Our music is red with purple flashes, declared this British band, and such a description is highly accurate. Big, bold strokes, bursting with bright colors and flavors were the elements embedded within the Creation’s material.
Clad in mod attire and flaunting a pop art flair, the band was visibly influenced by both the sound and image of the Who. But the Creation proved to be original enough to transcend their aspirations, and became quite influential in their own right.
Jimmy Page was particularly smitten with the band, and his admiration for the Creation is especially evident in his playing the guitar with a violin bow. Although the Led Zeppelin six-string slinger is thought to have invented the technique, credit goes to the Creation’s guitarist, Eddie Phillips.
Having made great strides in England and Germany with brash and bouncy nuggets like “Making Time” and “Painter Man,” the band aimed to conquer the United States as well, where they released four singles. Sad to say, each effort flopped, robbing American audiences of some mighty cool and brilliant tunes. Truth be told, everything the Creation recorded is actually praiseworthy, but the disc we’re championing here is the final single they delivered on these shores.
Droning choruses, compounded by spurts of screechy feedback wash over “How Does It Feel To Feel.” Taffy-pulling hooks and spongy rhythms further enhance the lysergic-looped track, resulting in a spacey but snappy slab of hard and heavy pop rock measures.
The flipside of the Decca Records release, “Life Is Just Beginning,” is comparably catchy and compelling. Spurred by the ominous din of a violin, the song features the band’s signature majestic harmonies reclining comfortably atop a simple but intense arrangement. A mesmerizing beat, buttered with an airy acid-infused film fuels the furnishings.
Generated by coiling chords, naval-gazing lyrics, beefy melodies and direct and immediate vocals, “How Does It Feel To Feel” and “Life Is Just Beginning” are two of the finest psychedelic power pop statements an ear could hope for.
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Trivia junkies alert! Ron Wood held membership in a later version of the Creation, and after they busted up in 1968 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, then the Faces and finally, as if you didn’t already know, the Rolling Stones…
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