Creedence Clearwater Revival were a chart juggernaut in 1969: three US Top Ten albums, four hit singles (charting at No. 2, No. 2, No. 2, and No. 3) with three additional charting B-sides. John Fogerty wrote the songs, sang them and played lead guitar. He, and the band, never stopped touring and recording for the whole twelve months.
He made one misstep that year, refusing to allow their Woodstock performance to feature in the film or on the soundtrack. They came on late, in the rain, after The Grateful Dead had lulled everyone to sleep. Who’ll Stop The Rain? was written about their experience. They made up for it by appearing on Ed Sullivan’s famous show in December but their reputation would be regarded as even more legendary if they’d been in the film.
The band didn’t get their just rewards. Fogerty had signed up to a terrible record deal previously. A huge IRS tax bill was to follow and things started to fall apart the following year. By 1971, it was all over. The record company later sued him for plagiarising one of his own CCR songs when he went solo. However, in 1969 he was on top of the world, if not exactly rolling in money.
Can anyone hold a candle to him for sheer quality and prodigious volume of music in 1969. Are any 50th anniversary reissues going to eclipse CCR? There is no need to wait. Ten years ago all three albums were beautifully remastered and some additional tracks were added. Bayou Country, Green River and Willy And The Poor Boys can be bought on CD for about six quid each.
For a man raised in California, he sounds as though he’s emerged from a swamp when he sings Born On The Bayou, track one side one of their first real success.
ip33 says
Oddly enough I went in a CCR Spotify binge this week at work, very enjoyable.
As for 1969? Hard to beat mine. First gig, Sooty at the Connaught Theatre Worthing.
davebigpicture says
I used to work regularly at the Mayfair Theatre in London’s glamorous West End where the Christmas show was Sooty for many years. The sound engineer used to get ribbed mercilessly for being Sooty’s sound man.
Mike_H says
I hear Sooty was not a nice bear to work with. Usually drunk and often abusive. Sweep was a miserable bastard.
Harry and Matthew Corbett, OTOH, were both lovely.
retropath2 says
Yebbut, what about Sue…..
ip33 says
Sorry to be a Sooty fascist but isn’t it Soo?
retropath2 says
Spellcheck?
Sewer Robot says
Isn’t Sooty’s voice just Sweep’s after a few squirts of WD40?
Mike_H says
I think you’ll find that it’s after a few shots of Wray & Nephew’s Rum.
bigstevie says
I was at an open mic night on Monday, when this bloke said he was going to play a Tina Turner song called ‘Proud Mary’! FFS
Since you mention 50 year anniversaries…tomorrow is 3rd February. In 1969 that’s when Buddy Holly’s plane crashed. I did ‘American Pie’ at aforementioned open mic night.
Black Type says
Ahem…’59. 😉
bigstevie says
Errrr….oops….as you were.
Tiggerlion says
I’m struggling to spot a major 50th anniversary reissue/remaster. Led Zeppelin, Can, The Who, Nick Drake, Pink Floyd have been done to death. I reckon there will be a straightforward Let It Bleed remaster. I don’t honestly believe there will be an Abbey Road remix, maybe a revamped Let It Be soundtrack. A Fleetwood Mac reappraisal? Jimmy Cliff’s debut has only recently been done, which is also the case for Arethra Franklin. Diana Ross and The Supreme’s Love Child and The Temp’s Cloud Nine are possibilities but Mowtown aren’t so hot on repackages. As a consequence, I’m most looking forward to a Bob Clearmountain remix of The Band, followed by The Kinks Arthur.
Any other suggestions?
Rigid Digit says
In The Court Of The Crimson King – that could be enourmified/remixed/re-recorded/generally mucked about with
The Stooges – may be time for a re-appraisal of the band?
Trout Mask Replica ?
Tiggerlion says
The Stooges sound best mired in mud, don’t they. A cleaner master/mix might not be *better*. Same with Beefheart.
I can see the appeal of a King Crimson special but I won’t be partaking myself. Kanye West would buy it.
yorkio says
ItCotCK was special editioned in 2009 as part of the ongoing King Crimson 40th anniversary series, with a remix, remaster, alt takes version and Steven Wilson 5.1 surround mix.
