Disco de Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Creedence Clearwater Revival [Digipak]”

Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 debut mixes covers and original material, and while it doesn't contain any of John Fogerty's best-known songs, there is more than enough here to make it worth your while.

"Creedence Clearwater Revival" opens with the band's first single, a powerful rendition of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You", followed by the Fogerty original "The Working Man", and a tough eight-minute take on Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q".

CCR also covers the Steve Cropper-Wilson Pickett classic "Ninety-Nine And A Half (won't do)", and John Fogerty plays some of the greatest blues guitar of his career on the highly underrated gem "Get Down Woman", one of the few real blues songs Fogerty has written. The opening twelve-bar solo is one of the greatest I've ever heard laid down by a white guitar player, and the simple but highly effective 24-bar solo between the second and the third verse smoulders as well.

And then there's "Porterville", a raw, menacing rock song with great hooks and a powerful lead vocal by Fogerty, and the funky blues-rock of "Gloomy" (with some weird backward guitars).

The album closes with the only Creedence song credited to Tom Fogerty, "Walk On The Water", which begins well, before fading out with a somewhat tedious, directionless jam session.

But it takes more than a couple of minutes of awkward jamming to ruin an otherwise fine rock n' roll record.

Creedence Clearwater Revival (self titled) - (bonus tracks edition): This is a Great album although the individual songs have little in common with each other except the fact that they introduce the unique sound of the band. CCR became one of the biggest bands of the late 1960's and early 70's, and rightly so. It was not until the very end of their existence that they made a weak album, but starting with this first album, they created some of the finest music of the era. This CD is Highly Recommended.

This has got to be one of the best debut albums any band has ever put out. No mega hits on this one, but a lot of raw, bluesy rock n'roll, highlighted by a tremendous blues number, "Get Down Woman". Why didn't they make more songs like this one? John Fogerty is backed up by the greatest rhythm section that rock n'roll has ever seen, and this debut album is better than most other bands' best sellers.

CCR would hit their stride with Bayou Country, but their debut put 'em on the map! Please see my reviews of Bayou Country or Willy and the Poor Boys, where I rave about the bonus material and the excellent audio!

I just wanted to let you know that of the several versions of this out there, please do yourself a favor and look for the release date and buy the version (it's even the cheapest version!) released Sept. 30, 2008. CCR finally got the remaster/expanded with bonus material treatment and it flat-out blows away previous versions. All six albums got the treatment, so this great debut, Green River, Bayou Country, Willy, Pendulum and Cosmo's Factory all now sound AWESOME! I downloaded one, then said, what the heck and got 'em all. I bet you will, too!

Again, look for Sept. 30, 2008 release date on any CCR download or 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 self-titled debut finds the band making the transition from blues and psychedelia to the bayou flavor that made them the greatest American rock band ever. The disc opens with a resurrection of Screaming Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You." Fogerty's vocal hasn't the insane menace of Hawkins' original, but his manhandling guitar solo shows how broad his vision of American music was going to be. The same is true for the group's cover of Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q," extending the rockabilly classic into an eight-minute epic. Doug Clifford's fade-in backbeat gives way to Fogerty's insinuating guitar riff, and a run through of the lyrics leads to an intense guitar jam whose feedback-lined climax dissolves back into the smoke of a fading backbeat. The album's third cover is "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)," offered as a harder blues than the original's Stax groove, and with a more ferocious vocal than Wilson Pickett's original.

The originals, all written by John Fogerty, aren't the swamp-rock icons of later albums, ranging from the straight blues "The Working Man" and "Get Down Woman" to the soul-psych "Gloomy" and jamming "Walking on Water." The tune that points forward is "Porterville," where you can hear the seeds of CCR's swampy rock and an aggressive individualism in Fogerty's lyrics. The 2008 CD's bonus tracks include the throwback harmony rocker B-side of the group's first single (originally issued as the Golliwogs) "Call it Pretending" and a 1968 album outtake of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" that's less refined than the version they'd record for Cosmo's Factory two years later. Two superbly present live tracks from a 1969 Fillmore show repeat "Ninety Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" and "Suzie Q," the former close to the studio original, the latter a set-closing showpiece demonstrating Fogerty's hypnotizing guitar mastery stretching out to nearly twelve minutes. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]