Creedence Clearwater Revival: C or D?

it's really something how great the music sounds and how utterly dreadful the picture quality on the interviews is. i guess last dance and get back raised the bar for the treatment of historical footage but man it's just... bad. a swarming mass of weird mpeg artifacts. sit far back enough from the TV and i guess it's alright? or squint. the overlaid text is just bad powerpoint default text as well, just minimum effort. and no insight, no stories, nothing surprising. on the other hand the music just sounds incredible. in fact every show on that european tour sounds incredible. is there high quality sound for all those shows? it's funny though, sometimes with creedence it's a little bit deflating because apart from the jams it really does sound - and they refer to this explicitly in the doc - so much like the record that you're like, well, okay, fine, i could just listen to the record.

last night i did a double-bill of this and the zz top doc and it was pretty funny how they both did the whole walk-hard thing, black and white footage of sock hops, etc. the zz top doc is easily superior in terms of funny stories and just all around quality but it felt extremely jarring to have it come to an end right after... eliminator? i'll probably take it to the zz thread but kinda disrespectful imo. "breakaway" on antenna is probably my favorite song they ever did.

sometimes with creedence it's a little bit deflating because apart from the jams it really does sound - and they refer to this explicitly in the doc - so much like the record that you're like, well, okay, fine, i could just listen to the record.

Yes and no. The arrangements are certainly the same as the record — there’s no radical (or even slight) re-imagining of the songs. But the intensity, momentum, and juuust slightly and perfectly ahead-of-the-beat agitation makes it a far different, and more exciting, experience for me.

Yes and no. The arrangements are certainly the same as the record — there’s no radical (or even slight) re-imagining of the songs. But the intensity, momentum, and juuust slightly and perfectly ahead-of-the-beat agitation makes it a far different, and more exciting, experience for me.

Agree with this 100%. They were absolutely more energetic and intense onstage than in the studio; that's why I wound up focusing so much on the drums, and hearing the similarities to (Bon Scott-era) AC/DC.

it is better live, i agree.

Some nice slap-back / Sun Ra feedback delay on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2oJIBQKlnw

this is enough of a thing that fogerty is even quoted discussing it on wikipedia but (given how political he was and how much of a touchstone it was for the counterculture in its years of defeat and setback and turmoil) i continue to love how jolly "bad moon rising" sounds

One thing I took away from this was how many songs are in E that I had always thought were in D - Bad Moon and Mary come to mind

D Major
The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.

D Minor
Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.

E♭ Major
The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.

D# Minor
Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.

E Major
Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major.

I think they tuned down on at least some songs?

If you mean that some songs were played in a different key from the record at the RAH show, no, all songs were in the same keys as the recordings. But if you mean “tuning down” in the sense that some CCR songs use a drop-D guitar tuning, then yes — “Ramble Tamble” uses that tuning (where the high and low E strings are tuned to D).

Haven't seen the doc yet, but I did read that the audio version of the set has apparently trimmed out brief moments of banter and guitar swapping, so perhaps that was also the case with the video of the show?

(xp) the latter

... actually no, I meant they'd tune down a whole step, if that's the right terminology.

As far as I can tell, CCR's instruments were all in standard tuning (lowest to highest strings): E A D G B E. On "Ramble Tamble" the tuning was D A D G B D.

The video shows Fogerty stopping to drink something between songs, and a roadie hands him a different guitar a couple of times, but the pauses are never more than a few seconds, and he never speaks to the audience until right before "Keep On Chooglin'," and all he says is "Thanks; this is our last song, it's called 'Keep On Chooglin''."

Got it, I was just reading on another forum someone complaining that some between song stuff had been "excised" on the audio release.

The Royal Albert Hall doc might have been a dvd release of just the concert in the 2000s, but it seems like they had to pad it with a documentary portion for Netflix. It's so flimsy though that it feels like someone created an AI prompt for "Creedence visiting European landmarks." Nevertheless, the show is a fun watch. The seated crowd mostly seems bottled up throughout until a handful of them lose their shit during "Keep on Chooglin.'" What a strange, powerful alchemy these guys had.

good to hear stu explaining how very different denmark is from norway tho

Watched the doc last night and christ, "Fortunate Son" is so amped up and frantic it sounds like the Feelies or something. Doug Clifford keeps pushing it faster & faster until by the end its like a hairs breadth from going completely off the rails. Fucking killer.

Damn, that lady in the front row losing it to "Keep On Chooglin'"...You only wish you could have as good a time as that.

