| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 1968 |
| Bayou Country | 1969 |
| Green River | 1969 |
| Willy And The Poorboys | 1969 |
| Cosmo's Factory | 1970 |
| Pendulum | 1970 |
| Mardi Gras | 1972 |
| Chronicle, Vol. 1 (compilation) | 1976 |
| The Royal Albert Hall Concert (live) | 1980 |
| Chronicle, Vol. 2 (compilation) | 1986 |
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
Sporting a cover with a quasi-psychedelic trim around the main picture, and four conservatively dressed band-members standing amongst the trees in the center of that picture, this is the first album from a great rootsy Rock 'n' Roll band who would soon go on to become legends. Surprisingly, this debut album already has that signature CCR sound, which means that the blues, country, Rockabilly, and Rock 'n' Roll influences are already successfully integrated into their sound, making this album a sort of blueprint for everything to come.
However, let me discuss the few differences that make this record very special. First and foremost, the trebly, controlled guitar tone that John Fogerty gets out of his good ol' guitar highlights a good deal of the songs in a major way. The two hits (which are both written or co-written by Jay Hawkins), "I Put A Spell On You" and "Suzie Q", are both carried by the wonderful simpleness of Fogerty's soloing; the former lead-off track has this amazingly eerie guitar tone during the solo, and the latter tune is this repetitive country-blues special that never gets boring in its' eight minutes with all the tasteful guitar licks and solos - plus it keeps this mid-tempo pace all the way through that is incredibly mind-numbing. Straightforward in the best CCR manner.
The next thing that strikes this as a bit different than later albums is the actual guitarwork, which engages in a bit of psychedelia from time to time. You'll find a bit of weird-sounding and backwards guitar in "Gloomy", a track that is the closest the band would ever venture into psychedelic music. It's certainly one of the most creative efforts on the record too, as it goes from the dark opening guitar-riff (which is also, well... gloomy-sounding) to the awesome faster solo sections. Uncharacteristic of anything they would later do, this unique thing must be enjoyed to its' fullest here. The rest of the songs are quite enjoyable too, ranging from the trebly blues of "The Working Man" and "Get Down Woman"(both very fine tunes in their own right), to really catchy numbers like "Porterville" and "Ninety-Nine And A Half" (this one is infectiously catchy and has a completely incredible raspy vocal performance).
"Walk On The Water" is an overlooked gem that contains some more great guitar soloing (the last two-thirds of the track is comprised of various riffs) and a really creepy atmosphere, plus a few scarcely laid-out sound affects to enhance it. What a fantastic effort from the Creedsters(I think that's what I'll call them from now on). Maybe it's not the defining CCR album, as they would perfect their swampy style later on, but the guitar-work shines in every way, and it is the most musically interesting they ever got.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
Their second offering contains the two hits "Born On The Bayou" and "Proud Mary". Although their style is very straightforward and simplified, there is something special about CCR. They have the right ingredients in every song, John Fogerty as the perfect vocalist for this type of music, and inspired, but restrained guitar playing. This style is represented very well in the hits "Born On The Bayou" (with some great trebly guitar work), and "Proud Mary" (a classic midtempo tune).
Other good songs include the rocking cover "Good Golly Miss Molly", the high electric guitar sound of "Penthouse Pauper" (some awesome soloing on this one), and the toe-tapping strummer "Bootleg". "Graveyard Train" is a super long slow jam, a simple blues line that is very boring because it does nothing and goes on forever, the other lenghty song though, "Keep On Chooglin'" is decent. For the most part it cooks because it keeps you moving along with the beat, and has some inspired playing like "Born On The Bayou". This was the first of three albums they would release in 1969, this one being the first of very successful CCR albums in the next two years.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
Another short album, this time only thirty minutes long, is full of shorter and more direct songs. Their are no long jams this time around, just a whole bunch of great straightforward and rocking midtempo tunes. One of many hits on here, "Green River" is the perfect Fogerty song, with a great strumming beat and restrained guitarwork. The simple rock and roll of "Bad Moon Rising", and the effective ballad "Lodi" are the other hits, so thats three in all.
