Customer Reviews

Creedence Clearwater Revival

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This was the debut album by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It established their highly original sound, which was a lot different than any of the other bands that came out of the San Francisco scene (like CCR did). While they did have their sound down, John Fogerty's songwriting wasn't quite as good as it would later be. It's notable that the two chart singles from the album, "Suzie Q" and "I Put a Spell On You" are covers of songs from the '50s (by two guys named Hawkins who were of no relation to each other). The other cover song on the album was the more recent "Ninety-Nine and a Half" by Wilson Pickett. John Fogerty's original songs are good, but he got ever better as he went along. The best original song on the album, in my opinion, is "Walk on the Water", which Tom Fogerty co-wrote with John. This song actually dates from the pre-Creedence days, when the band was known as the Golliwogs. This is a very good album by CCR, but the best was yet to come.

Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 debut mixes covers and original material, and while it doesn't contain any of John Fogerty's best-known songs, there is more than enough here to make it worth your while.

"Creedence Clearwater Revival" opens with the band's first single, a powerful rendition of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You", followed by the Fogerty original "The Working Man", and a tough eight-minute take on Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q".

CCR also covers the Steve Cropper-Wilson Pickett classic "Ninety-Nine And A Half (won't do)", and John Fogerty plays some of the greatest blues guitar of his career on the highly underrated gem "Get Down Woman", one of the few real blues songs Fogerty has written. The opening twelve-bar solo is one of the greatest I've ever heard laid down by a white guitar player, and the simple but highly effective 24-bar solo between the second and the third verse smoulders as well.

And then there's "Porterville", a raw, menacing rock song with great hooks and a powerful lead vocal by Fogerty, and the funky blues-rock of "Gloomy" (with some weird backward guitars).

The album closes with the only Creedence song credited to Tom Fogerty, "Walk On The Water", which begins well, before fading out with a somewhat tedious, directionless jam session.

But it takes more than a couple of minutes of awkward jamming to ruin an otherwise fine rock n' roll record.
Creedence's sound on this their first album is lean and muscular, dominated by John Fogerty's less-is-more lead guitar and the busy drumming of Doug Clifford. It may be slightly more primitive and not quite as original as their later records, but it towers above the rock n' roll of its time.

These 40th anniversary Creedence Clearwater Revival reissues have been made available at a very competitive price here in Australia. I first bought Bayou Country and then Green River, two favourite albums from the sixties. I was pleased to find that the total product is one which befits the quality of the band's output. The remastered sound is perfect, the bonus tracks worth hearing and the liner notes, particularly those written by Dave Marsh for Green River, incisive.

I took a chance with this first self titled album, not having heard it in total previously, and then went on to buy the remaining reissues. There are gems on all of them. The music is honest, it has none of the pretentious twaddle that bogged other bands of the era (including the biggest), and as Ben Fong-Torres indicates in these liner notes, it is this music, this combination of roots' elements which gives CCR longevity. I would add influence; listen to Kings of Leon's great album Aha Shake Heartbreak and tell me you don't hear Creedence's rootsy rock attack, Fogerty's vocal language and economy of style.

The band cooks. A great rhythm section and Fogerty has been occasionally overlooked as a guitarist in lists of pantheon guitar slingers, possibly because the songs are deceptively simple on execution, but what a fine guitarist he was and is - I saw him at the Byron Bay Blues Festival in 2008 where he levitated an entire marquee. Such lists tend to concentrate on the more flamboyant speedsters but Fogerty's approach is lean, melodic and rhythmic; it has attack but not excess.

Fogerty's voice is an instrument of great power and range. He covers the mighty Wilson Pickett's soul classic Ninety Nine and a Half and you barely recall the horn section. He does Screaming Jay Hawkin's superb I Put a Spell on You but unlike the demented original, he shakes the earth with intent. Who else among white singers can do Little Richard and come close to the master? But Fogerty was blessed with gifts in excess of even Richard. He could conjure landscapes for his art, put himself among bayous, green rivers and river boats, swamps and rising bad moons, he could ride the freight train, sense hellhounds on his trail.

An interesting aspect of this album is that it shows the development of the band. Three tracks (Spell, Susie Q and 99 ½) are covers, exciting live act staples and honed to the max. Two are self penned blues, Working Man ("don't take me on a Friday Lord, that's when I get paid..." ) bearing resemblance to the slower Penthouse Pauper from Bayou Country, and Get Down Woman, a straight slow blues sung and played well. The final three album tracks which include the first single Porterville, are a hangover from their days as The Golliwogs pop rock unit, similar in parts to The Yardbirds, Electric Prunes and Nuggets' series garage bands. The songs are replete with background vocals, harmonies and psychedelic guitar breaks, but the lyrics portend some dark destiny, later realised more fully in Bad Moon Rising, Run Through the Jungle and Fogerty's solo Old Man down The Road.

The first bonus track Call It Pretending is the B side of Porterville and shows the band attempting a Mowtownish sound, Four Tops or Temptations. The second bonus track is an album outtake, an earlier version of Bo Diddley's Before You Accuse Me, faster and in a different key to the more successful track from Cosmo's Factory. The final bonus tracks are from their first headlining gig at the Fillmore, Ninety Nine and A Half and the full live 11:46 version of Susie Q; both are worthy additions to this 40th Anniversary issue. An impressive enjoyable debut, not quite the 5 star 'essential' of later recordings but you can observe an emerging talent: a tight band, some great guitar solos and Fogerty flexing his vocal and song writing muscles.

