Where bought? I can't really tell you on that count. Maybe from the Alans Records pop-up for a very low price. I can tell you why I bought it, but that might eat up some of the word count downpage.
Helios Creed was the guitarist - and essentially one half of the creative unit - of Chrome, who I reviewed earlier in this project. When Damon (the other half) took off for France, he took the name with him. Creed soldiered on under his own name (and also a version of Chrome called Helios Creed's Chrome, after a lawsuit) and never quite made the same impact. Separating out Damon's nihilism and Creed's psychedelic exploration seemed to kill the dialectic, maybe?
Now, I'm not the one to follow the extensive solo careers of the once-pioneering, particularly in the way of owning loads of physical stuff. But I heard a track from this on a compilation that we'll probably get to in about 2023 and just completely freaked out. It is called 'Sister Sarah' and it sits innocuously on Side B here, almost unaware of its existence as backwards guitar sounding like a countdown to Armageddon. It seemed to take the cool bits of Chrome songs and apply them to an endless freewheeling exploratory rhythm.
Listening again, I suppose the rhythm section might sound a bit more separate and punched-in. And then, recently, I found out perhaps why. Here's Rey Washam, drummer on the record (and for several others), on this record:
boxing the clown was a record written and recorded in about a week. i know becouse i played drums on the fucker. helios just wanted to kind of throw things together, in the studio as well as life. the guys a fucking genius when it comes to recording backwards guitar, i would find this out when we started to mess with sister sarah.
i too LOVE this song. it is one of my favorite recordings of all time. still sends shivers. anywho, that song was MY baby. i didn't really give a shit about the other stuff cause H was in such a damn hurry and didn't want to put much thought or time into things. i started a drum beat and H played the original and only forward tracked guitar line of that song. the drums needed to be up front for that one to keep time cause there was very little rythm going on. i guess he just left the drum mixes that hot for the rest of the album. i know that H loved the drums loud. so we had a basic drum track and rythym guitar track and I asked H if he could do some backwards shit knowing that chrome records of which i was a big fan had cool guitar effects on them. i had no idea had incredible H would be at that.
the bass line was simple, tonic and the fifth i believe. when we turned the tape over to let H track guitar, it was like the guy new exactly how it would sound backwards. there is no editing at all on that track. everything is precisely how it was tracked. one take for the vocals, it just flowed out, very simple lines inter twining (HA). H just made it up as the tape rolled. we slapped some stupid phase shifter on the drums and mixed it. that is where the time came into it. i listened too and played with levels for hours on that song, bringing out the cool backward phrases that i liked. it's the only song on that record that i like. again, i love that song and i don't listen to my own work but that one i think is cool.
it was all Helios. if you give a shit.
And yeah you can basically hear what Rey is saying here: the rest of them sound like jams knocked out with the rhythm just a forum for whatever combination of sound Creed has on his guitar (which, to be fair, is extensive). They could be working demos if were not for the fairly considered drum sound.
That's not a particular problem - at 38 I realise there is still a part of me that will always be open to a cool guitar player able to go wild over a solid rhythm. Memorable melodies aren't the point here; it's an experiential set, and I think I'd call it successful enough for me to want to keep hold of it for now.
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