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Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
They say when you get lost in the woods, you should walk downhill until you find the river, and then follow it to town. But for Creedence Clearwater Revival, America was never that simple, and its songs endure as a map of the country's traps, terrors, treasures, and pleasures. CCR was a classic hippie guitar band, soaking in the Northern California's air, but it stood apart from the San Francisco psychedelic bands, partly because of its blue-collar earthiness. John Fogerty's spit-and-growl voice was the purple mountain majesty above the fruited plain of a phenomenal rhythm section in Doug Clifford and Stu Cook. The band's first two albums showed that they could jam and get loose with any of the ballroom acid rockers, but with a much tougher sound honed during its years playing swamp blues, country, and rockabilly as an East Bay bar band they had been playing together, for the sheer love of it, ever since they met in junior high school. Even at its rootsiest, the music was full of mystery and menace: The apocalyptic guitar riff of "Walk on the Water" was scary enough to inspire the Clash's "London Calling." But Creedence truly arrived with Green River, from the pastoral beautify of "Green River" to the secy nightmare of "Sinister Purpose." John Fogerty sings about a river, pure and unpolluted, with the power to "let me remember things I don't know." But his green river is alive with the noise of all the drowned souls it carries - the ghost cries of flatcar riders and cross-tie walkers. Absurdly underrated as a lead guitarist- just listen to his terrifying one-note solo in "Tombstone Shadow"- Fogerty sings his ass off, whether his struggles are personal ("Lodi") or political ("Wrote a Song for Everyone"). Willy and the Poor Boys is Fogerty's songwriting peak, with the sharp working-class anger of "Fortunate Son," "Don't Look Now," and "It Came Out of the Sky." Cosmo's Factory shows off in two fantastic jams, the seven-minute "Ramble Tamble" and the 11-minute "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Fogerty waxes world-weary in "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and "Long as I Can See the Light," while breathing fire in the demented raveup "Travelin' Band." Pendulum is spottier but peaks high with a couple of pensive farewells to the '60s, "It's Just a Thought" and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" At this point, Creedence had just released four all-time classic albums in 16 months; arguments over which one's the best will be going for as long as those big wheels keep on turnin'. The band was falling apart by Mardi Gras. Rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, John's older brother, had quit while Clifford and Cook started taking equal shares of the songwriting, although the best they could do was Clifford's "Need Someone to Hold." CCR split bitterly, and it's been depressing to watch the grudge fester over the years- in the late '90s Fogerty sued Clifford and Cook from touring as Creedence Clearwater Revisited. All four members would continue to record and tour- although without the old Creedence spirit, the magic was gone- the closest any of them came to a hit was "Rock and Roll Girls" from John Fogerty's only solo hit, 1985's Centerfield. Their label kept putting out redundant compilations and weak live albums, the 20-song Chronicle, Vol. 1 (and Chronicle, Vol. 2) are a superb places to start. For a band not particularly interested in making hits, they sure have a lot of them. Unlike so many of its peers, CCR was staunchly committed to the pleasures of rock & roll music, making music anyone could love at first listen, which is why its songs have been sung from everyone from Bonnie Tyler to the Minutemen to Pavement. Creedence was as great as any rock & roll band could ever be.
It's...
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
They say when you get lost in the woods, you should walk downhill until you find the river, and then follow it to town. But for Creedence Clearwater Revival, America was never that simple, and its songs endure as a map of the country's traps, terrors, treasures, and pleasures. CCR was a classic hippie guitar band, soaking in the Northern California's air, but it stood apart from the San Francisco psychedelic bands, partly because of its blue-collar earthiness. John Fogerty's spit-and-growl voice was the purple mountain majesty above the fruited plain of a phenomenal rhythm section in Doug Clifford and Stu Cook. The band's first two albums showed that they could jam and get loose with any of the ballroom acid rockers, but with a much tougher sound honed during its years playing swamp blues, country, and rockabilly as an East Bay bar band they had been playing together, for the sheer love of it, ever since they met in junior high school. Even at its rootsiest, the music was full of mystery and menace: The apocalyptic guitar riff of "Walk on the Water" was scary enough to inspire the Clash's "London Calling." But Creedence truly arrived with Green River, from the pastoral beautify of "Green River" to the secy nightmare of "Sinister Purpose." John Fogerty sings about a river, pure and unpolluted, with the power to "let me remember things I don't know." But his green river is alive with the noise of all the drowned souls it carries - the ghost cries of flatcar riders and cross-tie walkers. Absurdly underrated as a lead guitarist- just listen to his terrifying one-note solo in "Tombstone Shadow"- Fogerty sings his ass off, whether his struggles are personal ("Lodi") or political ("Wrote a Song for Everyone"). Willy and the Poor Boys is Fogerty's songwriting peak, with the sharp working-class anger of "Fortunate Son," "Don't Look Now," and "It Came Out of the Sky." Cosmo's Factory shows off in two fantastic jams, the seven-minute "Ramble Tamble" and the 11-minute "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Fogerty waxes world-weary in "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and "Long as I Can See the Light," while breathing fire in the demented raveup "Travelin' Band." Pendulum is spottier but peaks high with a couple of pensive farewells to the '60s, "It's Just a Thought" and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" At this point, Creedence had just released four all-time classic albums in 16 months; arguments over which one's the best will be going for as long as those big wheels keep on turnin'. The band was falling apart by Mardi Gras. Rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, John's older brother, had quit while Clifford and Cook started taking equal shares of the songwriting, although the best they could do was Clifford's "Need Someone to Hold." CCR split bitterly, and it's been depressing to watch the grudge fester over the years- in the late '90s Fogerty sued Clifford and Cook from touring as Creedence Clearwater Revisited. All four members would continue to record and tour- although without the old Creedence spirit, the magic was gone- the closest any of them came to a hit was "Rock and Roll Girls" from John Fogerty's only solo hit, 1985's Centerfield. Their label kept putting out redundant compilations and weak live albums, the 20-song Chronicle, Vol. 1 (and Chronicle, Vol. 2) are a superb places to start. For a band not particularly interested in making hits, they sure have a lot of them. Unlike so many of its peers, CCR was staunchly committed to the pleasures of rock & roll music, making music anyone could love at first listen, which is why its songs have been sung from everyone from Bonnie Tyler to the Minutemen to Pavement. Creedence was as great as any rock & roll band could ever be.
It's...
Creedence Clearwater Revival
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