The Creation - Action Painting
(Numero Group)

If you combined the explosive sound of The Who’s early singles with the classic psychedelia of the Pretty Things, you’d end up with Freakbeat pioneers, The Creation. 
While not quite underappreciated, they deserve to be right at the top of any list of essential UK Garage and Psych. They were known for their pop-art experimentations, including live painters on stage (thanks to their chart-topping hit “Painter Man”) and most notably, Eddie Phillips’ use of a bow on his electric guitar. He’s reportedly the first to do so (yes, before Page) and you can hear that standout effect on “Painter Man” and on one of the all-time great singles of any genre: “Making Time.”
Their career was quite short, (‘66-’69) and their LP only managed to see release in Germany and Denmark, but their run of singles in that time was near-perfect. All of this makes Numero Group’s new examination of the band, Action Painting, quite fitting. This double LP puts together all of their recorded output including new stereo mixes plus 4 songs by pre-Creation beat group The Mark IV. All tracks have been remastered by the original producer Shel Talmy. Absolutely required Garage / Psych of the highest order. (Dom)
Check out a track here.