"Our music is red -
with purple flashes" - Eddie Phillips
1966
It's a marvellous quote, capturing the style and image bound up in the
Creation. Both in excitement and innovation they were an almost perfect
group, but somehow circumstances fell in the way of success.The roots
trace back to 1963 and a Cheshunt group,
Jimmy Virgo & The Blue Jacks. They included Jimmy Virgo (vocals), Norman
Miffen (lead guitar - an ex-member of Cliff Richard & The Drifters), Mick
Thompson (rhythm guitar), John Dalton (bass) and Jack Jones (drums). On
Virgo's departure and the arrival
of replacement Kenny Lee, they became Kenny Lee & The Mark Four. Miffen
left soon after, Eddie Phillips joined as guitarist, Kenny Lee became
Kenny Pickett and the group's prefix was dropped so they became simply
Mark Four (no relation to the Liverpool quartet
of the same name).
The Mark Four were signed to Mercury in early
1964, releasing Rock Around The Clock c/w Slow Down as their
debut single that May, followed by Try It Baby c/w Crazy Country
Hop some months later. The four
sides are all covers; Bill Haley, Larry Williams, Marvin Gaye and
Johnny Otis respectively. They are all dependable versions of differing
styles. The group's real identity began to show on their third single
which appeared on Decca a year later in August
1965. Hurt Me If You Will c/w I'm Leavin' is a confident
single, beginning the excellent Pickett/Phillips songwriting team. This
time the influences are contemporary, Hurt Me is a straightforward
and powerful song, whereas I'm
Leavin' hints toward the expression of The Who (and later Creation)
with its Bo Diddley form and superb controlled feedback passages.
The
release was followed by the inevitable changes. Mick Thompson dropped out
of music altogether, as did John Dalton,
although his was a short absence. By the Summer he auditioned
successfully for The Kinks, replacing Peter Quiafe for Sunny
Afternoon, he left upon Peter's return to the group and joined them
again in 1969 when Quaife finally left. Dalton's replacement
in the Mark Four was Tony (surname sadly forgotten by all), and
the group released their final single the following February. Work All
Day (Sleep All Night) c/w Going Down Fast, two more originals
following the line towards the future
group's direction, with melodies and performances needing a producer to
refine them into a complete direction.
By this time the group were in
London, represented by the Robert Stigwood agency, but real progress came
with a new manager. Tony Stratton-Smith
was already handling the Koobas when a mutual friend persuaded him to
see the Mark Four. He was impressed and agreed to handle the group on
condition a new bassist was found. He suggested Bob Garner, briefly a
Merseybeat and latterly a part of the Tony
Sheridan group. Garner was accepted and Stratton-Smith's next move was
to find a producer. He brought in Shel Talmy, who had heard the group
previously on an early demo of Crazy Country Hop. Since that time
Talmy had become a leading independent
record producer, working with, amongst others The Kinks and The Who,
although he'd recently found his relationship with the latter severed.
Talmy was impressed with the Mark Four, signing them to his own Planet
label the next day. Within a week they were
recording a single, but under a new name - found by Pickett in a book of
Russian poetry - The Creation.
Making Time c/w Try And Stop
Me was their 'debut' single, released June 17th 1966. (The same day an
NME booking ad still referred to the
Mark Four, showing how speedy the changes had been). It's a startling
release. The promise of the previous singles being caught in the sharpness
of Talmy's production. His work with The Who unfinished, Talmy clearly saw
The Creation as an extension of those Pop-art experiments in sound. The Who
comparisons are slightly
unfair, the Mark Four had been exploring a similar path, and the Creation
were showing their own individuality, not least the startling break on
Making Time where Phillips, playing
guitar with a violin bow rips through the song. Try And Stop Me is
only marginally less powerful and thanks to an excellent 'Ready Steady Go'
appearance the group were at last attracting attention.
Making
Time reached no 49 with fascinating
press clippings following. "Our show is a premeditated moving
picture," said lead guitarist Eddie Phillips (to Record Mirror), "non stop
movement." The show certainly seemed fascinating with an 'action painting'
close where Kenny Pickett used an aerosol
spray on canvas, before setting fire to it. Interviews also gave titles
of forthcoming recordings: Private Hell, If I Stopped Moving I'd
Fell Out Of The Sky, Closer Than Close: and titles they
certainly were as they did not materialise
as records.
Painter Man c/w Biff Bang Pow was
released in October. Everything - visual concept, style and sound came
together in this, an absolute mirror of the group's total being.
Stylistically similar to Making Time, Painter
Man is more commercial, with its hammered chorus and fabulous
guitar. Phillips was now attracting real attention for his innovations:
Pete Townshend asked him to join The Who as a second guitarist, but he
refused. (Townshend made do by joining The
Creation fan club). Biff Bang Pow is also good, if close to the
My Generation riff, and with the Nicky Hopkins piano fills.
