Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Huck and Tom Rock..., December 5, 2003
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Music Is Not Old, January 7, 2006
'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!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Their 2nd album put CCR "on the map"!, February 19, 2000
"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?)
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