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 noncharting singles and line-up changes (including Ron Wood), the band broke up in 1968 without ever having released an album in the UK. 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.

This 4 LP box set has been designed by Phil Smee and the album sleeves feature photos from his collection. The four LPs include all of The Creation’s legendary recordings for Shel Talmy (the 2016 stereo mixes appear on LP for the first time), “We Are Paintermen” replicating the 1966 German LP, the only Creation album released anywhere in the 60s. “How Does It Feel To Feel “rounds up the remainder of the 60s recordings, and the 1987 album “Psychedelic Rose” and the 1996 Creation Records album “Power Surge” complete the set.