LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

• Label: Ojo De Mujer
• Edition: Coloured vinyl – yellow

Originally released in 1969, Creation was the third album by Texas psychedelic rock group Fever Tree. Following the success of “San Francisco Girls” and the group’s first two LPs, the record found them moving further into heavier, more exploratory territory while retaining the elaborate arrangements and melodic sensibility that had characterised their earlier work.

Produced by Scott and Vivian Holtzman, the album combines fuzz guitar, organ, strings and dramatic vocals with arrangements that move between heavy psychedelia, blues rock and baroque-influenced pop. Rather than settling into a single style, Creation constantly shifts mood, giving the record an unpredictable and distinctly late-1960s character.

“Woman, Woman (Woman)” opens with a compact blend of heavy guitar and theatrical vocal phrasing, followed by the more melodic “Love Makes the Sun Rise.” “Catcher in the Rye” introduces a darker psychedelic atmosphere, while “Wild Woman Ways” stretches into a heavier blues-rock performance driven by guitar and organ.

“Fever Blue” closes the first side with a slower, more atmospheric arrangement, while “Run Past My Window” opens side two with one of the album’s strongest melodic hooks. The extended “Imitation Situation (Complete and Unabridged)” is among the record’s most adventurous pieces, moving through changing sections, psychedelic guitar passages and dramatic ensemble shifts.

“Time Is Now” combines a strong rhythmic foundation with an increasingly expansive arrangement, before “The God Game” brings the album to a suitably dramatic close. Together, the nine tracks show Fever Tree moving beyond straightforward psychedelic rock towards a broader and more ambitious sound.

Long appreciated by collectors of American heavy psych and late-1960s underground rock, Creation remains one of the most distinctive albums in Fever Tree’s catalogue. This Ojo De Mujer edition presents the complete original album on coloured vinyl.

Track listing:

Side A
A1. Woman, Woman (Woman) – 2:33
A2. Love Makes the Sun Rise – 2:32
A3. Catcher in the Rye – 3:12
A4. Wild Woman Ways – 4:05
A5. Fever Blue – 3:33

Side B
B1. Run Past My Window – 3:25
B2. Imitation Situation (Complete and Unabridged) – 4:47
B3. Time Is Now – 4:05
B4. The God Game – 4:35