Mousey says
TMR has been done – on Jack White’s Third Man Records
Rigid Digit says
A Fairport Convention double outing:
Unhalfbricking and Liege & Lief
Tiggerlion says
No thanks.
Baron Harkonnen says
CCR were a brilliant band in 1969, but they weren’t so bad 12 months either side. I don’t think there will be any 50th Anniversary CCR releases but with a Woodstock 50th Anniversary extended film and audio release on the cards this year maybe Fogerty may change his mind. The band was filmed I believe and the audio was definitely recorded because I have it.
You’re wrong about Abbey Road Tiggs, it’s a definite 50th Anniversary release as is an enormous In The Court Of The Crimson King as Rigid has stated. I think a 50th of The Band’s sophomore album is highly likely but doubt if The Kinks ‘Arthur’ will get the VGPS treatment but I hope I’m wrong. I’d like to see Love’s very underrated ‘Four Sail’ get a 50th Anniversary release but I don’t think there’s any unreleased material but an SACD release would be nice.
Other 50th Anniversary releases I’d like to see are C, S, N & Y’s S/T, Miles Davis ‘In A Silent Way’ & The Doors ‘The Soft Parade’.
Tiggerlion says
Giles Martin would be working on the remix right now. Immediately after Sgt Pepper, the rumour mill got going over The White Album but I haven’t heard any for Abbey Road yet.
In A Silent Way already has a beautiful box set version which would be difficult to top.
I have to agree with you on Love. They see to be getting very good reissue treatment.
Neela says
The Soft Parade is a brave choice. Is there much in the sense of unreleased stuff? Would they be able to make it a lost classic, misunderstood for all those years?
Rigid Digit says
Coincidentally, I was listening to CSN this morning and thought to myself “There’s one for the list”.
And you know how stuff happens for a reason – a Name I’ve seen mentioned a few times in various publications recently, apropos of nothing, is The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Could it be that a 50th Anniversary Box of The Gilded Palace of Sin is in preparation?
(or is it just a coincidence)
retropath2 says
Yup, that would be good, a Burrito fest.
Mike_H says
In A Silent Way has pretty much been done, with “The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions”, the 3-CD book/box they released in 2001. A big vinyl book/box of the same material, with possibly a 5.1 mix on DVD and some unearthed live sessions, would probably go down really well with the turntable-heads.
It would not really excite me enough to have me dipping into my dwindling cash resources for the whole new audio setup that would be required.
Tony Japanese says
Bryan Adams.
Tiggerlion says
Arf! 👍
Bartleby says
All personal taste innit.
For me, the year belongs to Zeppelin, Tull, Nick Drake, the Fabs, Fairport, Joe Cocker, Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Desmond Dekker and, er, the Moody Blues.
Neela says
I would very much like a physical release of the stuff The Beach Boys have been putting out on Spotify lately. Commercially it was lost years for them, especially 67 to 73. No one cared at the time. The music was great though, and is now starting to get the credit it deserves.
Tiggerlion says
Me too. 20/20 is an excellent album especially if you add Breakaway to it.
Neela says
We should be in charge of their reissues. In my mind I’m planning a huge Sunflower box set. Remastered with outtakes, live recordings, a book, poster and a DVD with live performances and documentary.
Baron Harkonnen says
I could go along with that Neela. The Beach Boys 1968 copyright download only releases are the first audio downloads I have paid for. It’s always been physical releases for me.
Neela says
I´ve said this elsewhere, but I would gladly pay for the live recordings they recently put on Spotify (in a nice box with a lavish booklet). I´d prefer that to the symphony album they put out. Christ on a bike.
Bartleby says
Hear here. Sadly the 67 release can’t have done the numbers.
Tiggerlion says
We Afterworders must be the only ones who bought it!
Bartleby says
I seem to recall we persuaded a few non-believers too. And this is how they repay us!
Neela says
I often wonder about this when reading the reissue section of your music magazine of choice. “Who´ll buy all these? How will the record company get their money back?”
