After more than three decades and a lot of seriously toxic water over the bridge, the great, ageless roots-rocker John Fogerty — singer, songwriter, lead guitarist and producer of Creedence Clearwater Revival — has returned to Fantasy Records. Yes, you read that correctly, and hell is still pretty toasty as far as I know.
Fogerty’s infamous relationship with the label, now part of the Concord Music Group, and in particular former owner Saul Zaentz, caused years of bitter disputes and lawsuits, making this one of the most unlikely and startling reunions in music industry history.
Creedence recorded exclusively for the Berkeley-based Fantasy, which was primarily a jazz label, and for a brief but very intense period from 1969 through 1971, Fogerty's outfit was the greatest rock 'n' roll band in America, generating nine Top 10 singles in a row ("Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising/Lodi," "Green River," "Down On the Corner/Fortunate Son," "Travelin' Band/Who'll Stop the Rain," "Up Around the Bend," "Lookin' Out My Back Door," "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," "Sweet Hitchhiker"), five multi-platinum albums (Bayou Country, Green River, Willy and the Poorboys, Cosmo's Factory, Pendulum), and some of the most timeless American music of the past 50 years.
And "timeless" is more than a cliche in this case: although recorded in the late '60s and early '70s with a lyrical undercurrent reflecting the social turmoil of the time with the Vietnam War at its core, Creedence's music has a first generation rock 'n' roll feel that derives from the original sound and excitement generated when R&B and country were first rammed together in the '50s.
While Creedence's music, lyrics and image speak of the Deep South of the mighty mythic Mississippi, Louisiana swamps, and voodoo magic, singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer John Fogerty, his brother rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty (who died of respiratory failure in 1990), bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford, were actually from the blue collar East Bay town of El Cerrito, CA, and began playing together in junior high school in 1959.
They first recorded as the Blue Velvets, then as the Golliwogs without much success. Sometimes the band had to play live without microphones, which helped Fogerty develop his blistering blues shout (Howlin' Wolf) and rock 'n' roll scream (Little Richard).
Fogerty started writing songs in earnest while in the Army in the mid-'60s. When the band reunited in '67 after Fogerty's release, they were a seasoned, rock-solid unit that was confident enough to avoid trends and aim for the essence of rock 'n' roll. Their first hit was a swampy version of Dale Hawkins's "Susie Q" in '68, and the extended album version became a staple of the new free-form FM radio format. They were a 10-year overnight success.
Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
If Roger Waters can re-team with Pink Floyd... why not?
I am going to have to check out that retrospective. That looks strong.
2 - Eric Olsen
yes, thanks Josh - I would think there would be quite a bit of interest in this
3 - DJRadiohead
That live version of "Rockin' AllOver the World" from Premonition is really great. Fogerty is one of a very small handful of guys to have a band and solo career worth combining for a retrospective.
4 - Eric Olsen
I agree: he's unique or near-unique on several levels
5 - godoggo
"water over the bridge"!!!
Actually, you're going to have to do much better than that to dethrone me as the Typo King.
Anyways, I've mentioned before that my favorite Creedence album is K-tel "20 Super Hits" 'cause it includes stuff like "Heard it Over the Grapvine" (snicker, snicker) with the long guitar solos expunged,
6 - godoggo
Or did that have some meaning to deep for me to fathom?
7 - The Duke
Thanks for the heads up Eric.
There's lot's of stuff NOT on there too. Which I would probably opt for as well. Commotion, Molina... hey what can I say? I gotta be me.
I just updated my wish list on Amazon.
Have a good weekend!
8 - The Duke
Hello again. I just did a bit of a study and comparative analysis (based on my own bias). For my money, Chronicles I and II, do it, however you don't get the Fogerty solo componants.
A couple of websites went over the history. Mardi Gras was done under quite a bit of stress. The "other" Forgerty leaves for a unsuccessful solo career and Cliff and Stu want a more democratic CCR. The album Mardi Gras is a result and depicts the waning CCR.
Why can't folks just git along? But they were together for quite a while.
The Fantasy stranglehold on the material kept the masses without for many years. It is good to see Fogerty reinstituting the relationship, if for nothing else the easement of rights and release of material under the CCR banner.
If anything can be learned from the entire Fantasy/CCR/Fogerty episode I guess it's GET A BULLETPROOF contract when dealing with the industry.
It was ugly and who suffers? The consumer. Exactly who business wouldn't want to see suffer; right? Obviously not, in this case. I was surprised to see that Fantasy was a Concorde sub. It wasn't always the case, which would have been shocking.
Thank you Concord for stepping up to the plate and resolving past differences. Your organization is to be commended and I will always regard your product and catalog with the highest esteem. I mean it.
adios
9 - Eric Olsen
godog, perhaps convoluted but not unintentional - what has dominated the news of late?
Duke, good thoughts, and I don't think this is definitive - I think Bayou Country, Green River, Willy and the Poorboys, Cosmo's Factory, and Pendulum are all pretty essential and worth owning, and then a solo collection would be nice to add to that.
But this is a nice overview also, heavy on the hits, but a great place to start for a newbie.
Click on the link in he second paragraph for the Concord/Fantasy story - it's a pretty big deal.
They just sent out a sampler of the new combined operation and their catalog is pretty damn astonishing
10 - Tube
How fitting since tonight's relief concert featured Foo Fighters covering "Born on the Bayou" and Garth Brooks covering "Who'll Stop the Rain?"
11 - Eric Olsen
cool Tube, thanks for the info! Too bad they didn't have John himself