Upside Down: The Story of Creation Records - review

There's one great stroke of genius to Upside Down, Danny O'Connor's chronicle of the birth, glory years and demise of mouthy mogul Alan McGee's iconic record label. It's the lack of a voiceover: O'Connor eschews traditional narration in favour of nuggets of rock'n'roll wisdom, spoken by ageing Irish DJ, music guru and McGee's Death Disco co-conspirator BP Fallon ("purple-browed beep" in T Rex's Telegram Sam). Fallon is shot in monochrome and beamed onto a grainy 50s TV set – a move that ensures the film stays in tune with the vibe of the bands Creation championed: amongst others Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, The Pastels, The Jazz Butcher, Felt, Ride, Super Furry Animals, and most lucratively, Oasis.

The main players tell the story themselves in interviews spliced with archive footage from throughout Creation's 20-odd year history. There are some noticeable absentees - Lawrence from Felt, producer Andrew Weatherall, the Jesus and Mary Chain's William Reid and Liam Gallagher – and almost no points of contention between any of the talking heads.

At the end of the US premiere at SXSW, O'Connor explained the difficulties involved in getting all parties involved to appear – Jim Reid agrees, William Reid declines as a result, and so on. Lawrence (surely the biggest loss) was apparently very ill for much of the shoot. It's clear O'Connor takes his subject matter pretty seriously, and, as a result, this is a much straighter take on a label than that offered on Factory, Creation's contemporaries, by Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People.

For those already familiar with the story, there's little new to learn, but there are enough fresh interviews, plus plenty of airtime given to some of the lesser-known players (unsung hero Dick Green especially), to keep Upside Down interesting.

Obviously, the Creation back catalogue provides the soundtrack, including the Jesus and Mary Chain single from which O'Connor takes his title. It was the band's debut, the label's 12th release, and the one which really launched it; whose messy, exhilarating sound somehow sums up what Creation was all about. Upside Down indeed.