Decades before Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Son Volt and The Jayhawks re-introduced and expanded the parameters of roots-rock, there was a scrappy little group, originally hailing from El Cerrito, California, that never realized it was helping to create a new genre as it was chooglin' along. Performing together longer than other seminal Americana acts such as The Flying Burrito Brothers (1969's highly-influential, country-rock rebels starring ex-Byrds Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman) and even The Band (kicking off as Ronnie Hawkins' early-'60s groovesmen that ultimately featured Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuels and Garth Hudson), musicians John Fogerty (guitar, vocals), Tom Fogerty (guitar, vocals), Stu Cook (keyboards, bass, background vocals), and Doug "Cosmo" Clifford (drums, background vocals) had been playing together casually since 1959. Representing the El Cerrito Boys Club, they toured California's county fairs under the moniker The Blue Velvets until one day, they watched Anatomy Of A Hit, a televised, three-part documentary on jazz pianist Vince Guraldi's Cast Your Fate To The Wind. It inspired the Fogerty-centric gang to contact Guraldi's home base and Max and Sol Weiss' Bay Area-based label, Fantasy Records, and the company eventually signed the El Cerrito quartet, initially releasing their singles as The Golliwogs. Following a major creative shift within the band--John Fogerty taking over lead vocals from his brother Tom plus songwriting duties--Creedence Clearwater Revival was born. The rest is history.
Okay, just a little more history.
From 1968 through 1971, in just a little over three years, CCR racked-up 17 Top 40 pop hits that included radio's still massively recurrent "Bad Moon Rising" (memorably used in the movie My Girl and as plot devices in the popcorn flicks Twilight Zone--The Movie, and An American Werewolf In London), "Green River," "Down On The Corner," "Lodi," "Fortunate Son," "Travelin' Band," "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," "Lookin' Out My Back Door" (are we humming one of these tunes yet?), and "Sweet Hitch-Hiker." Oh yeah, there's that little ditty, "Proud Mary," that basically made the band superstars on AM radio, it still being one of the most cherished 45s of the '60s. Even CCR's cover hits, such as its version of Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q" (the group's very first hit), Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" and even its reinterpretation of Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine And A Half" are often associated more with being a part of the Creedence catalog than their original hit versions. Beyond the singles (although they played no small part as marketing tools), in that same three-year-ish window, there were those swampy, rockin' classic albums--Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bayou Country, Green River, Willy And The Poor Boys, Cosmo's Factory and Pendulum--all landmark 1968-1970 projects that were part of most everyone's record collections. Then, virtually coinciding with the critically chilly reception CCR's post-Tom Fogerty album Mardi Gras received for its questionable creative reinvention, the band dissolved, leaving behind its four-sided collection Chronicle (The 20 Greatest Hits) as one final, must-have Creedence album for everyone's maxed-out milk crates.
The band's legacy also includes--mostly due to John Fogerty's now famous no nonsense attitude--a unique blending of its r&b, rockabilly and alt-country with everyman-style politics. Social topics didn't flavor most songs since Creedence wasn't overly serious. But the times were, and the group's "Fortunate Son" stands as one of the greatest protest songs and anti-Vietnam War anthems of all time with "Who'll Stop The Rain?" not that far behind. And for those who doubt the latter song's influence, look no further than Bob Dylan whose Blood On The Tracks gem, "Shelter From The Storm," was inspired by the "...Rain?" lyrics, "I went down to Georgia seeking shelter from the storm." "Bad Moon Rising," "Run Through The Jungle" and others also have been referred to as great CCR protest recordings, but the former pair seem just as relevant now as they were decades ago.
So 2008's fortieth anniversary of Creedence Clearwater Revival's post-Golliwogs, musical rebirth deserves much celebration in the land. To honor the event, the group's otherwise unattended CD releases finally have been upgraded with each of the six prime albums revved-up sonically, spiffed-up packaging-wise and expanded to include some choice, live material and rarities.
Creedence Clearwater Revival gives us performances from San Francisco's Filmore, plus the rarities "Call It Pretending" (the b-side of the act's first single, "Porterville") and "Before You Accuse Me," a 1968 session outtake that pre-dated its appearance on Cosmo's Factory.
Bayou Country presents a double-long version of "Bootleg" and more live recordings including a psychedlic blues jam and a 1971 Stockholm version of "Proud Mary."
Green River includes a live from Berlin, previously-unreleased 1971 take on "Bad Moon Rising" and the incomplete studio recordings of "Broken Spoke Shuffle" and "Glory Be."
Willy And The Poor Boys contains an unearthed, live Manchester performance of "Fortunate Son" and a jam version of "Down On The Corner" with r&b legends, Booker T. & The MGs.
Cosmo's Factory has a rare, stripped down, hornless re-recording of "Travelin' Band" and another musical workout with Booker T., a revisit of "Born On The Bayou."
Finally, Pendulum's rare highlights include the double-sided, darkly-humorous inside joke of a promo 45 that evokes Beatles comparisons and references Apple Records. Scary stuff, but hey, just in time for Halloween!
Of course, there are some readers who have been glancing over this piece more out of curiosity than familiarity with the music--on second thought, that's impossible, never mind. But if that totally implausible scenario IS the case, since one only has enough time to check under the hood in the limited space this blog allows, you really should take CCRs music out for a test drive. You'll find each of those six albums sports some of the most rockin' cruise-tunes ever--you hear that Supernatural (come on, give the Winchester brothers more than "Bad Moon Rising" and "Run Through The Jungle")! This new excursion through the Creedence Clearwater Revival library is bound to take many of us Fortunate Sons (And Daughters) back down that swampy, soulful, roots-rockin' road many started down forty years ago. For the rest, start with Cosmo's Factory and work your way backwards, then go to Pendulum. If you've never done it to this point, this is definitely a musical journey worth taking.
