'Upside Down: The Creation Records Story' Reviews

Review From the ScotsMan
Upside Down: The Creation Records Story (15) ***
Directed by: Danny O'Connor

THERE'S a running joke in this amusing documentary about Creation Records that one of the reasons the label became so distinctive was because nobody could really understand what its Glasgwegian founder Alan McGee was saying half the time; the music he put out therefore had to do most of the talking. It's not really true, of course. Though his bands – and he launched the careers of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream and, most famously, Oasis – certainly made plenty of noise, McGee was never a shadowy background figure. His passion for music and his determination to put out only the bands that he liked (even when the bands that he liked included The Telescopes) was matched by a determination to lead the same kind of debauched rock'n'roll lifestyle as his acts.

The film celebrates all this in gleeful fashion, running through Creation's punky Scottish origins to its bloated, Tony Blair-endorsed, champagne soaked end-point. Lots of rare archival footage and new interviews with the likes of Noel Gallagher and the now clean-and-sober McGee ensure that it's entertainingly riotous, though as a film, its print-the-legend approach could have used a few dissenting voices to balance out the rampant mythmaking.

Review From Radio Times
3 Starts out of 5

This overpopulated but evocative chronicle of the rise and fall of Creation Records — which, between 1983 and 1999, gave the world The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and, more lucratively, Britpop superstars Oasis — is guilty of the same self-mythologising as the independent label itself. Founded in London by visionary Glaswegian Alan McGee in the fertile aftermath of punk, Creation was as much about revolutionary spirit as selling records, its reputation forged on signing cool bands that couldn't necessarily play and a relentless wooing of the music press. A garrulous and entertaining McGee dominates the documentary, as effusive as any recovering addict (his drug-linked breakdown is candidly covered), but contributions from key players, including Oasis kingpin Noel Gallagher, add colour and wry humour. Blending grainy archive with black and white testimony, and drawing on a squealing, pumping soundtrack, first-time director Danny O'Connor captures the hedonistic mood of a particular time — although anyone who wasn't there might find it a bit impenetrable.

The movie is released on the 9th of May, to order the DVD, Blu-Ray or Sound track click here.