Music Review: John Fogerty - Centerfield (25th Anniversary Edition)

As these sort of classic rock album upgrades go, the 25th Anniversary edition of John Fogerty's 1985 "comeback" album Centerfield isn't really that big of a deal — at least not in terms of any added razzle-dazzle.

Outside of two bonus tracks — the B-side covers of Rockin' Sydney's Zydeco hit "My Toot Toot" (with Sydney himself on accordion) and "I Confess" by Bay Area gospel group The Four Rivers — there aren't really any extras to speak of. It does come with a fairly standard CD booklet with newly written liner notes, and the album has been given the now standard remastered treatment for classic reissues of this type.

But this is hardly the sort of deluxe package you might expect for an artist of John Fogerty's pedigree and influence. The remastering job is mostly kept simple. There is none of the sort of massive digging through the vaults for bonus live material or alternate takes which normally serve to expand such an original classic out to a double-disc version (or more).

But perhaps this is for the best. Fogerty's genius has always been with his unique gift for keeping things at their simplest and most basic anyway. Anything more than an upgrade here might have been considered excessive. Besides, the original Centerfield album sounds so good even now, who can really complain?

At the time of Centerfield's original 1985 release, John Fogerty had been out of the music game for ten years, and hadn't had a hit to speak of since his glory days with Creedence Clearwater Revival. As lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for CCR, Fogerty racked up an astonishing string of hit singles and albums over a roughly four year period from 1968-72.

Fogerty's absence from the spotlight in the years since, came at least partially as a result of legal and personal wrangling with both his former CCR bandmates (including his brother Tom) and his former label, Fantasy Records and its owner Saul Zaentz.

Fogerty has since mended fences with Fantasy (which was taken over by Concord Records in 2004 after being sold by Zaentz), but remains estranged from the surviving members of Creedence (Stu Cook and Doug Clifford), who continue to perform Fogerty's songs as Creedence Clearwater Revisited on the oldies circuit. Tom Fogerty died in 1990.

Article Author: Glen Boyd

You'll find Blogcritics music editor Glen Boyd sharing his Thoughtmares on his personal blog The Rockologist. Glen is also the author of Neil Young FAQ, published in May 2012 by Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard Publishing.

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