CCREVIVAL: "Cosmo's Factory"

Original released as Fantasy LP 8402

(US, July 1970)

"It may actually be our best record"(John Fogerty, 1997)

Creedence Clearwater Revival released six essential albums in just two and a half years, all bashed out quick, nothing fancy, just pure and catchy, pop-styled rock 'n' roll. This was their fifth, and it topped the U.S. album charts for nine consecutive weeks. It is quintessential Creedence. A glorious distillation of their distinctive, Southern-styled mix of choogling swamp boogie and prime, blistering pop. Eschewing the druggy psychedelic excesses of many of their San Francisco peers, the album includes both sides of their three recent hit singles, to which they added covers of songs made famous by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Bo Diddley - plus a stubbornly groovesome, extended jam of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". Elsewhere, "Travelin' Band" tips its hat to Little Richard, while Vietnam was the darker source of inspiration for "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Run Through The Jungle".

John Fogerty, the man with the grittiest, growliest voice in rock 'n' roll, once again dominates: he writes, he produces, and he sings, as well as playing guitar, saxophone, and keyboards. But within the rest of the band, simmering resentments were beginning to boil. This was to be their last major success. The cover shot was taken in their warehouse/office/rehearsal room (at 1230 Fifth Street, Berkeley), a place they had dubbed "Cosmo's Factory". John's brother Tom (who later quit, foreshadowing the end for the band) lies back, resting his feet on a sign that reads, "Lean, clean, and bluesy". A simple recipe for such enduring greatness. (Ross Fortune in «1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die»)

CCR: "Willy And The Poor Boys"

Original released on LP Fantasy 8397

(US 1969, November 2)

Make no mistake, "Willy & the Poor Boys" is a fun record, perhaps the breeziest album CCR ever made. Apart from the eerie minor-key closer "Effigy" (one of John Fogerty's most haunting numbers), there is little of the doom that colored "Green River". Fogerty's rage remains, blazing to the forefront on "Fortunate Son," a working-class protest song that cuts harder than any of the explicit Vietnam protest songs of the era, which is one of the reasons that it hasn't aged where its peers have. Also, there's that unbridled vocal from Fogerty and the ferocious playing on CCR, which both sound fresh as they did upon release. "Fortunate Son" is one of the greatest, hardest rock & rollers ever cut, so it might seem to be out of step with an album that is pretty laid-back and friendly, but there's that elemental joy that by late '69 was one of CCR's main trademarks. That joy runs throughout the album, from the gleeful single "Down on the Corner" and the lazy jugband blues of "Poorboy Shuffle" through the great slow blues jam "Feelin' Blue" to the great rockabilly spiritual "Don't Look Now," one of Fogerty's overlooked gems. The covers don't feel like throwaways, either, since both "Cotton Fields" and "The Midnight Special" have been overhauled to feel like genuine CCR songs. It all adds up to one of the greatest pure rock & roll records ever cut. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

CCREVIVAL: "Green River"

Original released on LP Fantasy 8393

(US 1969, August 3)

If anything, CCR's third album "Green River" represents the full flower of their classic sound initially essayed on its predecessor, "Bayou Country". One of the differences between the two albums is that "Green River" is tighter, with none of the five-minute-plus jams that filled out both their debut and "Bayou Country", but the true key to its success is a peak in John Fogerty's creativity. Although CCR had at least one cover on each album, they relied on Fogerty to crank out new material every month. He was writing so frequently that the craft became second-nature and he laid his emotions and fears bare, perhaps unintentionally. Perhaps that's why "Green River" has fear, anger, dread, and weariness creeping on the edges of gleeful music. This was a band that played rock & roll so joyously that they masked the, well, "sinister" undercurrents in Fogerty's songs. "Bad Moon Rising" has the famous line "Hope you've got your things together/Hope you're quite prepared to die," but that was only the most obvious indication of Fogerty's gloom. Consider all the other dark touches: the "Sinister purpose knocking at your door"; the chaos of "Commotion"; the threat of death in "Tombstone Shadow"; you only return to the idyllic "Green River" once you get lost and realize the "world is smolderin'." Even the ballads have a strong melancholy undercurrent, highlighted by "Lodi," where Fogerty imagines himself stuck playing in dead-end towns for the rest of his life. Not the typical thoughts of a newly famous rock & roller, but certainly an indication of Fogerty's inner tumult. For all its darkness, "Green River" is ultimately welcoming music, since the band rocks hard and bright and the melancholy feels comforting, not alienating. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

C.C.REVIVAL: "Bayou Country"

