some CCR questions

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I was listening to Chronicle last night and was reminded at how fuckin' great these guys were. I've read that they were supposedly the antithesis of pychedelia but some of their shit sounds kinda tripped out ("I Put a Spell on You" for one).

Anyway, is there any live stuff available by them that's any good? I'd imagine that they would smoke live. Also, any good bios? The idea of Fogerty writing so many classics in like 5 years amazes me- I'd love to read about his songwriting process in those days. Also, any idea who they were influenced by? Was it just old bluesmen and Sun Records and stuff. Did they look down at contemporary shit? Man, they must have sounded pretty different back then- I would imagine that people like Dylan, the Dead, hell everyone were blown away by their music. Maybe, I'm being hyberbolic and sorry about all the questions. One more: I've only heard Chronicles- is there lots of quality album cuts to be found elsewhere?

― ColinO, Monday, 10 October 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

live stuff- not much, sadly. there's the concert and another from (i think) the same tour, called appropriately Live.
other than that- the cut woodstock footage

and other than that- ???
but, yeah, good live. about what you'd expect. i'm sure the early shows had different sets, but the 2 listed above are pretty identical. by the end, they just about played a 'greatest hits' live set. mind you, still very good.

bios- don't know of any...

influence- old blues d00d's i'd imagine...

other choice albums- Cosmo's Factory, Green River, s/t, Willie+the Poor Boys
don't try Pendulum unless yr addicted
Mardi Gras- ick! IMHO.

― eedd, Monday, 10 October 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

Well, they did cover "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," which was pretty damn contemporary...

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 10 October 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

The box set's got some great live stuff on it. The "Fortunate Son" is, dare I say, incendiary.

Def. check out "Ramble Tamble" on Cosmos Factory. That's one of their great (and few) sprawling numbers. A very soulful guitar lead on that badboy.

As far as songwriting, I think it was an early-Oasis-esque spurt of fiece non-collaboration. "If you want to write a songs, start your own band."

― Pharmaceutical Executive, Monday, 10 October 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)

Well, they did cover "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," which was pretty damn contemporary...

wasn't that almost a decade old by the time they covered it, though?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

There actually is a bio/oral history that came out awile back. Either Dave Marsh or Ben fong-torres edited it. BTW, Fogerty himself has a nice piece about his CCR days in a book called (IIRC) On The Record.

― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

There are numerous amazing songs other than the ones you always hear (i.e most of "Chronicle") on all of the first five - S/T, Bayou, Green River, Willy, Cosmo. All well worth $4-5 in a used record store. "Effigy"? Commotion"? "Penthouse Pauper"? Damn, those are good.

― sleeve (sleeve), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

wasn't that almost a decade old by the time they covered it, though?

try one

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

Should I buy that CCR box set?

― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

actually, three! (Gladys Knight '67, Cosmo's Factory '70)

but yeah, it was definitely contemporary, as were the Terry Riley organ doodles on I think Pendulum

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

hm, yeah, it didn't become a hit until six years later (re-issued with Chronicle I guess). My mistake.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

ah! I didn't even know it was a hit--or a single.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

Bayou Country has those great long distance driving jams "Graveyard Train" and "Keep on Chooglin'"

― Old School (sexyDancer), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

What's Fogerty's status as a guitar player? I assume that the incredible solos on Grapevine and Effigy are him or was there a lead player in the band? You never really hear that much about those leads (or whoever playeed them)

― douglas eklund (skolle), Monday, 10 October 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

No -- he played'em all. He was one of the greats. Malkmus learned a lot from him.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 10 October 2005 22:26 (twenty years ago)

I believe he had some crisis of faith about his playing at some point, that he wasn't technically fancy enough. He finally snapped out of it when he heard some story about Tommy Tedesco going up to Duane Eddy and shaking his hand and saying "I can't tell you how many dates I've played where they told me 'Play like Duane Eddy.' If it weren't for you, I would be out of a job!"

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 10 October 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

I have a book called 'Bad Moon Rising' (can't remember the author's name) which is about as prosaic as prose gets (uh) but tells the story of CCR and Fogerty's grim afterlife pretty well.

― snotty moore, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 00:20 (twenty years ago)

I know nothing about Fogerty's "grim afterlife," what happened?

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 00:23 (twenty years ago)

Love love love "Porterville." That song is TUFF.

I do enjoy a fair bit of the Golliwogs stuff as well. YMMV.

― JAS, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

I know nothing about Fogerty's "grim afterlife," what happened?

Lawsuits.

― 57 7th (calstars), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

I thought he ended up not having ownership of all those songs he wrote.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.