Customer Reviews

Bayou Country [+digital booklet]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'Born On The Bayou' followed Creedence's debut album, and became the first in a string of immaculate, classic & fastly created classic albums, that Creedence unleashed during 1969 and 1970.
The album opens with 'Born On The Bayou', a steady rocker, that, at the same time, is both as familiar as anything Creedence, but also has a great amount of indecipherable strangeness to it, like the kind that would later surface on the 'Pendulum' album in 1970.
It is followed by the almost-excellent 'Bootleg', that sounds very much like a blueprint for the later 'Run Through The Jungle' (itself a blueprint for Fogerty's later solo hit, 'Old Man', though 'Run Through The Jungle' must be said to be the best of those three).
After the slow & bluesy 'Graveyard Train', the band rocks on with their more-than-merely-perfect cover of 'Good Golly Miss Molly', which is arguably better than Little Richard's original.
'Penthouse Pauper' is a great song of underrated brilliance, that follows much in the vein of 'Born On The Bayou', in that it sounds Creedence, but is inhabited with some very disturbing strangeness.
Then comes the smash hit of the album, & arguably the best track here, 'Proud Mary', which, together with 'Down On The Corner', is probably Creedence's best known song today (even rap fans know it). It resides over a divine intro & an equally divine chorus, one of the best singalong choruses ever.
To finish the album off, Fogerty reveals the good but not brilliant 'Keep On Chooglin''. Perhaps better used as a mid-album track than as a closer, it still works very well in just that place because of its tremendous lenght (seven minutes), and the strangeness of its position. Generally the album is wrapped in a veil of strangeness, that gives even the weaker songs a massive foundation. It is not Creedence's best record, but it is up there along with them, even if some of the songs here don't match the wonders to come.
And for everybody who thinks Creedence is just some golden oldie, then I can tell you, that this music is so living & vibrant this very day, as anything else, & that music doesn't have to rage like the Sex Pistols to survive through the decades. This music was made by young men for a young generation, and all the wonders, fears & emptiness of youth is delivered here in these magnificent songs. I know. I'm sixteen years old, and this music really means something to me. More than it does to my parents. For them it's nostalgia. For me, this is life in its purest form, rock'n'roll, which has all the colours of youth in it, in its purest form. And no passing suns can take that away!

John C. Fogerty is the Huck Finn of rock n' roll (and for as long as he cared to, brother Tom served as his Tom Sawyer foil on rhythm guitar). If Samuel Clemens were alive today, he no doubt would be toe tapping to 'Born On the Bayou' and laughing about Huck "runnin' through the backwoods bare" with his "old hounddog barkin'... chasing down a hoodoo there". And J.C. delivers the vocals on 'Born...' with more gusto than even John Lennon summoned for his gravel-voiced marvel, 'Twist and Shout'.

This to me is the finest CCR album. It doesn't have the most hit songs ('Proud Mary' was [and still is] mercilessly overplayed as a number two hit), but this set hit me square between the eyes between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. I don't know if humans imprint, but indelibly etched in my brain cells is the memory of this album being played while I soaked up a warm summer evening at a beach on Lake St. Clair. Some freaks in the parking lot had 'Born On the Bayou' blaring from their car stereo, and it was one of those moments in early adolescence when you savor your budding sense of autonomy. Of course, in the early 1970's, all manner of freedom was breaking out everywhere, helping to frame this as a touchstone experience for me.

That's not to say there isn't great music on this album which speaks for itself. 'Born On the Bayou', 'Good Golly Miss Molly' (comparing it to Mitch Ryder's #4 hit version is like comparing apples and oranges, so I won't go there... suffice it to say that it rocks every bit as much, and features a driving lead guitar that cannot be denied), 'Bootleg', 'Penthouse Pauper', and 'Keep On Chooglin' (I guess they go chooglin' instead of truckin' down South) hold their own with any other highlights from Creedence albums.

Even more than their first album, 'Bayou Country' is a blues recording, with a thick overlay of the 'pop/swamp sound' that became their signiture. 'Bootleg' and 'Chooglin' are up-tempo blues, while 'Graveyard Train' (the only weak link in this set, and the primary reason this album is being denied 5 star status) and 'Penthouse Pauper' are more laid back. Fogarty's lead guitar solo's bend, fold, and mutilate, and several songs also include John belting out mouth harp (I call it a harmonica) solo's as well. Ironically, the 'odd-song out' is 'Proud Mary', the only composition (aside from 'Good Golly...') with enough 'pop' to make it a Top-40 candidate.

