11 on the Billboard charts in Feb. 1967...

    " (Germany only, Hit-ton HT 300210)
  • 1968 - "For All that I Am" b/w "Uncle Bert" (Hit-ton HT 300235, Germany)
  • April 1987 - "A Spirit called Love" / "Making Time" (+ bonus track "Mumbo Jumbo" on 12" EP)
  • July 1994 - "Creation" / "Shock Horror" / "Power Surge" (CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

     single)
  • July 2008 - "Red With Purple Flashes" (1 sided Promo - strictly limited 200 only Planet 240708)

Albums

  • 1967 - We Are Paintermen (Hit-ton, issued in Germany, The Netherlands, France and Sweden only)
  • 1999 - Power Surge (Creation)

Compilations and live albums

  • 1968 - The Best of The Creation (Pop, issued in Germany and Sweden only)
  • 1973 - Creation 66-67 (Charisma, 12" LP
    Gramophone record
    A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

    )
  • 1975 - The Creation (UK collection)
  • 1982 - The Mark Four/The Creation (Eva, German collection)
  • 1982 - How Does it Feel to Feel? (Edsel, 12" LP)
  • 1984 - Recreation (Line, 12" LP)
  • 1985 - Live at the Beat Scene Club (7" EP)
  • 1993 - Lay the Ghost (Universal)
  • 1994 - Painter Man (Edsel, UK budget collection)
  • 1998 - Our Music Is Red - With Purple Flashes (Diablo, UK collection)
  • 1998 - Complete Collection, Vol. 1: Making Time (Retroactive)
  • 1998 - Complete Collection, Vol. 2: Biff Bang Pow (Retroactive)
  • 2004 - Psychedelic Rose: The Great Lost Creation Album (Cherry Red)
  • 2007 - The Singles Collection (Get Back Italy)

External links

  • Official Myspace profile
  • Eddie Phillips interview: 1974 by Chris Hunt
    Chris Hunt
    Chris Hunt is a magazine editor, journalist and author. He has worked in journalism for over twenty years, most often writing about football or rock music. He was managing editor of Match from 1993 to 2001, a period that saw the weekly title become Britain's biggest selling football magazine...

    , published in Guitarist
    Guitarist (magazine)
    Guitarist is a monthly music making magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. The magazine features reviews of newly released guitars, amplifiers and other equipment, plus interviews with guitar players, features on the guitar industry, news articles, and features on playing...

    , 1988.
  • Eddie Phillips Q And A - an interview with Phillips.
  • [ The Creation at Allmusic]
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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