Proud Mary definitely has some higher string jangle in the studio recording so maybe they used capo on the second fret for that, but couldn’t be bothered live

Damn, that lady in the front row losing it to "Keep On Chooglin'"...You only wish you could have as good a time as that.

Gotta say that whole audience looks very 1965, was expecting hairier hippies.

I say it all the time, most people didn't start getting really hairy till the 70s.

I've been looking at footage from Paris '68 recently and the men all have such short hair and are so neatly dressed.

It’s the royal albert hall, not the Fillmore west

The audience at the Oakland Coliseum gig are similarly not very hairy.

that’s what they call CHOO-gih-LIEH

it'll do

the guy who says great googly moogly

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

but instead he says great googly choogley

Meanwhile, back in the jungle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iTT8tIVTkE

should post it in a lebowski thread but "I love you, but sooner or later you're going to have to face the fact you're a goddamn moron" would be a great tombstone quote.

I've been on a big Creedence kick for the first time in a while, prompted by getting a nice copy of Green River finally. While listening to Sinister Purpose, I started thinking about an alternate version of the band by focusing on their apocalyptic/jammy side, like they were some lost blues/psyche band that released a one-off in 1970. So I constructed the following playlist, styled as a single LP:

Sinister Purpose
Side A
1. Born on the Bayou (5:15)
2. Sinister Purpose (3:22)
3. Ramble Tamble (7:11)
4. Keep on Chooglin' (7:40)

Side B
1. Run Through the Jungle (3:05)
2. Graveyard Train (8:35)
3. Gloomy (3:51)
4. Effigy (6:27)

The one track that might not fit is Gloomy, so I could omit that and go with:

Sinister Purpose
Side A
1. Born on the Bayou (5:15)
2. Sinister Purpose (3:22)
3. Run Through the Jungle (3:05)
4. Keep on Chooglin' (7:40)

Side B
1. Ramble Tamble (7:11)
2. Graveyard Train (8:35)
3. Effigy (6:27)

Other replacements for Gloomy were Bad Moon Rising (too jaunty) or 45 Revolutions Per Minute Pt. 1 (would add a little psyche).

no "I Put A Spell On You"?

Sinister is in E7 for the verses and goes to C7 for the chorus right ?

Or is it drop D

for me that’s not the “alternative version of the band” this playlist is the main side, the white-hot molten core of them

i might add suzy q and a few others

no "I Put A Spell On You"?

― sleeve, Friday, December 16, 2022 7:38 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I thought about it, but I need to give it more of a try. If it replaced Gloomy, it would push it over my single LP limit of 45 minutes.

Also thinking about another LP length playlist that focuses on their sad-sack side. Like how depressing are Someday Never Comes and Wrote a Song for Everyone?

^ add both rain songs to that one

and Lodi

Yeah, Lodi is pretty bleak.

I wish John had given into his instincts and pronounced “purpose” as “poipose”

The "depressing" CCR album should include "It's Just a Thought".

Ok, put this together:

Someday Never Comes
Side A
1. Someday Never Comes
2. Lodi
3. Who'll Stop the Rain
4. It's Just a Thought
5. Wrote a Song for Everyone
6. Long as I Can See the Light

Side B
1. Bad Moon Rising
2. Poor Boy Shuffle
3. Feelin' Blue
4. Have You Ever Seen the Rain
5. I Heard It Through the Grapevine

It's almost 46 minutes long, so if I needed to remove anything it would be Poor Boy Shuffle/Feelin' Blue. I guess Long as I Can See the Light is a little hopeful, but I still feel it fits - he's not sure the light will be there to guide him.

That first side is something else.

Excellent work all

I'd maybe replace "Grapevine" with "(Wish I Could) Hideaway". Fogerty sounds genuinely distressed (about his brother leaving the group), not just fatalistic or dejected.

I will give that a try. I honestly don't know Pendulum that well and Mardi Gras almost not at all!

Listening to the Someday Never Comes playlist on the way to work this morning and was struck by two thoughts:

1) Someday Never Comes is a more direct and less maudlin Cats in the Cradle; and
2) He makes Lodi sound like some outer plane of hell where crushed dreams and boredom reign.

I wish John had given into his instincts and pronounced “purpose” as “poipose”

I always hoid it that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fQ85VjQhDA

Looks like CCR live rarities will be played on Fogerty's upcoming tour.

Getting ready and rehearsing for tour! Gonna bring some of my songs I have never performed live before. I think 'Effigy' might make the cut… @shanefogerty

What other songs should we bring on the road with us? 🤘🏼🎸

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqqZHhyvSHS/