If you actively dislike Creedence Clearwater Revival, then I can never respect anything you have to say about anything.

Despite my misgivings about Fogerty's voice (expressed above), I have now listened to Live at Woodstock and confirm that this recording is totally smokin'.

it's actually spelled smoykin'

I think Kim Salmon borrowed a lot from Fogerty's vocals at least in Scientists days.

km lol

I've been working my way through the giant Woodstock 38-CD set and what's great about Creedence is that you're just coming out of a doomed Grateful Dead set - no way Owsley's sound rig for the Dead was going to be compatible with the Woodstock system - so there's 95 minutes of so of haplessness. Weir getting shocked, false starts, everyone yelling at Oswley, a directionless 40min of "Turn On Your Lovelight" that both exemplifies the lack of PA and the worst qualities of the Dead. Then CCR shows up, cleans the place out like the Ramones, and are gone in 30. The mix cranks the volume on Clifford's bass drum for maximum choogle.

I salute your dedication, thanks for the summary of that Dead set which I won't listen to but expect to be sampled soon

Lol

Noticing Doug Clifford’s massive hi-hats (18”, which is insane) in a CCR clip, I went looking for an interview where he talks about his gear, and found this great quote:

Al [Jackson, Jr.] said to me, “What are your goals?” I said, “I want to be a metronome.” He said, “Why would you want to be a metronome? A metronome is a machine.” I said, “But I want to be on.” Al held up one finger. “Look,” he said, “here’s the beat. The right side of the finger is edging the beat—not going past it but a bit on that side of it. The left side is when you’re pulling it back, maybe from a solo and back into a verse, or from a chorus. Then there’s the middle of the finger. That’s okay too. It can be a verse or something else. You move these notes.”

Growing up, I had listened to Little Richard and heard those cats go into an instrumental section and they would just jump, all moving together. I mentioned that to Al, and he said, “We’re humans, that’s the beauty of it.” That’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received from another player. It helped me to be me. I don’t play perfect time. The groove is a living thing.

18" hi-hats, wtf

HI-HATS

Fogerty on the Woodstock set:

I’d seen the Dead live a few times around the Bay Area, and I knew their reputation. At the time, I was what you would call pissed off. They sabotaged our chance in the limelight. But over time, I have developed quite an affection for the Dead. They mumbled their way through a career and they outlasted the Man. They changed the paradigm by doing it their own way, and they made it work. But at Woodstock, they were just a bunch of drugged-out hippies.

They mumbled their way through a career and they outlasted the Man.

No one's ever put it better!

Lol, seconded

the mumbling part is right, they did not outlast the man

sadly, the man has legs

I want to say Hunt Sales had huge cymbals ...

do it say it

Is that a euphemism?

Ccr is a good place to start if you’re learning to play guitar (forget the Beatles) - easy chords and strong rhythm

Do you think that is why The Minutemen started there?

otm with beginner guitar. Me and my spouse have been playing a bunch recently, and it’s so awesome that pretty much every CCR song is extremely easy to play

A lot of his stuff is in drop d, that could be the only snag for a beginner. But even in standard tuning his songs are so immediately identifiable that it's very satisfying to even approximate them.

Re the Minutemen, I'm not sure it's because covering CCR was relatively easy, I think it's mostly because Fogerty was a protest singer that flew the flannel.

They’re also good for easy leads, eg the Bayou riff which is just an E7 (you don’t even have to move your left hand) and Green River. Then there’s the major key Up Around the Bend and Fortunate Son riffs which are good ways to learn different chord voicings up the neck

Green River can be tricky because that are so many guitars on it, each throwing in these iconic little licks.

yeah Green River is hard if you try to play all those riffs on one guitar!

eg the Bayou riff which is just an E7 (you don’t even have to move your left hand
Always think this is a major component of the “swampy” sound, basically a Mixolydian vamp that may change chords but doesn’t sound like a blues and mostly stays on the I7 the majority of the time. See also “Polk Salad Annie.”

Seems like I found few hits of bands playing a medley of those two songs.

Daltrey struggles with the riff here, but his voice is perfect for it.

https://youtu.be/YYYxad4SxKY

Bayou specifically, that Pops Staples tremelo is key.

Also, the choogling.

Good point about Pops

This article ties it all together and singles out the missing link between the two songs in question, James Burton on “Susie Q.”
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22707-forgotten-heroes-pops-staples?page=4

And this
http://www.davehoekstra.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/pops_staples.pdf

Still can take or leave the bass solo on Woodstock “Suzie Q” but it’s still better than Skip Battin, say.

Lol at Roger Daltrey saying “It’s the only thing I remember about Woodstock.”

Unexpected Bayou:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUCpCOx3zBk

wow!

re: the vinyl, ending side 1 with aimless between-song tuning was a weird choice

lol, at the end of side 2 there's more fiddling, fogerty says 'now we'd like to do a song called i put a spell on you', side ends

here's a nice cover of "born on the bayou" by an indian garage band from the early '70s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0DHSU-5jcQ

"durango" by jj cale also has that same sort of choogle

A key CCR moment for me was honestly buying the first Richard Hell album and hearing the awesome cover of "Walk on the Water." Must have been middle school? Whenever it was, it was the first time I realized there was more to the band than their 20 or so hits.

dang i love the deranged voice on that x'lents recording

lol, at the end of side 2 there's more fiddling, fogerty says 'now we'd like to do a song called i put a spell on you', side ends

yep

i mean, the song's on side 3, but.. how could that have even happened

If side 3 launches right into the song, I guess I can see why they may have cut it that way

Yes that's why but.. surely you put the intro at the start of Side 3 or cut it out entirely??

I have been thinking about who was as relentless at this time and I keep coming back to Buddy Guy

I mean, I don't know what style he was playing at the time but he can do a similar kind of throbbing, hypnotic shred-out

Love Buddy Guy.