3 Colours Red/Hurricane #1 - LA2, London

Where on earth is Alan McGee going to keep all the money set to come his way over the next few months? With the big guns of Oasis, Primals and Kevin Rowland (yeah, you'd better believe it - gotta problem with that?) still to be revived, tonight's new wave of creative Creation excellence further confirms the suspicion that McGee could quite conceivably buy Luxembourg soon.

Hurricane #1 are breathtaking. While being talked up, not entirely surprisingly, as the vehicle for the return of Ride's Andy Bell (aka The Coolest Man In Rock) the reality is that they're very much an ensemble concern, with the singer (and ex-boxer) Alex Lowe, drummer Gareth Farmer and bassist Will Pepper all railroading the imagination as determinedly as the glacial Bell.

Six songs. The first five are all classics. They've got names like "Mother Superior" and "Chain Reaction" and they're possessed of a gorgeous swirly business that makes guitars sound like barbed wire satellites. Check the new Charlatans album for similar dreamers.

Someone in the crowd lobs a Guinness can at Bell. He fixes the culprit with a piercing stare for a good three minutes. A very good three minutes, since he punctuates the pierce with a bizarre mantra from "Raging Bull". Then, as the guy walks away, a spat out "c***", before the band surge into their debut single, "Step Into My World". And this one goes way beyond classic. There's a cascading melancholy all caught up with something so life-affirming you wonder both how you ever did without it, and also how, maybe, it's always been there, somewhere in your heart. Just waiting. It's, it's, oh, f*** it, just go out and buy a hundred.

While Hurricane #1's strength comes from an elegant obliqueness, 3 Colours Red adopt a far more strident, direct approach. Which is no bad thing. While you sense that, in some ways, they're the Pistols or The Clash that McGee always wanted on his label, they transcend mere retro shape-shifting with an unstoppable energy and a top line in noisy pop. "Nuclear Holiday" and "Sixty Mile Smile" are every bit as engaging as you'd expect, but it's other selections from their forthcoming "Pure" album (particularly "Copper Girl" and "Fit Boy") that map out a capacity for something more enduring.

Live performance is obviously their forte as they run through a whole heap of classic rock poses, from low-strung guitars and punk vogueing to quite marvellous choreographed movement about the stage. When they all take two steps forward, you'd swear they were trying to beat some kind of rock'n'roll offside trap.

A fine night out and as confident a statement of intent as you'd expect from Creation, well, just about every week from now until hell freezes over.

Irrepressibly spectacular.

Paul Mathur, Melody Maker 5th April 1997

Astoria, London

The heroes of this year's Oscars were Bob and Harvey Weinstein, heads of the independent Miramax. Having backed such inspired, left-field movies such as 'Trainspotting' and 'Fargo', they ended up garnering more awards than all the major Hollywood studios put together.

It could be said that Creation records are the Miramax of music. They gave us Primal Scream, one of the few white bands around with genuine soul. They backed Super Furry Animals, who have bypassed punk rock, all the Eighties and most of the Nineties, to become one of the best bands in Britain. Their recent signing, Arnold, sound like Radiohead with-out the rough edges, while the phenomenal success and continued brilliance of Oasis prove that sometimes the people are right.

And now Hurricane #1.

Admittedly, whenever Alan McGee signs a new band he says they're the best thing since Oasis, and it has to be said he doesn't always get it right (case in point: tonight's headliners, 3 Colours Red, look and sound like S*M*A*S*H's dads.) But Hurricane #1 are the real deal.

Formed by Ride song-writer and guitarist Andy Bell, they are a world away from the now defunct shoegazers. "Just Another Illusion" and "Mother Superior" are as dirty and as real as the Scream.

The debut single, "Step Into My World" is what is known in the business as a grower, but after three listens, it does - and how. The slightly awestruck little cousin of "Slide Away", it is very Oasis, from the soaring lyric "I think we're dreaming the same dream". But then any guitar music post-Oasis is going to have to acknowledge their influence, just as boxing post-Muhammed Ali could never be the same again.

In 25-year-old ex-boxer Alex Lowe, Hurricane #1 have a frontman up there with Liam. Vocally, he sounds as resolutely true and unbeaten as 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'-era Springsteen.

Visually, he combines Springsteen's bulldog sexuality with the glamour of Flavor Flav at his most stoopid: strutting exaggeratedly around the stage in a shiny zipped up jacket, lying flat on the floor when he gets bored.

As with the young Springsteen, what takes it beyond traditional rock is that this paragon of working class masculinity delivers such thoughtful words and music. Alex Lowe is a Star. He clearly always was and always will be in his head, regardless of whether or not they make it. I'm inclined to believe the hype. Just don't mention 3 Colours Red.

Emma Forrest, The Independent 4th April 1997