Customer Reviews

Chronicle Vol. 2: Twenty Great CCR Classics

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There aren't too many bands who could put out an anthology album containing 20 songs ("Chronicle") and still have enough first rate material left to issue a second album that's equally strong. That CCR was able to do so is a testament to what a vastly talented group they were. "Chronicle Volume Two" contains a few leftover radio hits not included on the first "Chronicle" album, including "Born on the Bayou" and "Midnight Special." It then offers up a generous helping of first rate album tracks, including "Cotton Fields," "It Came Out of the Sky," "Pagan Baby," "Hideaway," and "Molina." Throw in some classic rock and blues covers "Before You Accuse Me," "Hello Mary Lou" and "Good Golly Miss Molly," and you have an excellent package on your hands. I actually prefer the second "Chronicle" album to the first because these are the songs that haven't been overplayed on classic rock radio stations. Between the two albums, CCR's heyday is well represented.

This follow up to Chronicle 1 is just as essential and rich as the first volume. This one consists mostly of album songs that were never released as singles. Some of them were. That's something that makes this CD even more fun to listen too than the classic hit filled first volume. Everyone knows those songs, but a lot of these songs aren't well known to the casual observer. You get cover versions of "Good Golly Miss Molly" and an unbelieveable pitch perfect cover of Ricky Nelson's great hit "Hello Mary lou". Fogerty was definitley channeling Ricky on that one!. It's a mystery as to why a CCR classic such as "Born On The Bayou" is on this volume instead of the first one. Other gems here are "Don't Look Now(It Ain't You Or Me)", the up tempo funk of "Born To Move", and the rocker "Pagan Baby". The band was known for doing fairly short to the point rock songs with no glitz or glamor. They are pretty much the quintessential rock band. There are many songs on here that you knew and heard of, but didn't realize that it was them who did it. Songs like "The Midnight Special" and "Before You Accuse Me". This collection also gives you the fun novelty rocker "It Came Out Of The Sky". It also has the undoubtedly perfect ballad, "(Wish I Could) Hideaway". If you have Volume one, then you need this one. It's an essential piece of music that would be in any rock and roll fan's collection.

The 20-track "Chronicle" retrospective is by far the best single-disc Creedence compilation out there, and this second volume makes the "Chronicle" package even better. There are no hit singles here, those were all on vol. I, but plenty of great album tracks, and while few of them are as immediately recognizable as "Proud Mary" or "Bad Moon Rising", the overall quality of this material is very, very high.

Creedence put out some fabulous double-A-sided singles, but they weren't just a singles band...there were excellent album tracks stacked away on all of their LPs, and these are (most of) the best of them. Acoustic folk-rock, tough, swampy blues-rock, rockabilly and country, it's all here, and songs like the blistering rocker "It Came Out Of The Sky", the country ballad "Looking For A Reason", the spriritual-like "Don't Look Now", a groovy rendition of Leadbelly's "Midnight Special", and the bluesy "Tombstone Shadow" are among Creedence's finest.
A superb compilation, almost as transcendent as volume I.

This collection is excellent, although I'd recommend Vol. 1 first. Lots of great songs here that are overlooked by classic rock radio. If you find that you like Vol. 1, but don't want to buy actual albums, this is a great way to delve deeper into the CCR catalouge.

My biggest problem is that "Effigy" isn't present. I think its among CCR's best songs.

This is probably the best CCR compilation to get aside from, of course, the first Chronicle. Where Chronicle covered Creedence the singles band, this collection delves deeper into album gems. Many are as great as the CCR classics you probably know already...Born on the Bayou, Cotton Fields, It Came Out of the Sky, Molina....and more! It is a worthy listen, but truly I would advise folks to go and buy the entire Creedence catalogue. Even owning both Chronicles is not sufficient. You still would miss Keep on Chooglin', Bootleg, and other great tunes. Also, I would advise others to stay from the other Creedence compilations. They just seem to be ways for Fantasy Records to milk more money out of the consumer. No, just acknowledge that Creedence Clearwater Revival is the greatest band there ever was and get the original albums!

A tremendous collection of songs here. The "hits" are primarialy compiled on the first Volume, but there is plenty of worthy music to be found here. "Born on the Bayou", for instance, is essential, as are many songs here like "Wrote a Song for Everyone". But there is also some lesser-quality work here, which makes for a more uneven listen. Throw Vols 1 & 2 in a changer together, hit random, and it's a hell of a listen!

