Maps of Music

Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)

Where the lyrics of Creedence Clearwater Revival take you, and where it was really made.

Rolling Stone's first review praised only one member of the band, yet time has been far kinder to this debut.

Key places

Studio where the album was recorded (1968)

Recording site Coast Recorders — The band recorded the album at Coast Recorders in San Francisco. Most tracks were recorded in January and February 1968. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Creedence Clearwater Revival: debut studio album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Released in May 1968 by Fantasy Records in the US
• Features the band's first hit single, 'Suzie Q', which reached number 11 on the US charts
• Recorded shortly after the band changed its name from the Golliwogs, while developing a signature swamp rock sound
• Most tracks recorded January-February 1968; 'Porterville' recorded October 1967

Background

• The band had played for three years as the Golliwogs and released numerous singles without a breakthrough
• In October 1967, Saul Zaentz bought Fantasy Records and offered the band a full-length album on the condition that they change their name
• The four members readily agreed, having never liked 'the Golliwogs'
• John Fogerty took charge of the group artistically and went on to write all but one of the band's hit singles
• 'Porterville' was the last single recorded under the Golliwogs name and was released in January 1968 as the debut single under the new name

Recording

• 'Walk on the Water' is the only co-write between John and Tom Fogerty to appear on a Creedence album
• 'Suzie Q' was extended to eight minutes so it would be played on KMPX, a San Francisco free-form progressive rock station
• Fogerty later recalled that the other members were kept out of the studio during his mixing after this album

Cover

• Cover photography by Ralph Flynn; cover artwork by Laurie Clifford

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California, in 1968.
• The members had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs.
• Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz bought the label in 1967 and offered the band a chance to record an album.

Members

• John Fogerty: lead vocals, lead guitar, primary songwriter.
• Tom Fogerty: rhythm guitar, quit at the end of 1970 and died in 1990.
• Stu Cook: bass.
• Doug Clifford: drums.

Career

• Between 1969 and 1971 the band had 14 consecutive top-10 singles and five consecutive top-10 albums in the United States.
• Green River (1969) and Cosmo's Factory (1970) both topped the Billboard 200.
• The band performed at Woodstock in 1969.
• The band disbanded acrimoniously in 1972 amid lawsuits and disputes over business and artistic control.
• Cook and Clifford performed as Creedence Clearwater Revisited from 1995 to 2020.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Barry Gifford in Rolling Stone wrote that the only bright spot in the group was John Fogerty, a better-than-average singer and an interesting guitarist
• Gifford found nothing else on the album: the drummer monotonous, the bass lines repetitious, the rhythm guitar barely audible
• Critical acclaim was harder to earn than chart success for this debut

Reappraisal

• Time has been far kinder to the album, although critics note Fogerty's songwriting talent had yet to truly blossom as it would on later releases
• On AllMusic the album received 4 stars out of 5
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described it as gloriously out-of-step with the times, teeming with Fogerty's Americana fascinations
• Erlewine said the album points the way to the breakthrough of Bayou Country, with 'Porterville' an exceptional song

Records

• The album was first certified Gold by the RIAA on December 16, 1970
• It was certified Platinum by the RIAA on December 13, 1990, twenty years later
• 'Suzie Q' reached number 11 on the US charts, the band's first charting single
• The follow-up single 'I Put a Spell on You' peaked at number 58 on the US charts in October 1968

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Fogerty recorded 'Suzie Q' to get it played on KMPX, a San Francisco free-form progressive rock station, which is why the song runs eight minutes
• The final single from the album was also a cover, 'I Put a Spell on You' by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, released in October 1968 with 'Walk on the Water' as the B-side
• Fogerty said James Burton, who played guitar on the original Dale Hawkins version of 'Suzie Q', was a huge influence on him
• Fogerty called the 'Suzie Q' recording very pivotal, because it set how the band would work for the next few years
• The album was remastered and reissued on 180 gram vinyl by Analogue Productions in 2006

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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