Creation Records

so i'm about 40% of the way through "My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize" and it's pretty bloody exhaustive/ingly inspirational and hilarious.

i can't think of another label in history that's been so chaotically and idiosyncratically run and yet had so much artistic, crital and commercial success.

anyone? any new labels ploughing a similar furrow? transgressive hardly cuts it really...

crital = critical

SubPop maybe?

ah good call! has anyone written a "definitive" (ie probably highly subjective but great) book about subpop?

also, there's another creation book too isn't there? one officially sanctioned by mcgoo?

a friend of mine once walked out on me while we were at a bar because i said i liked creation the band more than anything ever released on creation records (she has "issues"). while this isn't true, i was at least 30% convinced it was at the time. she didn't speak to me for a few days.

Dude you were right!

i actually just finished the book, and am kind of amazed at how sprawling and all-encompassing it managed to be. does anyone have a source for catching up with McGee et al post-Magpie?

the other book was written by paolo hewitt and doesn't have much to recommend it at all, if i recall the reviews of the time correctly.

i mean, he's my myspace friend and everything, but i'd like to know somethings about Poptones, Wichita, and particularly what's happened with the catalog since then. for example, is the Ignition label that reissued/remastered the Ride albums associated with the PR firm in the book?

Ignition is a management company, handled Oasis at the time I believe.

In fact, I think Liam's solo "Carnation" single was on Ignition.

the great Creation "lost opportunity" was Chemical Records, which was to be Creation's hat in the dance music ring...I think that the only Chemical releases (IIRC) were the Area Code 212 and Area Code 313 comps (New York House and Detroit Techno overviews, respectively)...pity...

well, don't forget about Infonet, which brought us the initial Reload and Bandulu material...

ah yeah, Infonet...(how futuristic that word sounded back then!)...

I listened again to Reload's A Collection Of Short Stories the other week, and I can't say that time has been kind to it...(ditto Bandulu...funny how they came off like the "Beastie Boys of techno" in those early photo shoots)...

of course, "Dream Beam" by Hypnotone sounds as good today as it did 17 (gulp) years ago...

shit!...somebody not even born when that tune came out is now legally driving a car!

http://www.live4ever.uk.com/2010/10/new-website-launched-for-upside-down-the-creation-records-story-film/

on bbc4 this friday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2011/10/28

21:00–22:40
Upside Down: The Creation Story

22:40–23:40
Creation at the BBC

23:40–00:30
Alan McGee - the Man Who Discovered Oasis

21:00–22:40
Upside Down: The Creation Story

Nice one, that'll save me the money I would've spent renting it.

21:00–22:40
Upside Down: The Creation Story

Nice one, that'll save me the money I would've spent renting it.

― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Saturday, October 22, 2011 5:14 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

Yeah, the very same. Looking forward to actually seeing that.

I hope the night doesn't just concentrate on the 'usual suspects' (Oasis, Jesus And Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine) and that Super Furry Animals get at least one or two mentions!

Pahh, you kidding? It'll be a straight 1hr 53 minutes of Oasis.

Still gonna tune in though!

simple joys: revolving paint dream coming out of your tv.

NEEDS MORE TELESCOPES

so, were oasis part of the deeper creation records story? like, used to pal around with JAMC or something? or did they just show up fully formed one day and watch the money come pouring in?

more like fagend of Madchester, pals with Inspirals etc

Pahh, you kidding? It'll be a straight 1hr 53 minutes of Oasis.

― kelpolaris, Saturday, 22 October 2011 21:58 (6 days ago)

almost an hour in and no oasis (except talking head noel)

or did they just show up fully formed one day and watch the money come pouring in?

― rustic italian flatbread, Friday, 28 October 2011 20:47 (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That description pretty much covers it.

so 68 mins then

Have they mentioned that bloke who used to hang out around here?

Got this taped tonight. So, is it any good? (I want lots of 89/90 Ride etc.)

xpost no I don't think so.

Maybe the "at the BBC" show, maybe.

No M0mus. Nowhere enough Telescopes ;_;

Nice to see that Upside Down documentary wasn't "all about Oasis", and that the Super Furry Animals got a mention right at the end (as they should, since they were probably McGee's last great signing to the label). But I don't think it told the "full story" about the demise of Creation, y'know... absolutely nothing about 'Be Here Now', or the reaction to Kevin Rowland's 'My Beauty', or Mishka... which was surely one of McGee's great follies and came right at the tail end of the Creation "story"...

And my god, is 'Imperial' a lovely track. Love early Primals.

The only time I saw them live was around this time.

Good grief, Mishka's still around.

http://mishka.com/

xpost:

I'm more than bit jealous! I love 'Screamadelica'/'XTRMNTR' (which I noticed Bobby G seemed really pissed off about, re: the marketing/promo due to Creation closing!), but their early stuff is very very underrated IMO, some truly wonderful songs there.

