“Don’t Look Now” is definitely Sun Records rock ‘n’ roll with John giving us a little Elvis in his vocal. “Side of the Road” sounds like Creedence’s response to Booker T. & the M.G.’s classic instrumental “Green Onions.” Tom’s rhythm guitar fills in for Booker’s organ and John recreates Steve Cropper’s guitar sound as the rest of band keeps a sure and steady beat.
“Effigy” is the longest song and closes the album proper. It sounds more like the music coming out of the San Francisco scene at the time. The tone of John’s guitar is more ragged-sounding, like Neil Young, and Doug’s drums are more prominent. The lyrics tell a very interesting tale of revolution. It’s my favorite discovery.
This edition offers three bonus tracks. The first two tracks are more previously unreleased tracks record live in Europe 1971 during the final tour of the trio. “Fortunate Son” from Manchester, England sounds decent, but the vocal drowns out the guitars. The drums can be heard between. “It Came Out of The Sky” from Berlin, Germany has a similar sound level with the guitar slightly raised in the mix, but not by much.
“Down on the Corner” is taken from a jam session with Booker T. & the M.G.’s recorded for a TV special in 1970. Surprisingly, the historic moment wasn’t better captured because it sounds like a consumer tape recorder captured the song in mono. The liner notes state it is the best source available. Booker’s organ and Cropper’s guitar are the most obvious elements added to the arrangement.
Willy and the Poor Boys is another worthy addition to the band's catalog and a continuing testament to their talents. The wide appeal of Creedence Clearwater Revival is evident by how well the album performed as it crossed over and appeared on both the Pop Album and Black Album charts. It also had two singles make the Pop charts, “Down On The Corner” doing the best by reaching #3, and one hit the Country charts.
Article comments
1 - KingCreole
Mardi Gras is an underrated album. After listening to it once,. my brother and I used it as a frisbee. That sucker could fly for two city blocks.