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

I devised the ultimate CCR epics compilation! Goes a little awry on side 4 I guess, but other than that pretty solid.

Side 1:
Susie Q - 8.35
Graveyard Train - 8.37

Side 2:
Keep On Chooglin' - 7.43
Crazy Otto (Bayou Country CD bonus track) - 8.48
Effigy - 6.26

Side 3:
Ramble Tamble - 7.09
I Heard It Through the Grapevine - 11.05

Side 4:
Pagan Baby - 6.25
Rude Awakening #2 - 6.19
45 Revolutions Per Minute (Part 2) (Pendulum CD bonus track) - 7.19

I stick with what I said about Bayou Country which is why i said it. Tends to be one of the reasons I like it more than their later stuff.I've been listening to psychedelic music since my teens as among my favourite musics.

Do enjoy the next few lps but not as much as those first 2 to repeat and accentuate what I said earlier.

All the hits sounded eerily note-for-note; brilliant, of course, but there didn't seem to be a lot of spontaneity.

(I posted the following on the other CCR thread when Tracer Hand made a similar point about how they sounded like their records:)

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.

there was an actual creedence compilation along the lines of that "epics" comp:

I Heard It Through The Grapevine 11:05
Keep On Chooglin' 7:40
Suzie Q 8:34
Pagan Baby 6:25
Born On The Bayou 5:10

https://www.discogs.com/master/289076-Creedence-Clearwater-Revival-Chooglin

Do not be frugal with your choogle.

Also. Let us consider the role of "the man."

For whom did the narrator of "Proud Mary" woik? The man.

Then there is the narrator of "Born on the Bayou." Whomst was he advised to avoid being gotten by? The man.

With whom does the narrator of "Midnight Special" advise us not to get in trouble? Again, the man.

The Fogartiverse is a polarized one. On one side? Chooglin'. On the other?The man.

One might call this worldview... Manichean.

^Listen to what the man says

MANichean

I Heard It Through The Grapevine 11:05
Keep On Chooglin' 7:40
Suzie Q 8:34
Pagan Baby 6:25
Born On The Bayou 5:10

I gotta say, this is disappointing because the tracks should be getting longer as you progress, not shorter! At every step on this comp you’re thinking “well, not quite as epic as what I just heard but”

A proper “epics” comp sets you up for walking outside into the ultimate “long song”, which is life. This one puts your life, the long song, in the past, and then begins counting down to the shorter segments. We all know where that ends. Shame on ccr management for approving that one

I'd seen the "Lookin' Out My Back Door" clip/video that ends the film before, but in this context, it felt like I was watching artists rise to a moment of complete mastery that very few reach--Dylan all over Blonde on Blonde and Rod Stewart on "You Wear It Well" are two that come to mind for me. "Lookin' Out My Back Door" isn't Creedence's greatest song, probably not even one of their ten greatest. But it has a kind of small-scale perfection, and the band looks like they're having the time of their life. I don't know if it's based on an actual acid trip--probably--or if Fogerty's poking gentle fun at that kind of writing. The film frames that moment, just after the Beatles breaking up, as Creedence's ascension to the biggest rock band in the world. If biggest translates as commercial clout, I'm not sure if that's true: Led Zeppelin's out there, and--not sure of the timeline--Grand Funk are filling, or are about to fill--80,000-seat stadiums. But watching that clip, it's like Creedence knows they're now the best band in the world, better even than the (pre-Exile) Rolling Stones.

You are talking about this video, clemenza?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIPlXU65NTI

ccr is such an amazing band that "lookin' out my back door" is not automatically a top 10 song for them.

(it is, for me. but it's debatable and there are way more than 9 other contenders)

If biggest translates as commercial clout, I'm not sure if that's true: Led Zeppelin's out there, and--not sure of the timeline--Grand Funk are filling, or are about to fill--80,000-seat stadiums.

Grand Funk didn't fill Shea Stadium until 1971, and while Zep were touring arenas and large halls in 1970, Creedence had already done that circuit in 1969. Cosmo's was Creedence's second #1 album in the US and their fourth top 10; by that time, Zep had two top 10 albums in the US, one of which hit #1. So yeah, I'd say Creedence was definitely bigger than Grand Funk in 1970, and while Zep were getting there, they still weren't quite as big as Creedence. I'd argue that Creedence's ubiquity on AM radio (which Zep avoided) is what put them over the top in terms of popularity.

