A Better Life - Complete Creations 1983-1991 (Clamshell Box)

Biff Bang Pow! were responsible for many classic singles, a solid string of great albums, and basically helped establish the sound and style of Creation Records during its formation. Made up of the labels founders and luminaries (Alan McGee, Dick Green, Andrew Innes) it was no wonder that they established Creations sound; the funny thing is that they didnt get much credit for it at the time. If they were mentioned at all, it seemed to be to slag them as a McGee vanity project. Cherry Reds exhaustive collection A Better Life: Complete Creations 1984-1991 tells the bands story using singles, B-sides, album outtakes, demos, and rare live recordings, and in doing so totally debunks that theory and unearths them as one of the premier indie pop bands of the era. The group began as jangling punks, building a sound on Dexys, garage rock, punk, and the Byrds that sounds just as fresh decades later as it did at the time. Beginning with the "Fifty Years of Fun" single, the band proved adept at juxtaposing hooks with melancholy, giving McGee a lovely backdrop for tales of frustration and woe. 1987s The Girl Who Runs the Beat Hotel is the pinnacle of this early approach, mixing Joe Fosters echoing production with the yearning songs written by McGee and vocalist Christine Wanless and coming up with a timeless weeper spiced with the occasional flash of art pop weirdness. A subtle shift occurred with the same years Oblivion. The band took over production themselves and made a more polished record meant to compete with the top bands on Creation at the time. It would be hard to find another guitar pop record made during the time that bests it; songs like "In a Mourning Town" and "Shes Got Diamonds in Her Hair" have all the gripping drama, plangent melodies, and tear-stained lyrics one could ever want, and taken as a whole, its classic. Love Is Forever isnt far behind quality-wise and brought some new influences like Neil Young to the table. McGees songs just kept getting more personal and more heart-wrenching, and the bands final two albums were basically him spilling his guts while strumming an acoustic guitar. Less pop with a capital "P" but still painfully effective. If the set were just the collected albums it would be worth buying, but the extras make it a fans dream. Not only are there demos -- including one for "Shes Got Diamonds" that glitters like the object in question -- theres a super fun live set from 1987, all the non-LP tracks, and the lost mini-album Sixteen Velvet Fridays, which was supposed to follow Beat Hotel, but was shelved at the last minute. Added to these goodies is a full disc of tracks from pre-BBP! groups the Laughing Apple and Newspeak, plus a four-song demo McGee recorded with Jowe Head. It all adds up to something pretty beautiful; a fitting artifact for a band who crafted some of the most thrilling, most melancholy, and longest-lasting music of the early Creation/post-C-86 era, even if no one really noticed it at the time. ~ Tim Sendra