Here's a thing, I've never heard "Feed me with your kiss" until now!

Ah, now the Primals on TOTP with "Loaded"

At the time, they looked weird. Now it's the standard look for a 'fill-in' band backing the contestants on X-Factor "brit-pop" week.

Good grief, Mishka's still around.

http://mishka.com/

― Ned Raggett, Friday, October 28, 2011 9:56 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

Christ! Who would've thought!? I remember reading the news of Mishka being signed to Creation in the music press, and I just remember thinking "well, he doesn't seem like a Creation artist"... it seemed like the latest in a line of things which gave the impression that McGee was losing his touch and the label were 'losing it'... 'Be Here Now' flopping was one, the rumours that 'My Beauty' had sold a pitiful amount of copies (and of course who could forget the cover?)...

I think Dave Gahan learned a thing or two from Bobby Gillespies moves 'back in the day'!

Well they did tour together and all in 1993. But Dave had his routine down WELL before then.

1994, actually, but anyway.

Mishka, like Sugar, were amongst a bunch of acts that weren't 'defined' at all by being on Creation, so no great surprise *he*'s still going.

Y'know, watching Ride now... and it's amazing to think Andy Bell ended up forming 'Hurricane #1' and then ended up playing bass for Oasis... and you listen to this and think "why!? why did you want to go in that direction!?"... I mean, I appreciate that the times they were a'changing and all that, but fuck!!

"My Beauty" supposedly only sold 400 "on all formats", so I must have the rarest minidisc release of all time.

Except the story is obviously bol.

OMG:

Mishka (born Alexander Mishka Frith,[1] 1974) is an internationally known reggae artist from Bermuda. He released his first self-titled album Mishka in 1999 and had a hit single in the UK with "Give You All The Love". He is currently signed to Matthew McConaughey's record label, j.k. livin, and is touring in support of his latest album, Talk About.

Well they did tour together and all in 1993. But Dave had his routine down WELL before then.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, October 28, 2011 10:06 PM (56 seconds ago) Bookmark

Ah, y'see I've never seen any footage of the World Violation tour... but there seems to me to be a hell of a difference between his 101/Music For The Masses stage presence and that on Devotional(!). Allegedly the Primals were more than a bit taken aback by Depeche's level of partying on that tour... I'm really not surprised that tour nearly broke them.

The saddest thing about the 'stopping' of Creation was seeing the upcoming schedule of albums, now documented on a number of Creation fan websites as "CRE 1562 - Dexys Midnight Runners album - unreleased".

AlMac talks about bowing out with dignity, but I have absolutely no doubt the whole thing happened purely due to Sony interference and Macg had absolutely no control over timing or situation. I don't blame him at all though.

Ah Tony McCarrol, bless him. Don't he look a lot like Lol "lol" Tolhurst?

“It’s a story of relentless ambition, mental torment, drugs, bankruptcy, unfathomable wealth, courting politicians and of how one written-off young Glaswegian upstart rose to irrevocably change the face of British culture,” according to the film’s production company...

https://iadsb.tmgrup.com.tr/38c561/645/344/0/41/800/467?u=https://idsb.tmgrup.com.tr/2019/03/21/600k-sign-uk-government-petition-calling-to-revoke-article-50-stay-in-eu-1553158383295.jpg

The burning question will be, who plays Rubber Jaw?

Awesome, can't wait. Creation & Mute mean far more to me than Factory ever did.

The production company can use that quote in the promotional material.

fbclid=IwAR3r3GQ0xCUGanCMuRoblfmYl68cdWCaojThJyea39G8kBYddFHKWX0vod8

I am available to provide additional dialogue should the filmmakers require it - particularly in those scenes involving the character of Bobby Gillespie. I also feel that the Old Etonian just out of RADA they pick to play Bobby might need a dialogue coach to help them perfect Bobby's extremely working class accent.

Got excited for a second as I saw the name 'Cavanagh' in there, which could ideally have meant the inclusion of the Terry Bickers curry binge scene but then realised it's to be based on McGee's autobiography. Have long since fantasised about a film of gargantuan length based on My Magpie Eyes.... featuring Lawrence, House Of Love, Baby Amphetamine etc, but all things considered, this will most likely be terrible

https://www.nme.com/news/music/creation-stories-movie-alan-mcgee-irvine-welsh-danny-boyle-oasis-interview-movie-2477425

Given the people involved I think McGee’s book makes sense as the source text, but I have low expectations.

‘My Magpie Eyes...’ is a phenomenal book, I need to re-read it. Could it work as a film? Certainly wouldn’t provide McGee with the same opportunities for myhologising.