This band must be most effective when they aren't going out on long jams, because the majority of these songs are either great or good, which makes this the best representation of their sound. "Cross-Tie Walker" and "Commotion" are two songs that make good use of the rhythm section and the lead guitar equally, and "Tombstone Shadow" follows the high-guitar sound of "Penthouse Pauper" successfully, although not quite as good as that song. Those are the highlights on here, but the other three are good too, especially the creepy and bluesy "Sinister Purpose", which contains some great vibrato guitar. Also there is the midtempo cover "The Night Time Is The Right Time", and the ballad "Wrote A Song For Everyone", which is the weakest song on here, but better than the worst material on Willy And The Poorboys.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
CCR's third album of 1969 has the most effective and enjoyable great hits of their career. The simple rockin' fun of "Down On The Corner", and the hardhitting and political "Fortunate Son" are classic Fogerty tunes that might rank as two of the best songs they ever did. On the other hand though, some of the songs on here rank as the worst they ever did, but first let's look at the better ones. "Feelin' Blue" has some Bayou Country-style guitar in it, and is a slow and bluesy tune with some soulful singing, "The Midnight Special" is a great singalong rock tune that has a cheery optimism to it, "Effigy" starts off with an introduction that doesn't sound like CCR, and then turns into a halfway dark tune, and "Side O' The Road" has some decent guitarwork.
The rest is mostly filler; "Poorboy Shuffle" is a simple street corner shuffle, with some clumsy playing, so it's the worst of the lot; "Don't Look Now" is a little uninteresting song, and "Cotton Fields" along with "It Came Out Of The Sky" are just OK. Since these four are scattered throughout the album this becomes a somewhat inconsistent set. It is still very good though, because the great songs on here are simply pure classic CCR.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (John Schlegel)
Only a 7? Whatever! Your review actually does this album some justice, as you give credence (ha!) to the deserving hits. But I find your analysis of the album tracks to be way off. "Cotton Fields" is a very catchy, soulful little folk tune (but maybe that's just the sappy side of me coming out). "It Came Out of the Sky" is a memorable '50s-style rocker, and you think "Don't Look Now" is just okay? The latter, a highly melodic, darkly gripping shuffle with outstanding lyrics, is one of my favorite Creedence songs. And as a whole, this record displays perhaps Fogerty's most thoughtfully varied set of songs. In case you couldn't tell, this is my favorite CCR. But I admit that you are more familiar with their other albums than I. As for this one, I say it narrowly scores a 10, which is rare for me to give.
(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
CCR's sound never really changed much, they still have that simple, rock n' rollin', rockabilly, swampy sound on here. Their seems to be an even more straightforward simple rock n' roll sound on here than before in such songs like "Before You Accuse Me", "Travelin' Band", "Ooby Dooby", and "My Baby Left Me". Most of them are covers and have a 1950's flair to them, the first three I named follow right after the long and rambling opener "Ramble Tamble". This song starts of with a nice tune until the two minute mark when it turns into a long ending, it probably is the most instrumentally-dense (for them it is) sounding thing they had recorded thus far.
The real gems of the album are the hits, "Up Around The Bend" being the best (a short and direct classic tune), "Who'll Stop The Rain" (similar in structure to 'Lodi'), and "Lookin' Out My Back Door" (a toetapping countryish tune). The long cover of a classic soul song, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" I think is the real highlight on here, although it is eleven minutes long it has such a mindnumbing groove to it that you can't get bored. It doesn't venture off into any soloing or chord changes, but the groove is intoxicating if you are just sitting there and relaxing, the guitar sound is magnificent, restrained, and just right. This is really a good album because it is a consistent set of songs, but since a decent amount of them aren't really as exciting as Green River the rating goes down one point. I would rather hear "Cross-Tie Walker" and "Tombstone Shadow" over "Ooby Dooby" and "Travelin' Band" on any day of the week. Quite good though.
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