Description
Alan McGee was such a big fan of The Creation that he named his record label after the band, and named his own band after one of their songs - Biff Bang Pow. The Creation was formed in 1966 from beat combo The Mark Four, and was quickly signed to a production deal with Shel Talmy, The Who's producer. The first release was the urgent "Making Time", which featured guitarist Eddie Phillips playing his guitar with a violin bow, two years before Jimmy Page started doing so. Whilst very popular in Germany, UK success largely eluded the band, and after a number of non-charting singles and line-up changes (including Ron Wood), the band broke up in 1968 without ever having released an album. Bizarrely, Boney M had a huge hit in 1979 with the band's composition "Painter Man". Phillips and lead vocalist Kenny Pickett recorded an album in 1987 that remained unreleased until 2004, and in 1995, following reunion concerts at Harlesden's Mean Fiddler, Alan McGee and Joe Foster managed to persuade the original line-up to record a new album, for release on Creation Records. Compiled with the assistance of Eddie Phillips himself, this limited edition deluxe media book presents a chronological history of the band. The four CDs include all eight single sides by The Mark Four (and three live reunion recordings from 1985), all of The Creation's legendary recordings for Shel Talmy, in both mono and brand new stereo mixes, the 1987 album and the Creation Records album, and some solo recordings by Eddie from 1990 and 2011. The DVD features a lengthy new interview with Eddie, filmed in October 2016, five songs from The Creation's two live appearances on the legendary German 60s TV show "Beat Beat Beat" (from the original tapes, three songs appear on DVD for the first time), and 21 songs from the band's two reunion concerts at the Mean Fiddler in the 90s. The book has been designed by Phil Smee and features exclusive photos and memorabilia from both his and Eddie's collections, as well as a new extensive annotation by Alan Robinson.

The Amazon exclusive edition comes with a numbered (limited to 500) signed certificate of authenticity by legendary guitarist Eddie Phillips.

[tracklisting]CD1

THE MARK FOUR [1964 – 1966]

1. Rock Around The Clock
2. Slow Down
3. Try It Baby
4. Crazy Country Hop
5. Hurt Me If You Will
6. I’m Leaving
7. Work All Day (Sleep All Night)
8. Going Down Fast

THE CREATION [1966 – 1968]

MONO VERSIONS

9. Making Time
10. Try And Stop Me
11. Painter Man
12. Biff Bang Pow
13. Sylvette
14. If I Stay Too Long
15. Nightmares
16. Cool Jerk
17. Like A Rolling Stone
18. Can I Join Your Band
19. Hey Joe
20. Life Is Just Beginning
21. Through My Eyes
22. How Does It Feel To Feel [UK version]
23. Tom Tom
24. How Does It Feel To Feel [US version]
25. I Am The Walker
26. Ostrich Man
27. Sweet Helen

CD2

1. Midway Down
2. The Girls Are Naked
3. Bony Moronie
4. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
5. For All That I Am
6. Uncle Bert

NEW STEREO MIXES

7. Making Time [instrumental]
8. Painter Man
9. Biff Bang Pow
10. Sylvette [full length]
11. If I Stay Too Long
12. Nightmares
13. Cool Jerk
14. Like A Rolling Stone
15. Can I Join Your Band
16. Hey Joe
17. Life Is Just Beginning
18. Through My Eyes
19. How Does It Feel To Feel [UK version]
20. Tom Tom
21. How Does It Feel To Feel [US version]
22. Midway Down
23. For All That I Am
24. Instrumental # 1
25. How Does It Feel To Feel [instrumental]

CD3

THE MARK FOUR [Live 1985]

1. Hurt Me If You Will
2. Got My Mojo Workin’
3. That’s How Strong My Love Is

THE CREATION Psychedelic Rose [1987]

4. Lay The Ghost
5. Psychedelic Rose
6. Radio Beautiful
7. United
8. Doing It My Way
9. Making Time [new version]
10. Far From Paradise
11. White Knight
12. Spirit Called Love

EDDIE PHILLIPS [1990]

13. The Jimi Hendrix Trilogy

CD4

THE CREATION Power Surge [1996]

1. Creation
2. Power Surge
3. Someone’s Gonna Bleed
4. Shock Horror
5. That’s How I Found Love
6. Killing Song
7. Nobody Wants To Know
8. City Life
9. English Language
10. Free Men Live Forever
11. Ghost Division
12. O+N

EDDIE PHILLIPS [2011]

13. Woodstock Daze
14. Good Times

DVD

EDDIE PHILLIPS INTERVIEW

THE CREATION Live on German TV [1966 – 67]

BEAT BEAT BEAT, September 1966

1. Making Time
2. I’m A Man
3. That’s How Strong My Love Is

BEAT BEAT BEAT, June 1967

4. Try And Stop Me
5. Painter Man

THE CREATION Red With Purple Flashes: Live at The Mean Fiddler [1993 + 1995]

6 JULY 1993, includes interviews with band members

1. Try And Stop Me
2. Life Is Just Beginning
3. I’m A Man
4. Nightmares
5. If I Stay Too Long

22 AUGUST 1995

1. Batman
2. Biff Bang Pow
3. Try And Stop Me
4. Life Is Just Beginning
5. I’m A Man
6. Nightmares
7. If I Stay Too Long
8. Hey Joe
9. Making Time
10. Creation
11. Power Surge
12. Tom Tom
13. That’s How Strong My Love Is
14. How Does It Feel To Feel
15. Painter Man
16. Biff Bang Pow[/tracklisting]

Amazon UK Exclusive Edition (detailed above)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X3RZMGM/?tag=imwan-21

Standard Edition
US - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WP4WHBR/?tag=imwan-20
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WP4WHBR/?tag=imwan-21

We don't yet have details on how it differs from the standard release, but the Amazon UK Exclusive Edition is currently the exact same price, so it's worth locking in a pre-order early:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X3RZMGM/?tag=imwan-21

This new collection from Demon seems to be a bigger, better, more extensive version of the 2CD Creation compilation which is due out soon from Numero in the USA:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=101266

The mammoth track listing is now up, Linda...

