Creation – Making Time

Thank you, Dave, for this Turntable Talk. I wrote this for his series about songs with Time in the title, in the song, or about time. I like trying out new songs on the weekend, and this is a great example of mid-sixties British Rock. If you dig the Who and Kinks…you should like this one. 

Here’s a 1966  track that hits you like a kaleidoscopic brick through a plate-glass window. This is a band that I so wish would have done more things. Their lead guitarist, Eddie Phillips, was asked by Pete Townshend to join the Who as their second guitarist. They are one of those bands that slipped through the cracks.

They were formed in 1966 from a band called The Mark Four.  The Creation was from Chesthunt, 12 miles north of central London. They formed in 1963 as the Mark Four and went through different names until 1966 when they became the Creation. The Creation was sharper, weirder, and wilder than most of their peers. They had the raw power chords and the feedback fury of early Hendrix, and the pop art mindset of a band who not only wanted to be heard, they needed to be seen as well. The lead singer, Kenny Pickett, would spray paint a canvas, and someone from the road crew would set it a fire during the set…during the song Painter Man. 

This song was released in 1966. They patterned themselves after The Who and The Kinks. It had the sonic sound of The Who, the garage grit of The Kinks, and the art-school sound with later groups like The Jam to Blur. But what really made it jump off the grooves? That guitar solo really helped out. Long before Jimmy Page, Eddie Phillips, the guitar player, used a bow. Making Time was the first rock song to feature the guitar being played with a bow. Shel Talmy produced the group that also produced The Who and The Kinks.

The band broke up in 1967-1968 with some different members. The guitar player Eddie Phillips and singer Kenny Pickett started to write songs in the seventies after leaving the business for a while. They wrote Teacher, Teacher for Rockpile.  They regrouped in the 1980s and are still out there touring. 

I’ve been talking about the Who and Kinks…a member from each band played with The Creation along with a Rolling Stone. Mick Avory, the drummer for the Kinks played with the reformed band from the mid-1980s to 1993. Doug Sandom, who was replaced by Keith Moon in the Who, played with them off and on until he died in 2019. Ronnie Wood played with them in 1968 (right before they broke up) as a vocalist and guitar player. 

They only released 3 studio albums. One in 1966 called We Are Paintermen. One in 1987 called Psychedelic Rose and another one in 1996 called Power Surge. This song peaked at #49 on the UK Charts in 1966. 

Making Time

Making time
Shooting lines
For people to believe in
Things you say
Gone in a day
Everybody leavin’
Everybody leavin’

Why do we have to carry on?
Always singing the same old song
Same old song
The same old song

Tellin’ lies
Closing your eyes
Making more excuses
Pullin’ the wool
Actin’ the fool
People have their uses
People have their uses

Why do we have to carry on?
Always singing the same old song
Same old song
The same old song

Lookin’ for
An open door
Never taking chances
Take your pick
Makes you sick
Seekin’ new advances
Seekin’ new advances

Why do we have to carry on?
Always singing the same old song
Same old song
The same old song

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

46 thoughts on “Creation – Making Time”

  5. Pingback: Creation – Making Time – MobsterTiger

  9. Thanks Max for both taking part in Turntable Talk again and also picking a pretty cool song I think few of my readers knew anything about. They do sound reminiscent of early The Who

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    1. I’m getting some UK readers today who knew of them…they just weren’t in the popular mix long enough.

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  11. Wow! I like that heavy sound that, like you say, is reminiscent of The Who, but it’s not like they are copying them. If anything, they seem less concerned with melody…more proto-punk than The Who. Of course, I need to hear more from them to tell. I’m going to check these guys out. Thanks, Max.

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    1. Thanks for giving them a try Pam. I only had a few UK readers who knew them…but I liked them right away. I forgot how I found them.

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    1. I have a huge soft spot for the Troggs. They were put down because of the Trogg tapes…but I love a lot of their garage sounding music.

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      3. Yeah, they were all sound not much subtlety, but there is a definite time and place for the Wham Bam Thank You Slam style. Not every day but… y’ know.

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      4. No not every day but they fill a gap. Plus…those Troggs tapes are awesome….probably funnier than Spinal Tap

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      1. I just brought this song by Little River Band to Randy’s attention in connection with Johnny Farnham who nowadays is known as John Farnham. It doesn’t sound much like LRB but I love it. With its jangle power pop vibe, I imagine it might be up your alley as well:

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      4. That is really cool. I felt the same when I found a power pop song from Bread…I wasn’t expecting it. I love the harmonies and the feel of it. It’s different than what they normally do.

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      9. “It’s a Long Way There” is a bit on the lush side and it’s also a pretty long track. I still think it’s great. The current incarnation of LRB, which includes no original member, put out a new album last year, “Window to the World,” which I completely missed. Haven’t checked it out yet.

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      11. You made me curious. It’s actually LRB’s song. The John Hiatt track, which is great, is called slightly different: “Window on the World,” as opposed to LRB’s “Window To The World.” I also have to say I prefer Hiatt’s song.😀

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  17. Pingback: Rockpile – Teacher Teacher – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

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