If you liked the 1st Chronicle, give this a try. It picks up "Suzie Q" (Part 2) where part 1 left off and includes the classic "Born on the Bayou". This collection includes not only important "B-sides" (like the 2 mentioned) but regular album cuts like "Good Golly Miss Molly", "It Came Out of the Sky", "Wrote a Song for Everyone", "Before You Accuse Me", and the essential "Midnight Special". If you're still hungry for more after both Chronicle CD's, then you need to buy their original albums!

first tier fans need to go straight to the recently released box set, which contains their entire recorded history. fogerty didn't write a bad song for three years, and there were lots and lots of songs. with that said, here's some words on this particular release:

it's vastly inferior to volume 1, but i knew that when i bought it for five bucks or so way back in the day. nevertheless, this collection is full of great jams and wonderful bayou-influenced wailing...it should function perfectly fine as a cool-down after listening to vol. 1. "wrote a song for everyone" is fogerty's forgotten masterpiece, and "pagan baby" shows how great CCR could be when they stretched their own sonic boundaries.

This is a very good album. It has maybe the best Creedence song "Midnight Special" which I wish was on the first chronicle along with "born on the bayou". But I think they neededa reason for me to buy the second chonicle. When I got the second chronicle I was happy with the music. I love "Wrote a song for everyone" which John Fogerty wrote after a fight with his wife. "wrote a song for everyone/but I couldn't even talk to you" love that line. Theres also many other good songs so it its worth the buy. Buy it if not for keeping your sanity in a day of crap music then to try to save your kids from being sucked into the world of N'Sync.

Like others have stated, I also find it annoying how radio stations will take three or four songs by each artist and wear them out to the point of overkill year after year while constantly overlooking so many other great tunes that deserve the same airplay given to the overplayed hits. This is exactly what makes Chronicle volume 2 a refreshing collection of songs for Creedence Clearwater Revival fans. John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook, and Doug Clifford were responsible for more great rock n' roll in the brief span of four years than most rock bands can produce in their whole careers! The band's first Chronicle album from 1976 is a must-have that includes all of their best known radio hits, but this excellent second volume serves up an impressive selection of great overlooked material that hasn't been worn out by every classic rock station in America.

The Beatles had a bigger impact on the world and the Rolling Stones stayed together a whole lot longer, but neither band consistently produced as many pure rock n' roll tunes of better quality than Creedence did from 1968 to 1971. As Bruce Springsteen said when inducting these guys into the hall of fame, "they weren't always the hippest rock n' roll band in the world, just the best". If Creedence Clearwater Revival isn't the greatest rock band of the 60's and 70's, there hasn't been a band on the radio in the past 30 years who can touch them.

At least half the songs on this CD equal the quality of any hit single the band ever released. There is a great mix of strong original Fogerty tunes and excellent reworkings of classic tunes by others that Creedence delivers with as much feeling and conviction as the original artists. The swamp rock masterpiece "Born on the Bayou" is the one essential hit here that was left off of the first Chronicle CD and is arguably the ultimate Creedence song, if not the greatest swamp rock tune ever recorded. John Fogerty is among the most powerful rock singers alive and this is one song that proves it. John belts this classic with enough grit, power, and passion to make overrated rock vocalists like Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart sound truly weak and inferior in comparison.

"Pagan Baby" is another hard-hitting Fogerty rocker that features a hot extended guitar solo and another gritty, powerhouse vocal performance from John. Fogerty's underrated guitar work was one of the band's strongest assets which is clearly heard in their rockin' arrangement of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Tombstone Shadow", and the great boogie rocker "It came out of the sky" that has a nice Chuck Berry feel to it.

"Night time is the right time", "Midnight Special", and "Born to Move" show the band's blues-rock side, while the Elvis Presley tune "My baby left me" shows how well Creedence could play authentic Sun records rockabilly. "Wrote a song for everyone" is one of their best overlooked ballads and "Lookin' for a reason" is nothing but pure country music that few rock bands could pull off so convincingly.

Creedence Clearwater Revival managed to take everything that was great about rock music in the 1950's and make it popular all over again at a time when psychedelic excess and flower power had taken over the world. Creedence offered nothing but "feel-good" rock n' roll with more beat, rhythm, and drive than any other rock band of their era. Their music was simple, direct, raw, powerful, and totally infectious. If you already have their original Chronicle CD but want to dig a little deeper into the rest of the best that this great band had to offer, this is the collection you need.