Alan McGee and The Story of Creation Records

I think all the reviews of this so far - from the one star to the five star write ups - all have merit.For me, Alan McGee & The Story of Creation Records is a solid 5 stars. But that rating does come with one qualification - if you're a Creation fan, you'll get loads from it. If you're unfamiliar with the label, a lot of the book's content isn't really going to provide you with a way in - for instance it doesn't provide you with a timeline or much of an explanation as to who anyone is, or why their records mattered.Creation had been defunct for around 16 years when this book was published in 2015, around the same length of time the label existed. I don't know if this was intentional, but the time gap makes it all the more interesting - a peek into what is now another era, but with a lot of the memories of those telling the story still pretty vivid.Full marks to Paolo Hewitt for assembling an interesting bunch of interviewees, (and for being upfront about how he got into Creation. He doesn't pretend he "got it" from day one). There are of course interviewees we'd all like to hear from - such as Dick Green (who in a way is a bit of an Alan Erasmus character - a central member of the story's cast, he never pops up anywhere to tell his side, and in the process allows a good amount of mystique to be retained). Then of course it would also be great to hear from lots of people. The book's strength is that its focus is on a few people rather than trying to overstretch itself and be "objective".The book has its failings, I guess - it has the feel of a work that's had minimal editing. It's basically reads like its transcriptions of audio interviews. This is fine - and it makes for a very quick, easy-flowing read. But there are times when an interviewee goes "we'll cover [XYZ question] later" and you kind of wonder if it wouldn't have been so difficult just to amend the question or weave the supplementary answers into the text.All in all, it's a big recommend from me. Especially if you are the kind of individual who owns (and still listens to) more than four LPs by Biff Bang Pow.

I really wanted to read about the birth of Creation and how the bands developed. Instead, this is a verbatim account of interviews that could really have done with some editing: all irrelevant asides are included. For example, at one point, Mr Hewitt says (something like), "Someone said, the other day... who was it?" To my (admittedly unskilled) mind, it's not worth including this if we don't know who said it. There are many such examples.Other than that, it's an overly sweary account of debauchery and sexual conquests seemingly overshadowing the music, it seems. I struggled to find any character I liked or with whom I could identify. I tried to persist but, at 75%, I ditched it, preferring to move to something that did not make me feel so disgusted.In short, it seems that the music on Creation is some of the best that has ever been recorded. The people behind it, not so much.

I struggled at first with this book, being in an interview format it felt like it should be an article in a magazine. However, it didn't take long to get into the flow of it and found it to be a really open and interesting read into the life of Alan and Creation. The Oasis section felt a bit light but that could be because they were not as involved in Alan's life as much as the Primals.

Good memories but not my favourite book of those times. What times they were!

If you’re interested in the music industry, grew up in 90s with britpop and love music cos music is life then you’ll love this. Some great stories,funny,insightful and I like the interview format they use to tell the story. Alan Mc Gee is a genius and I really appreciate what he did because of what everyone got out of it. Amazing music,great times. Peace!

Loved Oasis so it was good to read about Alan, and how Creation records was founded, and how and where Oasis were discovered.

A collection of interviews, that's all, flung together, with a lot of repetition. This book drains the life out of Creation's story.

Typical Paulo Hewitt thrown together book. I should have known better. Basically an uninteresting interview in book form. I was hoping to learn about an interesting and dynamic record label and its founders but there is no depth to this at all. Don't bother!

Nice to see Alan McGee coming from nothing, sticking to his ideals and making a go out of it and succeeded. Buy drugs gets in the way but he found salvation when he had neurotic collapse. He leaned a great degree of self control and as a human, he is all the better for it. Love the bands from that label.