The only (so far) descriptive difference between the regular and Amazon exclusive is:

"This Amazon exclusive comes with a numbered (limited to 500) signed certificate of authenticity by legendary guitarist Eddie Phillips."

Thanks, Robin! I've added the tracklist to the first post.

Bump to add the cover image to the first post. Both editions have now been reduced by about £8, down to £41.08, so lock in the Amazon exclusive version before all 500 copies have been taken:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X3RZMGM/?tag=imwan-21

The Creation were one of the most important bands of the 60s, so I'm in for this.

There are still a few odds and ends missing, though - a couple of alternate mixes from the Retroactive CDs and the majority of the 'Lay The Ghost' CD, so if you have those hold onto them!

This has been pushed back to May 5th. The standard edition is currently pre-orderable from the UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WP4WHBR/?tag=imwan-21

But the Amazon exclusive edition is not, so that version might have already sold out its limited run.

The Creation will have the cover story on Shindig magazine #66, out in the UK on 4-7-17, in stock at B&N a month later...

Well, the listing page for the Amazon exclusive edition has gone dormant, now. Have all 500 copies already been pre-ordered?

The Standard Edition of the box is still pre-orderable, of course, and we have confirmation that the included DVD will be "NTSC/Region 0", playable on North American systems:

Amazon USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WP4WHBR/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WP4WHBR/?tag=imwan-21

Just got an e-mail that my Amazon exclusive edition has shipped. AnyWAN else?

Yep, mine is due through my letterbox tomorrow. Accompanied by a couple of those new Patto reissues!

The Amazon exclusive edition is available again! Snag a copy for yourself before it sells out:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X3RZMGM/?tag=imwan-21

Mine is number 377 of 500... Having flicked through the book it looks very nice indeed, lots of text. Busy weekend ahead for me!

All gone.

Well I am glad I took your advice Linda and ordered it when it became available for this brief time. Did you get yours yet and if so your thoughts?

Mine just shipped on Thursday, it will take a little more time to reach America. Hopefully the Old Man will get his copy soon and post a review for us.

Well I couldn't wait until today to dip in so I ran through the New stereo mixes last night... what I can say is that if you've got the Retroactive CDs, then you should definitely hang on to them for the stereo mixes they contain. Here, much in the same way that some of the newly-mastered stereo tracks on the My Generation box are missing a few overdubs, some of Eddie Phillips' guitar lines are missing from these [most noticeably on Painter Man which is missing a lot of the bowed guitar and sounds very different for it] which leads one to assume that as with My Generation some elements were overdubbed live onto the original tracks live in 1966/7/8 so they just aren't there on the masters. Maybe it's a Shel Talmy thing or just the limits of recording tech at the time. Unfortunately although there are copious liner notes on the band's history in the book, there's very little technical or recording information [which is the most disappointing aspect of the whole box for me] so it's just speculation on my part. Odd though that it's not been mentioned anywhere and we should be left to discover it for ourselves.

I'd stress this only affects about half a dozen tracks though, and otherwise they sound superb. Some, like Through My Eyes are also allowed to run on to their exciting conclusion, which is nice. Personally I'm not too upset by the discrepancies because it makes them sound like works-in-progress more than anything, but for those of you who might be upset, forewarned is forearmed. And let's not forget that the original mono versions we know and love are present on the first disc. Listening now these too sound better than I've ever heard them before.

EDIT: Having said all that, there's a weird little passage in I Am The Walker that's jarringly different, and I can't work out if it's a mastering error or a musical mistake in the original that was ironed out in the mixes released later. Needs an intensive listening session to work that one out.

As the first two CDs are the meat of this box, that's as far as I've got for now.

Oh, yes. From a design standpoint, I'm not thrilled with the CD holders. The CDs are very firmly held in place by the bottom edge by tiny struts in the holder rather than spindles in the middle. You have to push the CD in at the bottom and then lift, and they're a total pain to release. I can see the CDs are going to end up in separate holders rather than risk snapping them by trying to remove them from these things.

Oh and the exclusive bit: Separate piece of thick card with a vintage pic of Eddie and box set logo, signed and numbered in silver ink.

Is Alec Paleo credited with mastering the 5 CD set? I am wondering if the 2 CD Action Painting set is simply a condensed version of Creation Theory?

^ He's credited with the new stereo mixes.

Yes, these new stereo mixes are fun, but don't give up the 1998 Retroactive CDs. The loss of the lead guitar on "Painter Man" is the worst of it, for me. It's the song's most stunning feature and leaves a huge hole without it. The widely available earlier stereo mix (available on the Retroactive CD as well as Rhino's History of the British Invasion) is preferable to this new one.

But yes, it's also fun to hear a few of these mixes run out, as well as the backing tracks at the end of the disc.