Play that Creedence song

For the last month, since John Fogerty released Revival, I’ve been thinking I needed to do some kind of a post mentioning the album.

I hardly need to mention Creedence Clearwater Revival, as timeless as they are. Fogerty’s solo career, on the other hand, has seen its share of ups and downs. His legal hassles with former managers, record labels, and band mates have been well documented. It’s also pretty well known that he was so embittered by the experience that for almost 15 years he wouldn’t even play the old music.

It was 1987 before Fogerty would publicly perform a CCR song, reportedly at Bob Dylan’s urging. The story goes that they, along with George Harrison, were onstage at a club in Los Angeles when Dylan leaned over to Fogerty and asked him to play “Proud Mary.” Bob told Fogerty that if he didn't sing it, everyone would think that it was a Tina Turner song.

Three years later, seeking inspiration, Fogerty traveled to Mississippi to visit the gravesite of blues legend Robert Johnson. Thinking about the people who owned the rights to Johnson’s songs and how they were getting rich from the music, Fogerty realized that Robert Johnson was the true spiritual owner of the songs he had written, and it didn't matter who was making money off them. Fogerty decided to start making a new album, and start performing his old Creedence material in concert.

Reclaiming his “swamp” sound, Fogerty released Blue Moon Swamp in 1997, taking home a Grammy for Best Rock album.

Revival, Fogerty’s first new album in three years sounds like a 30-year step into the past. USA Today called the album a “Full-bore return to choogling swamp-pop.” That’s not to say the album is a rehash of the past; just an acknowledgement of it.

Today’s music comes from a performance taped for NPR’s “World Café” program. The show was taped at Clinton Street Studios in NYC, on Oct. 26. This short set leans heavily on new material, but he does a play a little bit (actually all) of that Creedence song.

Creedence Song.mp3
Don’t You Wish It Was True.mp3
Gunslinger.mp3
Broken Down Cowboy.mp3
Long Dark Night.mp3
Proud Mary.mp3

Labels: classic rock, live music, new stuff

posted by aikin @ 4:21 PM