Creedence Clearwater Revival (self titled) - (bonus tracks edition): This is a Great album although the individual songs have little in common with each other except the fact that they introduce the unique sound of the band. CCR became one of the biggest bands of the late 1960's and early 70's, and rightly so. It was not until the very end of their existence that they made a weak album, but starting with this first album, they created some of the finest music of the era. This CD is Highly Recommended.

I was only 17 and had just finished walking in a peace march when back in the car this voice came waling on the raido. It was John Fogerty singing I Put A Spell On You. He must have because all these years later I have a mini dachshund that I named SusieQ after the flip side of that 45. Songs like Ninety-Nine and a Half were played on the raido all the time. Ahhhh those were the good old days.And this CD is one of the best from back then!But it and enjoy it

This has got to be one of the best debut albums any band has ever put out. No mega hits on this one, but a lot of raw, bluesy rock n'roll, highlighted by a tremendous blues number, "Get Down Woman". Why didn't they make more songs like this one? John Fogerty is backed up by the greatest rhythm section that rock n'roll has ever seen, and this debut album is better than most other bands' best sellers.

It begins with the fantastic "I Put A Spell On You" (the guitarsolo is great) and continues with even more great tracks like Suzie Q, Porterville and by my opinion their best song ever "Walk On The Water". CCR will always be great!

CCR would hit their stride with Bayou Country, but their debut put 'em on the map! Please see my reviews of Bayou Country or Willy and the Poor Boys, where I rave about the bonus material and the excellent audio!

I just wanted to let you know that of the several versions of this out there, please do yourself a favor and look for the release date and buy the version (it's even the cheapest version!) released Sept. 30, 2008. CCR finally got the remaster/expanded with bonus material treatment and it flat-out blows away previous versions. All six albums got the treatment, so this great debut, Green River, Bayou Country, Willy, Pendulum and Cosmo's Factory all now sound AWESOME! I downloaded one, then said, what the heck and got 'em all. I bet you will, too!

Again, look for Sept. 30, 2008 release date on any CCR download or CD!

John Fogerty has a voice that's unique: powerful, raw, almost scary, and unforgettable. He'd been making records since 1959 with his band The Blue Velvets--which had its name changed against their will by the record company to The Golliwogs (! ). But several years and singles without success later, they realized something needed to be done. John took over singing lead from his brother Tom and, in the spirit of the times, renamed themselves CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL. For a band with a "psychedelic era"-style moniker, they sure sounded more BLUESY than most of their contemporaries. "CCR" opens with a downright spooky version of Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You", and the aura, style & mood of the album continued from there! Other highlights include "Suzie Q" (at 8:30 the single was split between 2 sides!); "Ninety-Nine And A Half" (the similarity of the opening bit to The Blues Brothers' "Groove Me" no doubt due to it being co-written by Steve Cropper-- I'm also reminded of some early Steve Miller tunes); "Get Down Woman" (see early Fleetwood Mac for more in this style); "Porterville" (really bouncy, this had earlier been a single before the band's name-change); "Gloomy" (starts out slow but builds to a tremendous guitar-jam); and "Walk On The Water" (a spooky march-like song, the only one in CCR's 7 albums co-written by Tom Fogerty). CCR didn't go over big on first release-- but THESE guys, especially John, were just WARMING UP! Like some others, I started out with a "hits" collection, but decided I needed MORE. This album is the perfect place to start!

With Concord Music Group having purchased the Fantasy catalog, the fortieth anniversary of Creedence Clearwater Revival's debut LP provides a suitable opportunity for a fresh round of reissues. All six of the original foursome's albums (from 1968's Creedence Clearwater Revival through 1970's Pendulum) have been struck from new digital masters and augmented by previously unreleased tracks. Those who purchased the 2001 box set can pick up most of the bonus tracks separately as digital downloads (the two longest bonuses are CD-only). Those who didn't buy the box, and think they'll buy all six reissues may want to consider the box set for its inclusion of pre-Creedence work from the Blue Velvets and Golliwogs, the seventh CCR album Mardi Gras, the 1970-71 live recordings and several box-only bonuses. But for those just wanting to pick up a few favorite albums, these reissues are the ticket. Each is presented in a digipack with original front and back cover album art and a 16-page booklet with photos, credits and new liner notes.

Creedence's self-titled debut finds the band making the transition from blues and psychedelia to the bayou flavor that made them the greatest American rock band ever. The disc opens with a resurrection of Screaming Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You." Fogerty's vocal hasn't the insane menace of Hawkins' original, but his manhandling guitar solo shows how broad his vision of American music was going to be. The same is true for the group's cover of Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q," extending the rockabilly classic into an eight-minute epic. Doug Clifford's fade-in backbeat gives way to Fogerty's insinuating guitar riff, and a run through of the lyrics leads to an intense guitar jam whose feedback-lined climax dissolves back into the smoke of a fading backbeat. The album's third cover is "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)," offered as a harder blues than the original's Stax groove, and with a more ferocious vocal than Wilson Pickett's original.

The originals, all written by John Fogerty, aren't the swamp-rock icons of later albums, ranging from the straight blues "The Working Man" and "Get Down Woman" to the soul-psych "Gloomy" and jamming "Walking on Water." The tune that points forward is "Porterville," where you can hear the seeds of CCR's swampy rock and an aggressive individualism in Fogerty's lyrics. The 2008 CD's bonus tracks include the throwback harmony rocker B-side of the group's first single (originally issued as the Golliwogs) "Call it Pretending" and a 1968 album outtake of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" that's less refined than the version they'd record for Cosmo's Factory two years later. Two superbly present live tracks from a 1969 Fillmore show repeat "Ninety Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" and "Suzie Q," the former close to the studio original, the latter a set-closing showpiece demonstrating Fogerty's hypnotizing guitar mastery stretching out to nearly twelve minutes. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]