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Baker's Dozen

Champion Versions: Steve Mason's Favourite Albums
Joe Clay , March 2nd, 2016 11:04

With his new solo album, Meet The Humans, just released, the prolific musician and former Beta Band man gives Joe Clay a tour of his record collection, meandering through electro, hip-hop, punk and more

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The Creation – How Does It Feel To Feel
I bought this when I was a mod. It's actually a compilation that came out in 1982. At the time, there were elements that reminded me of early Who – there's quite a wild guitar sound. It's very different, but in my head I could hear similarities. There's a darkness to The Creation that I loved. You listen to 'Through My Eyes' - "If you could see through my eyes, you'd be in for a big surprise." Or "How does it feel to feel?" Fucking brilliant. There's a track called 'Making Time', which to me is like a classic mod band track, very danceable. They covered 'Cool Jerk', which is like nothing they'd have written themselves – it's an R&B dance track. I think they're an amazing band. Eddie Phillips was quite a revolutionary guitar player. He played it with a violin bow on 'Making Time'. It's easy in the time that we live now to forget how mind-blowing these effects were to hear on record for the first time. Like backwards guitar. Or delay – I think that was on a Slim Harpo record. These things that now seem normal. The Creation didn't have that much success but their contribution in that change from British pop to British rock is really fucking important. They were part of that stepping stone, but ultimately they've got some great songs.