The bonus tracks features “Bootleg” (Alternate Take). It’s almost twice as long and sandpaper blocks join the percussion towards the song’s end. The remaining three are all live tracks. “Born on the Bayou” and “Proud Mary” are both taken from their final European tour in 1971 when they played as a trio. The tracks have not been previously released. The audio of “Born on the Bayou” from Royal Albert Hall is slightly distorted. It doesn’t help that sound isn’t as full due to Tom’s rhythm guitar missing. In Stockholm, Sweden, “Proud Mary” suffers the same flaws and is played at a tad faster pace. Both songs are shorter than the studio versions. I would have preferred songs from the time of the album’s creation, but I’ll take what I can get.
“Crazy Otto” comes from the March 1969 Fillmore Auditorium gig recorded for San Francisco station KSAN. It’s an eight-minute instrumental jam where the quartet shows they aren’t solely looking eastward to the past because this psychedelic blues jam is in synch with the then-current music scene. A harmonica joins the mix in place of the lead guitar at three minutes in for a little more than two minutes and then John switches back.
The entire Bayou Country sounds so good it had to be blaring out of the cars of all the cool kids 40 years ago. It still should be today. Plan a trip there real soon.
Article comments
1 - JANK
For Born On The Bayou alone CCR should be revered. Masterful! There is a subtly at play in the song especially during the bridge with Fogerty's spoken asides and the languid, deceptive way he brings the guitar melody back in before the final chorus.