Green River [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Creedence Clearwater Revival | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 30, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Fantasy
• ASIN: B001AKTZPA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,136 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Remarkably, this is the third studio album Creedence Clearwater Revival released in 1969! During that stunning burst, John Fogerty could do no wrong. Green River isn't as chock-full of CCR standards as the record that followed it in 1970 (Cosmo's Factory), and, at 30 minutes, it's briefer than its rather brief predecessor (Willy and the Poorboys). Still, this is economy at its best. The title track, "Lodi," and "Bad Moon Rising" are all indelibly etched into the memory banks of classic-rock fans, while "Commotion" and "Cross-Tie Walker" are perfect swamp-rock complements. "The Night Time Is the Right Time" is one more in a series of spot-on Fogerty covers. And "Wrote a Song for Everyone" manages to be both rarefied and down to earth in the same breath--which is really CCR in a nutshell. --Steven Stolder

Product Description

24 bit digitally remastered reissue of their 1969 album. Nine tracks, including 'Green River', 'Bad Moon Rising' and 'Lodi'. Also features the original cover art. Digipak. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Creedence Clearwater Revival Photos

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of rock's all-time classic albums, May 8, 2004

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Green River (Audio CD)

On their third album, Creedence Clearwater Revival finally got rid of the sometimes directionless five-minute jams that weighed down their first two records.

"Green River" is probably their tightest album, and their best as well. There is virtually no filler here - the singles are magnificent, and even the album tracks are great.
It opens with the title track, a concise 2 1/2 minutes of tough, "swampy" backbeat and vivid imagery, highlighted by the pithy, intertwined guitar figures of John and Tom Fogerty, and John Fogerty's brief, melodic, less-is-more solo.

Other highlights include the classic rockabilly of "Bad Moon Rising", the melancholy "Lodi", the sinister, soulful blues "Tombstone Shadow", and the slow, mournful "Wrote A Song For Everyone".
But everything is good, really, including the brisk, semi-acoustic country-rocker "Cross-Tie Walker" and the album's only cover song, an energetic rendition of "The Night Time Is The Right Time".

The musicianship is excellent, too. Doug Clifford's stop-start drumming on "Wrote A Song" and "Sinister Purpose" is among his best and most imaginative. John Fogerty plays fiery lead guitar on "Tombstone Shadow", and he and his brother complement each other superbly on the appropriately dark blues-rocker "Sinister Purpose".

Both "Green River" and "Bad Moon Rising" made it to #2, and the album itself was a #1 record back in the autumn of 1969.
There is not a single weak moment on this magnificent fusion of rock, blues, R&B, folk and country, and "Green River" is not just Creedence Clearwater Revival's best album, it is by far the best American rock record of the 1960s.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great American Band's first completely original effort, October 4, 2008

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Green River (Audio CD)

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 third album (their second for 1969), Green River, is their first completely original effort as a band. Gone are the lengthy San Francisco jams, replaced by concisely written and arranged songs that concentrate Fogerty's evocations of an idealized South. The album opens with the title track's sumptuous memory of a mythical childhood, a song so deeply soaked in Southern swamps that it's hard to imagine it being written in the urban hills of California's Bay Area. The Fogerty brothers intertwine their twangy electric guitars with familial telepathy. The sound first explored on Bayou Country is now heard on every cut, mellowing the blue "Tombstone Shadow" and providing an introspective stage for Fogerty's ballads. Even the frantic "Commotion" is given a Cajun base for its lyrics of a country boy demolished by the city's hyperactivity. Fogerty's social conscience stretches biblical allusions to then present day situations on "Wrote a Song for Everyone," and with "Bad Moon Rising" the visions turn catastrophic. There's a great deal more darkness here than on any other Creedence LP.

Fogerty's guitar could be sinewy or ring with the influences of Chet Atkins, as does his solo on "Cross-Tie Walker." Country music also makes an impact on the sorrowful, highly personal lyric of "Lodi." The album closes with its sole cover, a slow rockabilly take on Ray Charles' blue-soul "The Night Time is the Right Time." The 2008 CD's bonus tracks include a pair of pre-LP backing tracks that were never completed, the country-shuffle "Broken Spoke Shuffle" and the twangy "Glory Be." Also here is a trio of live tracks from the group's 1971 European tour. "Bad Moon Rising" is rushed (as are so many songs played live), a medley of "Green River" and "Suzie Q" is condensed to four-and-a-half-minutes, pointing out the two songs' similarities more than giving the latter its full due, and "Lodi" is a fittingly weary lyric for a band reduced to three of its original four members. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Green River, August 6, 2001

By 

Paul - See all my reviews

This review is from: Green River (Audio CD)

Green River has always been a album that brings back fond memories for me. I first bought it on 8 track in 69 when it came out and it had "Bad Moon Rising", on the tape twice. I still remember the first time that I heard "Bad Moon Rising". I just stopped what I was doing and listened to the song. Not many songs have gotten my attention that way. Those were definitely turbulant times and this album helped lighten the mood. For those of you who were there and to those who weren't, I would highly recommend this album as one of CCR's best.