Disco de Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival [Fantasy Canada]”

This is an odd, somewhat skimpy collection which omits some of Creedence's best songs, and includes several lesser ones instead. At this price it definitely can't be recommended...the two "Chronicle" CDs are a much better purchase.

In 2 discs, "The Best of CCR" contains 28 of the greatest songs of all times. Disc One is the better of the two discs in my opinion, starting out strong with the classics "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", "Susie Q", and "Up Around the Bend". Disc One also contains my all time favorite Creedence song "Looking Out My Back Door". But Disc Two is not a bad disc either including such great songs as "Down on The Corner" and "Hello Mary Lou". It is unfortunate that CCR were only together for four years ('68-'72) but they released a lot of quality music in those years, and these two discs have distilled their very best.

This is actually the first CD(s) I ever bought and boy did I ever start my collection off on a high note! I'd always liked CCR growing up, but I never realized how many of their songs I knew until I got this album. All of the standards are here, including "Down on the Corner," "Travelling Band," "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," etc, etc...There are also some pleasant surprises on this one, such as a very long, very good rendition of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "The Nightime is the Right Time," which I didn't know they did. Strangely enough, the only place I knew it from was on the Cosby Show when Rudy lip-synced to it.

In conclusion, I love this album! There are 28 songs and all are hits in their own right. If you are a CCR fan, this is a nice collection to own. If you are looking to buy your first CCR album, this is an excellent place to start. If you are a fan of classic rock in general, you'll never regret buying this great compilation. The sound quality is very good and the songs are outstanding. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

No matter what kind of music you like, you can trace it back to the roots. Creedence Clearwater Revival, or CCR, was the roots for rock and country. Their best music was compiled on a two-disc set entitled, “The Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival” and was released on May 16, 1998. I can almost guarantee that everyone has heard a CCR song, even if it wasn’t sung by them. “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” was first heard in Motown by Marvin Gaye. When CCR revised it and put in on their 1970 album, you can but that it sounded nothing like Motown. John Forgerty put a perfect spin on it, jazzed it up just a little, and made it a hit. “Hello Mary Lou” was written by Gene Pitney and later made into a hit by CCR. This goes both ways. Not only did CCR take other’s songs and transform them into their own, but their songs were taken by others and transformed once again. In the 1980’s, the popular country band, The Statler Brothers, redid “Hello Mary Lou” once again, adding a country twang to it. It’s all the signs of an amazingly written song. It can be sung in all different styles and still be made a hit. It was also in the 1980’s that Tina Turner took a CCR song, one that was actually written by Fogerty. This time, it was “Proud Mary”, which at the time that it was released by CCR, was a somewhat catchy tune. No one knew, however, how catchy it could really sound until Tina Turner sunk her teeth into the tune, and made it a huge hit of her own.

Not all CCR songs were borrowed or remade though. Although I’m not going to go through all twenty-eight songs in depth, I would like to touch on a few that I found essential to the CD. I have to start with me personal favourite, “Down on the Corner”. Now, I’m not sure why this has always been my favourite, but it has been since I was little. Maybe it’s because it was the very first CCR song that I had ever heard. Maybe it was all the fights my family and I had over whether it was ‘stamp you feet’ or ‘tap your feet’ featured in the song. We all heard ‘tamp your feet’! The bass in this song is amazing. Even for a fairly old song, it sounds pretty good on the new stereo systems, which is a lot more than I can say about my other old CDs. This is just a feel-good song. Speaking of good bass, “Fortunate Son” definitely does not lack bass. This song is also featured on the soundtrack to “Forrest Gump”, which is also and awesome CD, but we won’t get into that right now. If you want a good old repetitious song that’s easy to learn the words to, “Cotton Fields” is for you. Normally, I don’t care for repetition. It gets boring. This song is different. It has a great beat and wonderful harmonies. It takes you home, thinking about ‘them old cotton fields back home’. If you remember a Telus commercial from awhile back, you might remember hearing “Run Through the Jungle” advertising high speed internet service. I never really saw the point of this song until that commercial. It just fit is so well. It still does have a good beat and it’s great to listen to, I just haven’t found the meaning behind it yet. There are a couple of motivational songs on this CD also; at least, they are motivational to me. “Up Around the Bend” also has an awesome beat and it’s a great song to dance to. The guitar rips at the beginning and close to the end are amazing. “Travelling Band” always makes me smile. I can just imaging this band flying all the way around the world in fast-forward, running everywhere just to get things done. It’s a very short song, and does not have too many words to it, but I think that it has huge meaning, if you use a little imagination while listening to it. “Midnight Special” is a little different. While most CCR songs, in my opinion, have a feel good dancing beat, “Midnight Special” slows it down a bit. It has a swing-feel to it. You can’t help putting your hands together and clapping out a beat of your own, swaying back and forth in the meantime. CCR shows their soft side on “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”. At first listen, it may sound like a sort of depressing song; however, upon listening carefully to the lyrics, one will notice that it fully satisfies CCR’s reputation of fun-loving music. The symbolism, metaphors, and ironies in this song are incredible. It almost sounds like once of those poems that you had to analyze in high school, you know those ones that you had no idea what was going on in. ‘Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day?’ is only an example of one line that makes you really think. There is only one downfall, only one CCR song that I have never been able to develop an appreciation for. “Suzie Q” has an evil background beat that doesn’t seem to fit in with CCR’s normally happy music. I haven’t been able to find the meaning behind it. Maybe this is just my fault, because I know that this song is a favourite for some. It just doesn’t let CCR shine the way that they can.

Just because I didn’t mention every song doesn’t mean that they are not important. Aside from “Suzie Q”, I love every song on this CD. I would recommend it to anyone, whether your music taste is country, rock, or classical. CCR is a band, like The Beatles or Rolling Stones, whose name and legacy will live on through generations, with their music being appreciated for years.

I have owned this set for some time and as a 'Greatest Hits' set it is perfectly adequate. It contains all the Top 40 singles the band made and a number of other songs. The choice of songs apart from the hits might be debated, but there aren't too many weak ones here. These are the original recordings and they sound as good as when they were released.

The only puzzling thing about it is the price. This is now quite an old set and you would think the price would have dropped accordingly. Instead, it seems to have gone up! I distinctly remember getting my copy for less than half the price now being asked. For value, therefore, Chronicles 1 and 2, with 12 more songs for less money, is a better deal. However, there's nothing wrong with this set if you want a good CCR greatest hits package and you can find it at the right price.