The
single itself reached no 36; it seemed the next step was success, but it
somehow faltered. Firstly Planet Records
folded, and although Talmy was retained as producer, a new label was
needed in order to get another records released. Secondly The Creation's
popularity on the Continent, especially Germany, kept them touring there
instead of Britain. Their short UK package tour
with the Walker
Brothers was simply not enough. But, most
crucially, there was continuing tension within the band. Jack Jones was
ousted, and for three weeks Dave Preston, a friend of bass player Bob
Garner, drummed with the group. Preston proved
incompatible, and Jones was reinstated, but it seemed Garner was
intent on establishing The Creation as his own group. Certainly there was
frustration at being tipped for success so soon and never quite reaching
it, and management was blamed. It looked
as though Arthur Howes (a promoter and Talmy's partner at Planet) would
step in, but this plan was suddenly changed due to more internal
disagreements. Matters came to a head when Kenny Pickett arrived at a
practice to find a new bass player, and Bob Garner
on vocals. Pickett simply walked out and the vital partnership was
broken.
The new bassist was Kim Gardner, previously a member of the
Birds, who's issued four excellent singles before splitting in 1966, and
were signed to the Stigwood agency at the
same time as the Mark Four. The new Creation issued a single almost
immediately. If I Stay Too Long c/w Nightmares appeared on
Polydor in June 1967. The top side is a disappointing [I digress! -pHinn]
slow ballad, markedly different to all the
previous singles. Nightmares is much better, an older
Pickett/Phillips song, faster and tougher, which in fact became the
American A-side. The single was not a success, confirming that any
Creation future lay on the Continent, and another tour there
followed as well as a debut album We Are Paintermen released
only in Germany, Holland and Scandinavia. Impossibly rare now, the album
confirmed the musical potential of the group, (Note: - the superb cover is
misleading, although Kenny Pickett
is on almost all of the record - duly credited - it's the Kim Gardner line
up that's shown in the photograph).
How Does It Feel To Feel was
the next German single, here it was passed up in favour of Life is Just
Beginning. This was much better
record than If I Stay Too Long, opening with a brief string
arrangement before a fade in vocal led into a stronger, more adventurous
song. In complete contrast its flip Through My Eyes, another early
song, relates more closely to The Creation
of Painter Man, with its menacing Phillips' guitar. As a
single it represented a last real attempt at UK success, with adverts
attempting to capitalise on the German success with copy which read "The
Creation are the third top touring group;
the fifth top recording group... had two records in the German Top
Ten...
they flew in from Switzerland to record BBC's 'Saturday Club' and jumped
back on a plane to keep a booking in Zürich... etc. etc." The group
also appeared at The Alexandra Palace
14 Hour Technicolour Dream, and provided the incidental music to a BBC2
'Monitor' documentary, although none of this helped to achieve a
breakthrough in Britain.
February 1968 saw another Continental tour,
whilst Polydor issued the 7 month old How
Does It Feel To Feel coupled with the equally old Tom Tom as
the next British single. It too flopped and The Creation split up on their
return, seeing little hope of breaking their now well established
pattern.
Almost immediately an offer of a
three week date in Madrid materialised. With Bob Garner back in
Warrington, Lancashire and Eddie Phillips unwilling to tour again, a new
group was assembled. Kenny Pickett rejoined and with the (almost)
everpresent Jack Jones, Kim Gardner and an Australian
guitarist simply called Digger, fulfilled the Contract. No-one seems
to know quite where Digger appeared from, nor where he went, but the three
weeks over, there was enough enthusiasism within the band to carry on.
There was still need for a lead guitarist;
again Phillips was asked as the natural choice, but he had decided
to leave music altogether to concentrate on married life and his job with
London Transport.
It was Ronnie Wood who joined, previously a member of
the Birds with Kim Gardner, Wood had
subsequently been with Jeff Beck's group. This latest line-up issued
only one single in Britain, Midway Down c/w The Girls Are
Naked, released in May 1968. Midway was not a group song but
adapted well to their style. The Girls Are
Naked is closer still to the old sound, with its high-pitched
voices and crunching rhythm. But there was still no breakthrough and the
treadmill of German hits and British indifference carried on. Continental
releases continued, first with the Boney Moronie
c/w Mercy Mercy single, hardly classic versions,
followed by For All That I Am c/w Uncle Bert, their final
release, which showed how strong this particular Creation might have been.
The group finally split in June 1968,
following their last date played at the John Lewis Store theatre in
Oxford Street, London. Kenny Pickett joined Led Zeppelin's road crew and
later had success as a song-writer. Ron Wood rejoined Jeff Beck and later
became a member of The Faces and currently
The Rolling Stones. Kim Gardner formed Ashton, Gardner & Dyke
(Resurrection Shuffle), then Badger and Jack Jones worked in cabaret as a
singer (under another name!). Eddie Phillips made a brief reappearance in
the late 70's, releasing a few solo singles,
one of which, Limbo Jimbo was produced by Shel Talmy. He
also reunited with Kenny Pickett in a songwriting partnership, and is
currently embarking on new recording projects.
The tracks included here
are all of the British singles, A-sides and B-sides,
omitting only If I Stay Too Long. For All That I
Am is the last German release. Cool Jerk was the continental
A-side to Life Is Just Beginning and Can I Join Your Band is
possibly the highlight of We Are Paintermen.
I Am The Walker remained unissued until the 1972
Charisma release 66/67, a quickly deleted compilation, and
Ostrich Man is available here for the first time. This is a
definitive collection and to steal a close from the advert for
Painter Man: creep in and buy, Sam; Pow, like Now!
Remember The Creation!
The Creation @ Making
Time
The Creation @
Ready Steady Go
The
Creation @ Geocities
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