At under 35 minutes (8 1/2 claimed by 'Graveyard Train') this CD won't strain how you budget your time, so take the time to strain your budget to own it. The album declared CCR to be a major playa, and together with 'Green River' and 'Cosmo's Factory', solidified their status as an elite band in rock n' roll's glory years.

"Give me a year and I'll show you what we can do", declared John Fogerty. With BAYOU COUNTRY he proved he wasn't just blowing steam. "Proud Mary" has the distinction of being THE song that put CCR "on the map", Bob Dylan said it was HIS favorite song-- and my Dad, a part-time musician, got sick of getting REQUESTS to play it! (Many, MANY years later, he finally started to LIKE it.) Also here is "Born On The Bayou", the unforgettable album opener that to this day Fogerty opens his live shows with. (Hard to believe it was issued as a "B" side! ) And there's a rousing cover of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" where CCR makes it their own! The album closes with the lengthy "Keep On Chooglin'", which, until "Travelin' Band", had been CCR's show-closer as well. As an album overall, I actually like their debut more than this one-- but it's a close call. (Now, um-- what exactly IS "chooglin'", anyhow?)

THE great ccr album.It will always be best known for being the home of "Proud Mary",but even better stuff is here."Born On the Bayou""Bootleg""Penthouse Pauper".Still sounds as good today as it did when my friends and I were wearing the 8-track tape out over 30 years ago.

..., "Born On the Bayou" (which they continued to open with on gigs until they disbanded--and this was only their second album!), and the blues dirge "Graveyard Train". This one's deceptively repetitive--the same two-measure riff for nine minutes--but over top of it is a man's cry of anguish over an argument with his wife which ended with her roaring off in the car and smacking into a bus. Listen to this song and you'll agree--Our Hero ain't in no shape to deliver the eulogy. Take Johnny Cash's talent for a tale of woe, add Jim Morrison's emotional overdrive, and you've got it. The rest of the album's great, too. This era of music was the high-water mark of the album meant to be listened to a work in its own right instead of half-a-dozen singles glued together.

Now, at 50 years old, I still get out my CCR and marvel at most of the songs on this album. Sure, everyone's heard Proud Mary and Born on the Bayou, but who can sit still when it gets to that final track: "Keep On Chooglin'"? And "Penthouse Pauper"!!! Awesome!!! Thank God Mr. Fogerty is still with us and still rockin' as great as ever!!!

It's been said a million times already, and truthtully all I'm doing is repeating what's already been said by bigger and better people- Creedence Clearwater Revival is truly unique in every sense of the word.

Something must have been seriously wrong with me when I was younger, because "Born on the Bayou" never seemed particularly appealing to me back in the day. NOW however, I realize the error of my ways. Whatever it was I was smoking back then, the fact remains I definitely wasn't thinking or hearing very clearly because this is one HECK of an awesome tune. Best verse melody ever.

"Bootleg" is an extremely melodic little roots rock tune. A perfect song really. At least, a perfect example of what makes CCR so darn irresistible.

Some people have a problem with "Graveyard Train" because, to be honest, the verse melody is somewhat mindless. It sounds extremely simple, however, that's exactly why I love it so much. It's catchy, and the harmonica jam that appears later on is really good as well. An underrated track. Its only flaw is being 8 minutes long because it honestly only deserves to be about 4 or 5 minutes.

Would you like to hear solid proof that todays guitar players can't hold a candle to the older ones? Just listen to the guitar playing in "Penthouse Pauper". Upon hearing it, you can definitely tell it's stuck in the late 60's because a bunch of blues rock bands like Cream and Zeppelin were writing songs with similar implementation of the guitar work, however it's also distinctive enough to stand head and shoulders above most guitar rock of todays generation.

We all know "Proud Mary" to the point of memorization so there's no need to further explain its awesomeness, and the album closes with the very best song- "Keep On Chooglin". BRILLIANT guitar jam, BRILLIANT harmonica work, and BRILLIANT rhythm section. Seriously, it's perfect.

Creedence Clearwater Revival is an incredible band and there's a reason people still listen to them today. There's a reason radio stations still play their classic material. Bayou Country covers all the bands very best points and offers some underrated ones as well.