Sure, the recordings are just gathering dust in a corner somewhere, but some of those packages are very expensive, no matter how lovingly curated.
The Beatles, The Stones, Elvis, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Springsteen and a couple of others. Sure, there will always be fanatics.
But some band that did three albums that did nothing in the late sixties and haven´t been heard from or of since. And now they get a box set. Who´s paying for/buying that?
Even as a fan of The Kinks and someone considering Village Green probably their best album, I haven´t even thought about buying it again.
But if Mike Love can read and is reading this. The live stuff you put on Spotify. Out now, please.
dai says
I got the lot in lossless FLAC from 7digital for $17!!
deramdaze says
I’ll give the nod to George Harrison, Free and Swindon Town.
Gatz says
The Apollo 11 mission might have stolen their thunder.
dai says
Welsh rugby team?
Creedence are ok in small doses, not a massive fan of his voice. Good singles band.
John Lennon made or released 3 Beatles albums (Yellow Submarine, Let it Be and Abbey Road), a few singles by The Beatles and Plastic Ono Band, a live album (Live Peace in Toronto) plus 2 experimental albums with Yoko (Life with the Lions and the Wedding Album). He also got married, made worldwide news (twice) with peace protests, filmed a movie, was in a car accident and broke up The Beatles.
Tiggerlion says
I’ll give all of that, except I think Yellow Submarine is pushing it. 😜
dai says
I know, but it’s an album released in 1969 with his name on it. If we make the year Nov 68 to Nov 69 we can also include the White Album!
Tiggerlion says
Oh. And the Welsh rugby team were soundly beaten by New Zealand.
dai says
Sssshhhh. When we talk about the glorious history of Welsh rugby we don’t mention that there was probably always at least one team better than us, except maybe 1905 (or 53). I would have liked a World Cup in 71 though 🏉
Neela says
AND he grew a beard and was doing heroin.
Tiggerlion says
Growing a beard is less time consuming than keeping clean shaven.
Neela says
Sure, if you just let it grow. But if you really focus on growing a beard, it takes some effort. And time. You dig, man?
Gatz says
From the wonderful Tony Husband
Bartleby says
I think I have the original of that somewhere.
Neela says
Haven´t seen that before, but thanks for the LOL. And I did LOL, not just as in LOLROFLTMFTLHJH, kind of a thing.
Is that originally from a daily paper?
Gatz says
I saw it on his Twitter feed ( @tonyhusband1 ) not long ago and remembered seeing it before, probably decades ago. Private Eye I think.
Bartleby says
Yes Private Eye. Late 80s/early 90s I think.
Neela says
Private eye never made it to Sweden, I guess.
Sniffity says
Give Yoko some credit – by then (except for growing the beard) she was doing everything he was doing.
Neela says
She grew a conceptual beard and planned to do a Beard Piece, later cancelled due to not having any clean white or black clothes.
Tiggerlion says
I’ve struggled with Lennon’s 1969 overnight. In the final analysis, he wrote just two decent songs (Don’t Let Me Down and Come Together – Cold Turkey is almost a third and Hey Bulldog predates the lengthy recording of The White Album). That’s not much of a return on that huge volume of output.
deramdaze says
The Ballad of John and Yoko, wonderful; and if you’re going to make a protest/peace record that has stood the test of time, Give Peace A Chance pretty much is your template.
Across the Universe was also first released, on the Charity LP, in 69.
Consider me, “not struggling.”
Tiggerlion says
Across the Universe is as old as Hey Bulldog. John And Yoko is on a par with Cold Turkey, I’d say.
He was fond of list songs in 1969, wasn’t he, Peace, Dig It, his contribution to I Got A Feeling?
Sniffity says
Ties in with George H’s assertion of a Python /Beatles link, as Cleese and Chapman were fond of a “list” sketch themselves.
Mike_H says
“Come Together” plagiarised Chuck Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me”. Lennon was pulled up over it and avoided a court case by agreeing to record “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “You Can’t Catch Me” on his “Rock & Roll” covers album, thus earning Chuck a nice heap of royalties.
deramdaze says
The public first heard Across the Universe in 69 regardless of when it was recorded.
