Green River showcases three more classics with the title track, "Bad Moon Rising" and "Lodi" — a California town John Fogerty was not fond of visiting. Also notable is CCR's cover of "The Night Time is the Right Time," the most famous version of which was by Ray Charles' in the late 1950s. Two bonus tracks from San Francisco’s Wally Heider studios are included — “Broken Spoke Shuffle” and “Glory Be.” Both are instrumental basic tracks with the former having a feel not unlike “Lodi” while the latter is more rocking with a jangly guitar riff. Also featured are a number of live tracks from 1971 from the three-piece version of CCR including "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River/Suzie Q" and "Lodi." Throughout all these CDs, the live cuts really show how good a band CCR was, pushing the tempos while remaining tight.
Next up is Willy and the Poor Boys with two more CCR staples in “Down on the Corner” and the protest song, “Fortunate Son.” Still popular today, John Fogerty played “Fortunate Son” on 2004’s Vote for Change tour backed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Also notable is a strong cover of “The Midnight Special.” A live version of “Fortunate Son” from the three-man version of CCR is one of the bonus tracks, along with a live version of “It Came Out of the Sky.” The highlight of the bonus tracks though is a live jam of “Down on the Corner” with Booker T. and the MGs which was filmed for a TV special and features John Fogerty and Steve Cropper trading guitar licks.
CCR’s arguably biggest and most popular album was Cosmo’s Factory, and for good reason. Killer covers such as “Before You Accuse Me,” “Ooby Dooby,” “My Baby Left Me” and the 11-minute “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” mix with killer originals such as “Travelin’ Band,” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” “Run Through the Jungle” (which Fantasy later sued John Fogerty over when they thought “The Old Man Down the Road” sounded a little too similar), “Up Around the Bend,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and the gospel-like “Long As I Can See the Light.” Cosmo’s Factory would be a strong greatest-hits album for most bands while for CCR it was one of two albums released in 1970. Bonus tracks include a studio version of “Travelin’ Band” without the horns and live versions of “Up Around the Bend” and “Born on the Bayou,” the latter again with Booker T and the MGs.
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