Around the turn of the century the long neglected Creedence catalog was suddenly appearing in new upgraded editions with cynical regularity. I bought the Steve Hoffman vinyl remasters, which are fine if hard to find. A 2000 CD reissue program was rendered unnecessary by the release - one year later - of the CCR box, with the entire catalog, plus previously issued live albums ("The Concert" from 1970 and the 1971 European set) in one nifty little box that offered familiar liner notes (Ed Ward, Joel Selvin,etc) and one disc to bait fans - a full disc of pre Creedence material that offered a fascinating revisionist essay by Alec Palao and 25 tracks - some originally issued on singles, some not - recorded during 1961 - 66, as the group struggled to make a living and develop the astonishing musical identity that felt so utterly "natural" by 1968.
These tracks are an uneven lot but many are surprisingly good, as young John Fogerty grew to be the major talent and visionary, leaving older brother Tom (who had started the band a decade before the debut Creedence album) in the humble role of rhythm guitarist...
Now it did seem a bit odd that the box offered no real rarities from CCR's 1967 - 72 period, when they were at absolute creative and commercial peak. After all, after the first album was released in June 1968, production chores were assumed by John and three seamless classics quickly followed, "Bayou Country" (January 1969), "Green River" (August 1969), and "Willy and the Poor Boys" (November 1969). "Cosmos Factory" (July 1970) and "Pendulum" (December 1970) completed an astonishing ruyn and one dazzling and enduring body of work. 1972's "Mardi Gras", recorded after Tom's 1971 departure, contains some good songs, but is an anomaly in the band's catalog, with drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook composing (and worse, singing) two thirds of the material, a failed attempt at democracy that led John to split fpr a solo career by the end of the year.
So here we have the classic CCR albums, remastered once again, and finally packaged with all the original LP graphics (except those "Fantasy presents..." lablels, which are exactly reproduced by DCC along with every other graphic and sonic detail, in their beautiful transfers issued in the mid 1990s). The question for anyone who is already a fan is, Do we need the third or fourth (fifth counting DCC's gold discs) reissues of the Creedence catalog? Well, perhaps not, unless you're as obsessive compulsive as I am. The bait here is the bonus cuts, and I must say the studio stuff is really only for completists - nothing left in the can for the past thirty or forty years is in any way revelatory, nor is there even a nice b-side ('Call It Pretending', which is interesting, has already been appended to the debut on the aforementioned boxed set). There are some nice live versions that have not been issued. As for these master transfers (George Horn) they in fact are superior to the ones issued earlier this decade - more powereful overall, and details jump out like the percussion on 'Born On The Bayou.' Fogerty's guitars sting. And his piano, always mixed to be felt not heard, is another detail in what are afterall unparalelled original mixes. One may note the 2000-01 transfers of this and other CCR albums are somwhat shorter in length than bothe these new editions and the Steve Hoffman transfers for DCC. Thant's because of the digital devotee's horror of leaving in information from the original master tape that might be misinterpreted as "bad" or wrong; dare we lead the younger or less informed consumer to perceive any amount of audible tape hiss as a 'flaw' in the mastering process (usually audible during the fade near the end of a track, as it rightly should be as it's right there on the original analog master) as if discovering that some uncouth Great Dane relieved himself right there on the front stoop.
DCC reproduced the original masters faithfully, and George Horn does it here, though these new discs are sometimes a little bright for my taste and perhaps the overall ambience Fogerty worked to achieve. But at least 'Born On The Bayou' is 5:15 and not 5:10. And one can just bask in the details and the earth tones of these performances. The debut is a good one, but "Bayou Country" is the first undeniable classic from Creedence, invoking Sun Records, Howlin Wolf, Little Richard, and Mark Twain within a seamless and wonderously executed vision that is now Fogerty's own.

Bayou Country was the first huge break through for CCR. Technically they only had on single that was popular, but two of their very best songs appear on this collection. Every group has a break through album and this is theirs.
Proud Mary is of course one of the top R&R songs ever recorded and has been covered by numerous artists including Tina Turner.
This album also had Born on the Bayou, which to this day is my favorite CCR song of all times.
This is one of the classic albums of R&R and belongs in any library.

If you buy ANY Creedence Clearwater Revival CDs, look for a release date of September 30, 2008. After FINALLY making peace with Fantasy records, the CCR catalog has gotten the remastering treatment, along with several live bonus tracks. In addition, these new downloads are actually CHEAPER than the others!

Bayou Country was MY introduction to CCR, and as such it and my second purchase, Willy and the Poorboys, will always remain my favorites. I downloaded this, then Willy, then said "what the heck" and went ahead and got Green River, the self-titled debut, and Cosmo's Factory. ALL FIVE are great and come highly recommended. Trust me, if you get one, you're gonna want all five...

GREAT STUFF! And much improved audio!