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stoutfellowI only have one album by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Chronicle", but it's a greatest-hits collection and shows a decent range of their material. When I started this post, I said something about their being among my favorite groups, but in the course of writing it I've realized that I'm a bit more ambivalent about them than I thought.
Start with the good, with "Lodi". You know how, sometimes, you'll hear a song, like it, and take note of the singer(s), and then, investigating, realize that you've heard and enjoyed a lot of music by that artist without realizing it? "Lodi" was the gateway song to CCR for me. I'm not going to say much more about it right now, because it's a takeoff point for another post, but I will mention that I've long felt that someone ought to write a Bujold filk to that tune. It should be sung as by Captain Auson, upon his meeting with Miles in The Vor Game: "Oh Lord, here comes Naismith again!"
"Bad Moon Rising" is one of their best, I think. It pairs off, in my mind, with the Doors' "Riders on the Storm", ominous but vague. "Riders" is, surprisingly for that group, rather restrained; "Bad Moon" goes for full-bore apocalyptic ("Hope you have got your things together / Hope you are quite prepared to die / Looks like we're in for nasty weather / One eye is taken for an eye"). In certain moods, I find it... refreshing. That sounds odd, even to me, but it's true.
Exuberance is a frequent feature of their songs, and it goes best with their happier material, like "Proud Mary" or "Down on the Corner". The latter's evocation of a group of streetside buskers always brings a smile. But they can be quieter, as in the melancholy "Long As I Can See the Light" and the resigned "Someday Never Comes", and these, too, are among their best work.
I'd like to like "Lookin' Out My Back Door" more. It's fun to listen to, energetic and exciting, but it's kind of empty. I think the comparison to the Moody Blues' "Nice to Be Here", as I mentioned before, is instructive. Both songs are fantastic reveries, but NTBH is restrained, homey, and somehow English, while LOMBD is extravagant, even lunatic, and very very USAn. There are no rabbits drumming on biscuit-tins in this one; instead, we get a "dinosaur Victrola, listening to Buck Owens". High-heeled statues, flying spoons, and the kitchen sink appear; the effect is kaleidoscopic and distinctly incoherent. NTBH evokes familiar images in an original way, but doesn't tear the fabric of the imagery; LOMBD is a mere hodgepodge.
CCR's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" has little but exuberance going for it, unfortunately; where Marvin Gaye was melancholy and Gladys Knight coldly furious, John Fogerty is... loud. He never establishes a clear emotional stance, which leaves the song to ride on energy alone. It's not enough.
There are plenty of other songs on the album. Some - "Who'll Stop the Rain", "Have You Ever Seen the Rain", "Up Around the Bend" - I find enjoyable. I'm kind of neutral about the ill-defined political/social resentments of "Fortunate Son", and "Green River" and "Run Through the Jungle" do nothing for me at all. Still, I think I can make a weaker version of my first claim: at their best, CCR is among my favorite groups, and they achieve that level often enough to make it worthwhile.
Start with the good, with "Lodi". You know how, sometimes, you'll hear a song, like it, and take note of the singer(s), and then, investigating, realize that you've heard and enjoyed a lot of music by that artist without realizing it? "Lodi" was the gateway song to CCR for me. I'm not going to say much more about it right now, because it's a takeoff point for another post, but I will mention that I've long felt that someone ought to write a Bujold filk to that tune. It should be sung as by Captain Auson, upon his meeting with Miles in The Vor Game: "Oh Lord, here comes Naismith again!"
"Bad Moon Rising" is one of their best, I think. It pairs off, in my mind, with the Doors' "Riders on the Storm", ominous but vague. "Riders" is, surprisingly for that group, rather restrained; "Bad Moon" goes for full-bore apocalyptic ("Hope you have got your things together / Hope you are quite prepared to die / Looks like we're in for nasty weather / One eye is taken for an eye"). In certain moods, I find it... refreshing. That sounds odd, even to me, but it's true.
Exuberance is a frequent feature of their songs, and it goes best with their happier material, like "Proud Mary" or "Down on the Corner". The latter's evocation of a group of streetside buskers always brings a smile. But they can be quieter, as in the melancholy "Long As I Can See the Light" and the resigned "Someday Never Comes", and these, too, are among their best work.
I'd like to like "Lookin' Out My Back Door" more. It's fun to listen to, energetic and exciting, but it's kind of empty. I think the comparison to the Moody Blues' "Nice to Be Here", as I mentioned before, is instructive. Both songs are fantastic reveries, but NTBH is restrained, homey, and somehow English, while LOMBD is extravagant, even lunatic, and very very USAn. There are no rabbits drumming on biscuit-tins in this one; instead, we get a "dinosaur Victrola, listening to Buck Owens". High-heeled statues, flying spoons, and the kitchen sink appear; the effect is kaleidoscopic and distinctly incoherent. NTBH evokes familiar images in an original way, but doesn't tear the fabric of the imagery; LOMBD is a mere hodgepodge.
CCR's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" has little but exuberance going for it, unfortunately; where Marvin Gaye was melancholy and Gladys Knight coldly furious, John Fogerty is... loud. He never establishes a clear emotional stance, which leaves the song to ride on energy alone. It's not enough.
There are plenty of other songs on the album. Some - "Who'll Stop the Rain", "Have You Ever Seen the Rain", "Up Around the Bend" - I find enjoyable. I'm kind of neutral about the ill-defined political/social resentments of "Fortunate Son", and "Green River" and "Run Through the Jungle" do nothing for me at all. Still, I think I can make a weaker version of my first claim: at their best, CCR is among my favorite groups, and they achieve that level often enough to make it worthwhile.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-02 02:42 am (UTC)