Creedence Clearwater Revival Album: “Mardi Gras”

This is CCR's last album. Tom Fogerty had already left the band. Tom left because of John's dominance, and Stu Cook and Doug Clifford were aching to get their songs and voices heard. So John let Stu Cook and Doug Clifford share songwriting and production chores for this final album. It was a disaster for Stu and Doug, but not for John. Stu Cook and Doug Clifford's songs are, at worst, horrible, and, at best, just average. Musically, they're not bad, but they aren't exceptional, like John's are. Lyrically, they're horrible. Vocally, the songs are miles below horrible. Stu Cook has one of the worst voices I've ever heard, and Doug Clifford's voice, while not as godawful as Cook's, isn't much to sing about either. Cook's lead vocal on Sail Away is hilariously bad. It makes me laugh more than most modern comedies. John Fogerty's contributions to the album, Lookin' for a Reason, Someday Never Comes, Sweet Hitchhiker, and the cover of Hello Mary Lou are great CCR songs. They are worth buying the CD for. But man, the rest of it sucks. Fogerty was doing Stu and Doug a favour by not letting them sing and/or write anything. It's a shame that they had to break up like this, but it had to be done...

Reviewer: Middle aged man "Stu" (United States) - See all my reviews

As many people obviously know by now, this album marked the low point for Creedence. It starts off ok with a slow country song, thankfully penned by J Fogerty. Adequate, but certainly not up to his usual standards.

Nothing could prepare me for the next track- "Take it like a friend" written by bassist Stu Cook. It has to be one of the worst songs to make it on an album by a band of this stature. When I first heard it on vinyl many years ago, I thought the record was jumping. It wasn't. The 'vocalist' sounds like a tone deaf drunken man vocalizing to a random backing track, which skips sporadically. After hearing it the first time, I felt bewildered, disoriented, and finally angry. I have almost gotten over this now, but I am just cautioning you so that you can mentally prepare yourself. I wish there had been someone there to warn me. If you can survive this track, you should be ok. Don't give up---there is a glimmer of hope on the distant horizon......

Cook's other 2 tracks -"Sail away" and "Door to door" are instantly forgettable, but a vast improvement over "Take it like a friend" (which I wish I could forget, but I just can't)

Drummer Doug Clifford tries his writing and singing skills on two tracks "Tearin' up the country" & ""What are you gonna do?"-both instantly forgettable.

Ditto for the Clifford-Cook song "Need someone to hold"

"Some day never comes" is another J Fogerty track. Better than the opening track, but still not one of my favorite Fogerty songs.

A cover version of "Hello Mary Lou" does not help matters.

Last track on the album- "Sweet Hitch-hiker is the final song by J Fogerty. I gave the 3-stars for this song alone. After you have suffered through the rest of the album, this track stands alone like a beacon of hope. There is hope! It was the only thing that prevented me from throwing my vinyl record version on the floor, stomping on it in a fit of bleary anger, many many moons ago.

Do yourself a favor, and just skip to the last track.

Remastering cannot help most of the songs on this album, but it is well worth the price of admission for "Sweet hitch-hiker". I just wish there was a warning sticker on the case..."Beware-some of these track can have serious side effects. Not advisable to drive or operate heavy machinery whilst listening to track two "......

MARDI GRAS is actually a pretty good album. It's not the disastrous mess it's reputed to be. It's definitely something of a misstep, but as with many great artists who have stumbled, CCR's failure is far more interesting than lesser groups' successes.

Basically, this album is exactly what it's nickname implies, "Fogerty's Revenge." John Fogerty, angered at his brother for leaving the band and at his remaining bandmates for their open resentment of his hogging the spotlight as chief songwriter and front man, gave Doug Clifford and Stu Cook free reign over 2/3 of the album.

Clifford and Cook's contributions to the album are, for the most part, good, solid country-rock. Admittedly, they're inferior to Fogerty's work, but their songs are catchy enough, with the exception of Cook's "Sail Away," which, while a decent song, suffers from Cook's inability to effectively sing his own soulful lyrics. Clifford's warmer, richer voice is more pleasant to the ear, though Cook's harsh voice works better on his terrific "Door to Door" and "Take it Like a Friend" (the latter of which is veiled attack on Fogerty, with Cook going so far as to mock Fogerty's shrill vocal style).

Fogerty, however, does prove himself to be the true driving force behind CCR, offering up the album's three best songs (one of them, "Someday Never Comes," being one of the best songs he's ever written) and a fun, if not slight cover of "Hello, Mary Lou." However, there is a flip side to the "Fogerty's Revenge" spin many give this record, as it reveals Fogerty to be exactly what his bandmates accused him of being; an arrogant, unreasonable and possessive control-freak, too stubborn and petty to help his cohorts craft their own musical aspirations.

Basically, MARDI GRAS is not the swan song most would have hoped for a powerhouse band such as CCR. But despite it being an undeniable misstep, it is a totally listenable and interesting album.

While John Fogerty was at the helm CCR sold record after record. They were at the top. That wasn't good enough for brother Tom who quits the band. Other members Doug Clifford and Stu Cook were busy yelling I can sing I can write songs. John gave in and said do it and more or less walked away from what he knew would be a disaster. And it was. Others that follow a genius might find they are better off in doing so. I gave this a big thumbs down when it first came out and still do.

MARDI GRAS is really not inspired like the previous albuns from CREEDENCE...Still i like some songs...not great like COSMO[s FACTORY or GREEN RIVER, but if you like their sound, you may like MARDI GRAS...