Customer Reviews

The Concert

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you like your bands to play live a faithful note for note reproduction of their albums then you'll love this album. If you're the type who likes a band to open up, change things around a bit and show some spontaneity in their live shows then this album is not for you.

Although, written over 3 years ago I have to take issue with previous reviewer kireviewer. A few things he/she said are simply untrue.

The reason Creedence didn't allow their appearance at Woodstock to appear on the album or movie had nothing to do with money. Creedence came on late at night after the Grateful Dead had put everyone to sleep. Their set was filled with numerous technical difficulties. Fogerty, already sensing the future importance of the event, didn't want Creedence's legacy to be such a poor performance.

It has never been documentated in any way that there were issues within the band about the style of music they played. If Fogerty wanted the band to be a showcase for his songs, so what? The guy wrote about 13 top ten singles in a 3 year period. The album Mardi Gras proved that the songs from the other members of Creedence were not up to snuff.

John WAS an autocrat. You had to do things his way or take the highway. To say that he couldn't get along with anybody is a bit unfair though.

Oh, by the way, as a reward for sticking with the band for ten years before Proud Mary hit John gave all the members a percentage of songwriting royalties for the first few albums even though they had absolutely nothing to do with writing any of the songs. Never heard Lennon or McCartney doing anything like that for Ringo.

My review falls somewhere in between the others. I am a big fan of CCR, and I was psyched when I found this disc. However, I am also disillusioned by the short format of the songs. Not that I want extended jams every time, but I don't want to hear the studio version redone exactly either. Even the guitar solos are almost exact. With that said, the energy is definitely there, and Fogerty's vocals are growling throughout, and there are highlights like the sing alongs "Midnight Special" and "Night Time is the Right Time." "Keep on Chooglin'" is worth the price of the disc alone, so any CCR fan will want this album. My preferred live perfomance, however, is at the closing of the Fillmore West, which is much less predictable.

"The Concert" has taken some hits through the years, but it is actually a really fine live album, featuring several of the group's best songs in tough, muscular renditions.

The sound is good, the songs are great, and there are virtually no weak moments here.
Some of the band's lesser-known album tracks, like "The Midnight Special", "Tombstone Shadow" and the spiritual-slash-rockabilly tune "Don't Look Now", are particularly enjoyable in this live setting, but the single hits work very well also, including "Proud Mary" and "Green River".

4 1/2 stars. Highly recommended.

This is a collection of excellent live takes. The sound is very good, especially considering that the songs were recorded in 1970, and "The Concert" contains some powerful live versions of CCR hits such as "Bad Moon Rising", "Proud Mary" and "Who'll Stop The Rain", as well as an incredible rendition of the bluesy "Tombstone Shadow" that even surpasses the original album version. This is one of the best live albums I've ever heard. Highly recommended!

Creedence at the peak of their popularity and their ability. The tension they create on some of these songs is remarkable. They run through their catalog pretty faithfully--they were not an improvisational band--but, hey, when the songs are as diamond-perfect as these, who cares about jamming? Go listen to the Grateful Dead nod off instead, if that's what you want. But surprise! There _is_ a jam here, "Keep On Chooglin'" After the long, intense concert they had performed, they still had enough left to provide the het-up audience with this slab a' swamp boogie. It sounds like every demon in the bayou is wailing through those amps in this long, get-down show closer. The perfect end to a dynamite concert by America's best singles band. You may also find an lp version of this album under the name _The Royal Albert Hall Concert_. Those issues are mislabeled, and may be worth money now.

WHAT CAN I SAY -- BRILLIANT..

This is a great live album from Creedence Clearwater Revival!!!Contains live versions of:Proud Mary,Green River,Bad Moon Rising,Commotion,Travellin' Band,Born On the Bayou,Fortunate Son,Who'll Stop The Rain,Down On The Corner,Keep On Chooglin' and more!!! This CD rocks!!! Two thumbs up!!! Five stars!!! A+

This is the CCR live album to get, if you want to hear them really playing live and doing their songs just like their records, but faster. In this way, they were a very 60's type band. It was kind of cute this swamp rock thing. Sound quality is good enough, so enjoy an hour of CCR.

Essential live albums from the 70's:
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
The Who - Live At Leeds

I have always been a big fan of Creedence Clearwater Revival and I usually prefer live music over the strict confines of the studio. But, if this album is any indication, CCR was a much better studio group than a live group.

This concert is taken from 1970, before Cosmos Factory was released. It consists of the hits and more popular songs up to that time (except Suzy Q). The group just races through the songs. The songs are even shorter than the studio versions. It is fast, but there is no energy or emotion. It is if they want to get it over as fast as possible as opposed to be being played with a lot of intensity.

The sound quality of my CD is pretty poor. Newer versions are supposed to be remastered. I doubt that this would help much because the original LP didn't sound so good either. I would guess that the problem is in the original recording and that digital remastering won't make that much difference.

Note that at this time, Creedence Clearwater was about the biggest band in rock. Woodstock was originally developed as a festival starring CCR. John Fogerty would not let their performance appear on the Woodstock album or movie because he was upset that they didn't get paid (That didn't bother any of the other groups of the time). John Fogerty couldn't get along with anybody. He fought with the band members over the style of music they played. He wanted the group to be a showcase for his songs, while the rest of the grouup wanted to open up more. The frictions caused the group to break up. He fought with his record company, which caused him to drop out of sight for a long while after CCR broke up. This concert was from when the tensions in the band were just starting. Maybe that is one of the reasons for the poor performance.

This album sounds terrible. It blars. Can't distinguish individual sounds. The perforomance itself is also lousy.

It's a waste o0f money. Sorry that I bought it!!