That's the video, yes...If anyone hasn't seen it:

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

I think it's in colour in the doc, no? Largely because of that clip, I'd put it in my Top 10 now. I had it 11th (on a list of 11) when we did the poll a few years back. Which reminds me--how could they leave off "Ramble Tamble" (my #1 for the poll) on that epics compilation?

well you could play side 2 first....

xxxxxxp

(xposts) I guess they did have their moment at the top of the heap then.

unfortunately, thus sang, freud, playing side 2 first would just take a glaring problem and make it even less comprehensible. you'd just be starting with a somewhat epic Suzie Q, at 8:34, and then, just as you're preparing to ramp up toward the neverending song which is life, you go back down to a mere 6 minute Pagan Baby, followed by the 5 minutes of Born on the Bayou which flies by, at that point. then you flip and finally remember what life is, which is 11 minutes of I Heard it Through the Grapevine. but before you can even find your socks, Keep on Chooglin' is over before it hits 8 minutes. it's just fucking over.

no. make a playlist and start it with the shortest songs, then build up toward life

when you have heard the longest song of your entire life and finally understood it, then you can go outside

If you’re doing a CCR epics comp and not closing with “Keep on Chooglin” you’re doing it wrong.

make it a live 12+ minute one though imo

this has probably been done before but what are the best CCR covers?

you'd think there'd be a ton of covers because most CCR songs are relatively easy to play. but it's the intensity of the band's playing and fogerty's singing that really makes the songs, so maybe not? i'm scanning for 30+ minute epic versions of keep on chooglin' by other bands and no one has even topped 10 minutes. it's like they're not even listening to the message of the song

hold up, CD bonus tracks? can somebody run those down for me?

The best Creedence covers are by the Minutemen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07x3W3F9e44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwtC3jouxjk

this has probably been done before but what are the best CCR covers?

Ike & Tina showed that the best (only?) way to successfully cover a Creedence song is to completely rearrange it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQnPz6TpGc

I was actually wondering this morning, has any movie or TV show or whatever done a slow moody cover of a CCR song? is it even possible?

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

Like some kind of Al Green cover of something maybe? Oh, forgot about that one! ^

Don't know if it actually means anything but I was struck by a comment in the doc about how driven Fogerty was after getting discharged for Creedence to make it big fast; and how fast and intensely they tore through their hits when performing live. It's also unheard of these days for a band to have such a burst of brilliance in basically a 3-year period. They were emblematic of how fast music itself was evolving at that time. And all in the relatively brief window where you could be a guy from California singing about the bayou and the south and not have too many people raise an eyebrow.

*discharged from the army; not sure what happened to that sentence.

Someone (probably not me) needs to make a Keep On Chooglin' megamix a la John Oswald's "Grayfolded", where he patchworked together multiple versions of "Dark Star" into a 2-hour Dead album even the Wire would review.

an 8-hour mega-choogle could be fun to play at a workplace, every single day. "it's one of those things that only makes sense on the third or fourth listen"

unrelated: when my sister was in Grade 1 her teacher was a well-known local guitarist who later quit teaching to run a music shop.

For the school concert he got his class of 6-year olds to sing “Lookin Out My Back Door” while he backed them on guitar & it was the cutest, funniest, greatest (and weirdest) thing i’ve ever seen. It wasnt until many years later that my sister & i realizrd they’d performed a song about dropping acid (allegedly) <3

this has probably been done before but what are the best CCR covers?

Not exactly groundbreaking, but I've always liked this one:

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

I like Pavemwnt's "Lodi."

Ah the Welsh tribute group (in before correction)

Lyrics heavily changed and there are several live versions of this by different line ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heo6DcbG3wY

What I like about their "middle" albums is that even when playing roots-based music, there was usually a psychedelic vibe underneath the surface that gave everything a very effective tension. Sometimes it would erupt when the song called for it (like the beginning of "Run Through the Jungle") but elsewhere it could give their music a menace or foreboding that was pretty unique to them. The instrumental "Side O' the Road" and "Effigy" (both of which close out Willy and the Poor Boys) come to mind.

Dunno if Hanoi Rocks' CCR cover is truly that great, but they certainly get The Man rockin' in the promo. Also they wear more eyeliner than Creedence ever did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZQjRfQ5BPw

Sleater-Kinney's "Fortunate Son" is nice n punky.

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

Crowded House, of all bands, sometimes did a great "Born on the Bayou" (with the guitarist at the time singing).

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

Where can I listen to Pavement’s cover ?

Bob Seger is full-on stadium rock in this righteous live cover of "Fortunate Son" that was a b-side in 1983.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mog7Kts3kVQ

I heart Dave Alvin's version of "Don't Look Now"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G1ETLNRXEs

xxp I don’t know about “Lodi,” but the final track of the expanded Terror Twilight reissue is a live cover of “Sinister Purpose” (looks like YouTube has some live takes, as well).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvbyGSFX3c8

Dig how at the climax all of her guitar players go up to the lip of the stage, BÖC-style.

I downloaded that Pavement cover of "Lodi" off of Napster, and haven't ever seen it anywhere else.

From an Indian battle of the bands competition Simla Beat in 1970 (which Shadoks reissued in the 2000s), this garagey version of “Sinister Purpose” by Dinosaurs is a fave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts3E2Y4VSdk

“Sinister Purpose” is such a great title in itself

I think my favorite performance in the concert is “night time is the right time” just so joyous and fun

So few ccr songs are about “Romance” so that one stands out a bit as well