Would love to read My Magpie Eyes, but it's always going for silly money. Presumably a reprint will never happen?

xpost I know it's implausible but we're allowed to fantasise. There are so many bizarre stories across the eras in the Cavanagh book but I can't imagine them making it anywhere near a screenplay, let alone not vetoed by McGee. Fully expect it to be dominated by the Scream and Oasis and painting McGee in a flattering light

this will be pure wank

Paul and Jim both firmly OTM in those two posts.

The film would seem a great opportunity to get “the accountants version of the story” (McGee, of course) back in print.

Was watching Upside Down the Creation Records Story on Amazon Prime last night. Throughout, there were interview clips of an old man in a bowler hat who I don't remember being identified onscreen. My guess being that the man was deceased and the interviews were archival and anyone familiar with the label would understand that. Can anyone help me out here?

https://i.imgur.com/q7Hf59H.png

That's BP Fallon

That’s BP Fallon: “ageing Irish DJ, music guru and McGee’s Death Disco co-conspirator (“purple-browed Beep” in T.Rex’s Telegram Sam).”

Thanks all. And he's still alive! Wonder what was up with the old-timey television conceit.

Holy shit, that biopic. What a trainwreck, poor Ewen Bremner carrying the weight of the whole thing, lucky he's a good actor.

It died a death didn’t it?? Literally vanished without trace. I was half tempted to watch it but I feel like those stories have been told a million times.

Guessing it was a tax-dodge thing for somebody(?) Like Status Quo's heist movie.

It was made by Nick Moran, and I feel he had one eye on his mate Dexter.

Problem is, there's really not much of a tale to tell, so it's leavened out with huge amounts of super-real scenes, like Trainspotting and Human Traffic 25+ years too late.

It also makes me crazy how filmmakers who decide to do this kind of movie (esp British ones) can never get a simple scenario like a small gig to look/feel right.

I think 'Control' just about managed it, but the scenes of MBV playing in The Living Room with the crowd (of about 30 people) jumping in the air pumping their fists and rotating 360 degrees while screaming in joy, come the fuck on.

There is a very good recreation of a gig at a 80s shithole uk venue in Nico 1988.

That pre-Smiths Morrissey biopic of a few years ago was particularly bad at this.

sorry to pop in here with an interruption, but that WHAT??

i just watched the trailer and omg how did i miss this????? it looks absolutely, tremendously terrible. i must watch it.

It was a lot better than I expected. Then again, I was expecting very little, but it was mmm passable.

Well, I tried to sorta sum it up

https://theshfl.com/guide/creation-records

i can't find page 2 where you obviously talk at length about revolving paint dream.

Alack.

A lesser-heralded aspect of the collapse of Creation is the whole decade of attempts to make Edward Ball a big star, though I appreciate that if I had a label like that I would probably indulge my friends just as much.

The funny thing is, "Pirate Playlist 66" is one of my favourite albums of all time, whereas I find most of his other albums alright/interesting at best.

Thing about Creation I often think about is how in 2000 when they no longer existed but to release the final singles from XTRMNTR they spun off seemingly utterly uncommercial things like Exterminator and *still* they made the UK Top 40. That's the fanbase era of chartdom in full, gleaming effect.

like Accelerator ahem

Can I just say the best song ever released on Creation by anyone is Love in a Car

I've not heard that LP in forever because i only have it on tape. would buy a CD but the only choice seems to be the 5cd deluxe box which is 4 CDs too many (i must already have 6 copies of Christine and shine on)

I loved Creation's breadth of styles and their onward progression through various styles.

And yet, House of Love, Ride, various others I never saw what the intense love was about.

scrolling through their discography it occurs that the only thing saving them from turning into a complete embarrassment in the second half of the 90s was SFA. not sorry

but after Xtrmntr and Guerrilla my third favourite Creation album is C'mon Kids :(

oh that's up there for me too, don't think of them as late 90s though! and XTRMNTR isn't even 90s lol (i like it too)

cmon kids as best boos album is a great call tbc

nah was just saying C'mon Kids was second half of the 90s!

This thread prompted me to sell The Telescopes Precious Little EP at the record store. A nastier sounding piece of vinyl would be hard to imagine. I got $5 for it though!

House of Love is a total classic, on the other hand.

I can’t think of any record that encapsulates the nightmare of the last 20ish years as well as XTRMNTR.

Right? I discovered it right at the beginning of lockdown, it absolutely hits the right (f-ed up) tones of the times.

C'mon Kids is a masterpiece, one day I will poll it.

Will just need to make sure Dog Latin is around

C'mon Kids is a masterpiece, one day I will poll it.

― Bee OK, Thursday, October 13, 2022 10:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

there's a 33 1/3 book inside me about C'mon Kids.

It's a great British Psychedelic album, as good as Piper, Butterfly, Sgt Pepper etc.

Songs about the seaside - check
Creepy Childrens song - check
Guitar Freakouts - check
William Blake reference - check
'pop' songs for 'the kids' - check

xp I'm around!