Blues Creation is a Japanese
rock band formed in
Tokyo in 1969. Led by guitarist/singer Kazuo Takeda, they were known as Blues Creation from 1969 to 1972 and after a three-year hiatus returned as simply Creation in 1975.
Biography
Blues Creation was formed in 1969 by guitarists Kazuo Takeda and Koh Eiryu and singer Fumio Nunoya following the dissolution of their
group sounds band The Bickies.
In October 1969 Blues Creation released their self-titled debut album of American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
covers,
featuring songs written by
Sonny Boy Williamson,
Memphis Slim,
Chester Burnett,
J. Mayall-
E. Clapton,
Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American gospel blues singer, guitarist and evangelist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930—thirty songs in total—display a combination of powerful "ch ...
,
Willie Dixon
William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...
and
Otis Rush
Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s art ...
. After some lineup changes, August 1971 saw the release of their first album of original material, ''Demon & Eleven Children''. That year they also released ''Carmen Maki & Blues Creation'', which had the band fronted by female vocalist
Carmen Maki
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
. Each Blues Creation album other than their first features songs written by Takeda and consists of a constantly shifting lineup. At the end of that same year, Blues Creation released their final album, ''Blues Creation Live''.
Takeda started a three-piece group called simply Creation toured Japan with American hard rock band
Mountain in 1973. Mountain broke up soon after their Japanese tour, and partly due to hearing loss from playing so loud, bassist
Felix Pappalardi focused on producing other bands. 1975 saw the self-titled ''Creation'', which was produced by
Yuya Uchida and featured a cover photo of a dozen nude boys full-frontal urinating.
Pappalardi decided to help Creation work on their next album and invited the band to his
Nantucket, Massachusetts home for two months of rehearsals. Over that time the project transformed into a musical collaboration with songs being written mostly by Pappalardi, his wife
Gail Collins Pappalardi and Takeda. The album recorded at New York’s Bearsville Studios was released in April 1976 as ''Creation with Felix Pappalardi''. Creation released a final album ''Pure Electric Soul'' in 1977, once again featuring a cover with nude boys at the front of a bus.
It was ranked number 62 on ''
Rolling Stone Japan''s 2007 list of the greatest Japanese rock albums of all time, while its song "Spinning Toe-Hold" was named the 37th best guitar instrumental by ''
Young Guitar Magazine'' in 2019.
Kazuo Takeda has released more than 20 solo albums including 1978's ''Super Rock in the Highest Voltage''. He now works as a session guitarist in
Los Angeles. Takeda attributes his further musical development to his friendship with Pappalardi who encouraged him to branch out into
jazz and other styles. He occasionally still plays live in Asia with former Creation drummer Masayuki Higuchi, and most recently produced Hong Kong's premier bluesman Tommy Chung's album ''Play My Blues'' (2006).
Discography
Blues Creation
*''Blues Creation'' (1969)
*''Demon & Eleven Children'' (1971)
*''Carmen Maki & Blues Creation'' (1971)
*''Blues Creation Live'' (1971)
Creation
*''Creation'' (1975)
*''Creation with Felix Pappalardi'' (1976)
*''Pure Electric Soul'' (1977)
*''Pacific Rock Creation and Little River Band'' (1977)
*''Super Rock in the Highest Voltage'' (1978)
*''The Super Best'' (1978)
*''Lonely Heart'' (1981)
*''Rock City'' (1982)
*''Best of'' (1989)
References
External links
Official websiteStoner Rock magazine interview with Takeda Kazuo*
ttps://www.discogs.com/Blues-Creation-Demon-Eleven-Children/master/35402 Discogs Blues Creation – Demon & Eleven Children{{Authority control
Japanese hard rock musical groups
Japanese psychedelic rock music groups