Original Released on LP Fantasy F-8387

(1969, January 15)

Nas vésperas de em Praga o estudante Jan Palach se ter imolado pelo fogo em protesto contra a ocupação soviética e consequente supressão das liberdades individuais trazidas pela "Primavera de Praga", é editado este segundo album dos Creedence Clearwater Revival, que define de uma vez por todas o som de marca da banda, constituindo a sua primeira obra-prima. Gravado nos estúdios RCA em Hollywood (famosos na altura por ter sido lá que os Rolling Stones gravaram "Satisfaction"), contém uma das grandes canções do ano de 1969, e da história da pop music: "Proud Mary". Escrita por John Fogerty na manhã em que saíu do exército americano, será o tema dos Creedence que ao longo dos anos terá mais versões. Elvis Presley incluí-la-á num album de 1970, e Ike & Tina Turner farão dela um estrondoso êxito em 1971, com mais de 1 milhão de cópias vendidas. O que também sucede com esta versão original, cujo single tinha saído ainda em 1968, antes do Natal, com "Born On The Bayou" no lado B. Neste mesmo dia dão-se uma série de explosões no porta-aviões norte-americano Enterprise, causando 25 mortos e 85 feridos.

CCREVIVAL Debut Album

Original released on LP Fantasy 8382

(US 1968, July 5)

Released in the summer of 1968 - a year after the summer of love, but still in the thick of the Age of Aquarius - Creedence Clearwater Revival's self-titled debut album was gloriously out-of-step with the times, teeming with John Fogerty's Americana fascinations. While many of Fogerty's obsessions and CCR's signatures are in place - weird blues ("I Put a Spell on You"), Stax R&B (Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine and a Half"), rockabilly ("Susie Q"), winding instrumental interplay, the swamp sound, and songs for "The Working Man" - the band was still finding their way. Out of all their records (discounting Mardi Gras), this is the one that sounds the most like its era, thanks to the wordless vocal harmonies toward the end of "Susie Q," the backward guitars on "Gloomy," and the directionless, awkward jamming that concludes "Walking on the Water." Still, the band's sound is vibrant, with gutsy arrangements that borrow equally from Sun, Stax, and the swamp. Fogerty's songwriting is a little tentative. Not for nothing were two of the three singles pulled from the album covers (Dale Hawkins' "Susie Q," Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You") - he wasn't an accomplished tunesmith yet. Though "The Working Man" isn't bad, the true exception is that third single, "Porterville," an exceptional song with great hooks, an underlying sense of menace, and the first inkling of the working-class rage that fueled such landmarks as "Fortunate Son." It's the song that points the way to the breakthrough of "Bayou Country", but the rest of the album shouldn't be dismissed, because judged simply against the rock & roll of its time, it rises above its peers. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

DISCOGRAPHY

Formed 1967, El Cerrito, CA, United States

Disbanded October 1972

John Fogerty (born 1945): vocals, guitar

Stu Cook (born 1945): bass, piano

Doug Clifford (born 1945): drums

Tom Fogerty (born 1941 > died 1990): rhythm guitar, vocals

1968 Sg (US Scorpio 412): A. Porterville; B. Call It Pretending

1968-06-15 Sg (US Fantasy 616): A. Suzie Q (part 1); B. Suzie Q (part 2)

1968-07-05 LP CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (US Fantasy 8382): A1. I Put a Spell on You; A2. The Working Man; A3. Suzie Q; B1. Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do); B2. Get Down Woman; B3. Porterville; B4. Gloomy; B5. Walk on the Water

1968-10 Sg (US Fantasy 617): A. I Put a Spell on You; B. Walk on the Water

1969-01-05 LP BAYOU COUNTRY (US Fantasy 8387): A1. Born on the Bayou; A2. Bootleg; A3. Graveyard Train; B1. Good Golly Miss Molly; B2. Penthouse Pauper; B3. Proud Mary; B4. Keep on Chooglin’

1969-01-15 Sg (US Fantasy 619): A. Proud Mary; B. Born on the Bayou

1969-04-15 Sg (US Fantasy 622): A. Bad Moon Rising; B. Lodi

1969-07 Sg (US Fantasy 625): A. Green River; B. Commotion

1969-08-03 LP GREEN RIVER (US Fantasy 8393): A1. Green River; A2. Commotion; A3. Tombstone Shadow; A4. Wrote a Song For Everyone; B1. Bad Moon Rising; B2. Lodi; B3. Cross-Tie Walker; B4. Sinister Purpose; B5. The Night Time Is the Right Time

