Creation (Japanese band)

Blues Creation was formed in January 1969 by guitarists Kazuo Takeda and Koh Eiryu and singer Fumio Nunoya following the dissolution of their group sounds band The Bickies (ザ・ビッキーズ).

[6] Choosing songs that Nunoya could sing well,[6] it consists entirely of American blues covers,[4] including "Checkin' Up on My Baby", "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Spoonful" and "All Your Love".

[5] With Masashi Saeki on bass, Blues Creation signed to Nippon Columbia's Denon label, and Takeda said their producer gave them a lot of freedom to record.

[5] Nippon Columbia was one of these desperate to sign the singer, so Takeda and company picked material from Maki's daily listening records and wrote some original songs for her.

[9] Tomoyuki Hokari of OK Music has cited both Demon & Eleven Children and Carmen Maki/Blues Creation as having laid the foundation for Japanese rock.

[10][11] AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia writes that the former album achieved "legendary status" decades later for its "primal, proto-metallic acid rock".

[5] No longer sticking to one genre, but also not wanting to start from scratch, they dropped "Blues" from the name and called their new group simply "Creation".

[12] Their self-titled album was released in 1975, with Uchida producing and a cover photo of a dozen nude boys full-frontal urinating.

[5] Pappalardi ended up helping Creation with their second album and invited them to his Nantucket, Massachusetts home, where they recorded together at New York's Bearsville Studios.

[5][12] The concerts included acts such as Kiss, Yes and Johnny Winter, while the following year's tour of Australia featured Fleetwood Mac and Santana.

[3][12] Splitting with Pappalardi, Creation released the Uchida-produced album Pure Electric Soul in 1977, once again featuring a cover with nude boys, this time at the front of a bus.

[15] The band's April 1981 single "Lonely Heart" was used as the ending theme song of the TV show Pro Hunter and became a nationwide hit, reaching number 8 on the Oricon Singles Chart, selling nearly 380,000 copies in 29 weeks, and earning the group appearances on shows such as The Best Ten.

[17] Kazuo Takeda has released many solo albums and works as a session guitarist in Los Angeles after moving there in March 1997.

[16] As of 2023, Takeda returns to Japan twice a year, in the spring and the fall,[18] to perform with Creation and his solo band Flash Kaz & The Comets.