Cold Turkey’s brilliant.
What do you want a depiction of coming down from heroin to sound like, How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?
Tiggerlion says
I laughed when I once read that Lennon claimed that the song was about a bout of gastroenteritis brought on by eating some turkey.
Blue Boy says
Between January 1969 and July 1970, they released Bayou County, Green River, Willy and the Poor Boys and Cosmo’s Factory; Born on the Bayou, Proud Mary, Green River, Bad Moon Rising, Lodi, Wrote a Song For Everyone, Down on the Corner, It Came Out of the Sky, Fortunate Son, Effigy, Up Around the Bend, Travellin’ Band, Who’ll Stop The Rain, Long as I Can See The Light, Run Through the Jungle, Looking Out My Back Door – all written by Fogerty. In 18 months. It’s more than almost every band has ever done in their entire careers.
SteveT says
To me he is an absolute legend and those records never date which is common of the 60’s and 70′ but not the 80’s. Production techniques?
Anyway Fogerty and Paul Simon are my favourite US songwriters,.
Johnny99 says
In answer to the question posed in the original post – no ! The man is a genius and one of the best (if not THE best) American songwriters. Been lucky enough to see him twice and came out of both gigs feeling reinvigorated.
Pessoa says
On the reissue front, no one mentioned The Pink Floyd yet? ( EDIT: yes, you did! ) Two albums in 69, in the peak of their pastoral pop period. But they put everything in the archive onto the recent (overpriced) box set, and yet another album reissue seems a bit pointless,
I’d go with a Trout Mask Replica set, which was remastered nicely for a limited edition on Zappa Records some years ago, but there may be legal problems.
Bartleby says
I think the box set was Floyd’s rather smart way of dealing with the 50 year copyright extension thing in one go.
deramdaze says
Fair enough, but rather left it all bought and heard by very few, and likely to be heard by not many more in the years to come.
Tiggerlion says
Paul Simon had a quiet year.
MC Escher says
I believe it was Saul Zaentz, his manager at the time of his terrible contract, who sued Fogerty for self-plagiarism. There was no love lost between them. Fogerty put a song on Centerfield called “Zanz Kant Danz” which prompted Zaentz to bring the lawsuit. Sounds like a lovely fellow.
Zaentz bought the film rights to Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit before the big film versions so must have done all right for himself.
Wikipedia: In 2011, Zaentz’s company began several legal actions against small businesses in the UK to enforce their “Hobbit” trademark, including the Hungry Hobbit cafe in Sarehole, near Birmingham[19][20] and a pub in Southampton, England, which had traded as The Hobbit for twenty years.[21] This raised the ire of many British correspondents such as Stephen Fry, who described it as “pointless, self-defeating bullying.”
CCR – a great, great singles band. I think we all know whose legacy will last longer.
Tiggerlion says
Fogerty had to sue Zaentz every year for his royalties to which he was entitled because Zaentz never offered them. He then had to sue for all his legal costs.
It was even sadder than that. Fogerty’s brother, Tom, CCR’s rhythm guitarist, died young of TB. On his death bed, he said, “Saul Zaentz is my best friend.” Fogerty could never forgive him.
fentonsteve says
All of the CCR albums were remastered last year from original tapes as half-speed mastered vinyl by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. Only available as a box set, at the wrong side of a hundred quid. I bet they sound lush, though.
I was born in March 1970, so I reckon summer 1969 must have been quite eventful for my parents. Ew…
Tiggerlion says
Are they both still alive to bore you with the details?
fentonsteve says
One still is. The other I hadn’t spoken to since I was 16.
Fintinlimbim says
Fogerty had a strange voice. Singing, he sounds as though he’s just been out huntin’ ‘gators. Talking, he sounds like Kermit the Frog
Tiggerlion says
It’s the singing voice I listen to. And, I recommend you do too.
Neela says
The difference between Neil Young’s talking voice and singing voice is also weird. Talking – low. Singing – not so low.