1969-09-19 Sg (US Fantasy 634): A. Fortunate Son; B. Down on the Corner

1969-11-02 LP WILLY AND THE POOR BOYS (US Fantasy 8397): A1. Down on the Corner; A2. It Came Out of the Sky; A3. Cotton Fields; A4. Poorboy Shuffle; A5. Feelin’ Blue; B1. Fortunate Son; B2. Don’t Look Now (It Ain’t You or Me); B3. The Midnight Special; B4. Side o’ the Road; B5. Effigy

1970-01-02 Sg (US Fantasy 637): A. Travelin’ Band; B. Who’ll Stop the Rain

1970-04 Sg (US Fantasy 641): A. Run Through the Jungle; B. Up Around the Bend

1970-07 Sg (US Fantasy 645): A. Lookin’ Out My Back Door; B. Long as I Can See the Light

1970-07-25 LP COSMO’S FACTORY (US Fantasy 8402): A1. Ramble Tamble; A2. Before You Accuse Me; A3. Travelin’ Band; A4. Ooby Dooby; A5. Lookin’ Out My Back Door; A6. Run Through the Jungle; B1. Up Around the Bend; B2. My Baby Left Me; B3. Who’ll Stop the Rain; B4. I Heard It Through the Grapevine; B5. Long as I Can See the Light

1970-12-09 LP PENDULUM (US Fantasy 8410): A1. Pagan Baby; A2. Sailor’s Lament; A3. Chameleon; A4. Have You Ever Seen the Rain; A5. (Wish I Could) Hideaway; B1. Born to Move; B2. Hey Tonight; B3. It Just a Tought; B4. Molina; B5. Rude Awakening #2

1971-01 Sg (US Fantasy 655): A. Have You Ever Seen the Rain; B. Hey Tonight

1971-06-30 Sg (US Fantasy 665): A. Sweet Hitch-Hiker; B. Door to Door

1972-04 Sg (US Fantasy 676): A. Someday Never Comes; B. Tearin’ Up the Country

1972-04-11 LP MARDI GRAS (US Fantasy 9404): A1. Lookin’ For a Reason; A2. Take It Like a Friend; A3. Need Someone to Hold; A4. Tearin’ Up the Country; A5. Someday Never Comes; B1. What Are You Gonna Do; B2. Sail Away; B3. Hello Mary Lou; B4. Door to Door; B5. Sweet Hitch-Hiker

1973-12 LP LIVE IN EUROPE (US Fantasy 6009): A1. Born on the Bayou; A2. Green River/Suzie Q; A3. It Came Out of the Sky; B1. Door to Door; B2. Travelin’ Band; B3. Fortunate Son; B4. Commotion; B5. Lodi; C1. Bad Moon Rising; C2. Proud Mary; C3. Up Around the Bend; C4. Hey Tonight; C5. Sweet Hitch-Hiker; D. Keep On Chooglin’

"Bad Moon Rising" By C.C. REVIVAL

CCR "Pendulum"

Original released on LP Fantasy 8410

(US 1970, December 9)

During 1969 and 1970, CCR was dismissed by hipsters as a bubblegum pop band and the sniping had grown intolerable, at least to John Fogerty, who designed "Pendulum" as a rebuke to critics. He spent time polishing the production, bringing in keyboards, horns, even a vocal choir. His songs became self-consciously serious and tighter, working with the aesthetic of the rock underground - "Pendulum" was constructed as a proper album, contrasting dramatically with CCR's previous records, all throwbacks to joyous early rock records where covers sat nicely next to hits and overlooked gems tucked away at the end of the second side. To some fans of classic CCR, this approach may feel a little odd since only "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" and maybe its B-side "Hey Tonight" sound undeniably like prime Creedence. But, given time, the album is a real grower, revealing many overlooked Fogerty gems. Yes, it isn't transcendent like the albums they made from "Bayou Country" through "Cosmo's Factory", but most bands never even come close to that kind of hot streak. Instead, "Pendulum" finds a first-class songwriter and craftsman pushing himself and his band to try new sounds, styles, and textures. His ambition results in a stumble - "Rude Awakening 2" portentously teeters on the verge of prog-rock, something CCR just can't pull off - but the rest of the record is excellent, with such great numbers as the bluesy groove "Pagan Baby," the soulful vamp "Chameleon," the moody "It's Just a Thought," and the raver "Molina." Most bands would kill for this to be their best stuff, and the fact that it's tucked away on an album that even some fans forget illustrates what a tremendous band Creedence Clearwater Revival was. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

WALLPAPER: "CCR"

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - Bad Moon Rising (Live)