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Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country Audio CD

A fair review of the Creedence Clearwater Revival "Bayou Country" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Creedence Clearwater Revival reviews here, or go back to the Creedence Clearwater Revival tabs.

Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Bayou Country
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-09-30
Media: Audio CD

Tracks:

Second album features Proud Mary
It made the top ten in Britain and did even better in America, where it became the first of several Creedence Clearwater Revival singles to reach the top three. Proud Mary, a song about a riverboat of that name, was the single that established Creedence Clearwater Revival as a force to be reckoned with. Curiously, they eventually had a number one hit in Britain (Bad moon rising, from a later album) but never reached the very top in America, where they were far more popular.

Supported by a cover of Good golly Miss Molly, the rock'n'roll classic, and several great original songs including Born on the bayou, Keep on chooglin', Penthouse pauper and Graveyard train, this album laid down a marker. It gave the public a clear message that Creedence Clearwater Revival was different from what had gone before. Although all the members were born in California, the group had absorbed a variety of influences, including some from Louisiana, prior to hitting the big time.

While this is not their best original album (that distinction belongs to Cosmo's factory), it provides a fine sampling of Creedence Clearwater Revival's music and all committed fans of the group need this album in their collection.

The Latest Edition
I bought the Steve Hoffman vinyl remasters, which are fine if hard to find. Around the turn of the century the long neglected Creedence catalog was suddenly appearing in new upgraded editions with cynical regularity. A 2000 CD reissue program was rendered unnecessary by the release - one year later - of the CCR box, with the entire catalog, plus previously issued live albums ("The Concert" from 1970 and the 1971 European set) in one nifty little box that offered familiar liner notes (Ed Ward, Joel Selvin,etc) and one disc to bait fans - a full disc of pre Creedence material that offered a fascinating revisionist essay by Alec Palao and 25 tracks - some originally issued on singles, some not - recorded during 1961 - 66, as the group struggled to make a living and develop the astonishing musical identity that felt so utterly "natural" by 1968.
These tracks are an uneven lot but many are surprisingly good, as young John Fogerty grew to be the major talent and visionary, leaving older brother Tom (who had started the band a decade before the debut Creedence album) in the humble role of rhythm guitarist. . .
Now it did seem a bit odd that the box offered no real rarities from CCR's 1967 - 72 period, when they were at absolute creative and commercial peak. After all, after the first album was released in June 1968, production chores were assumed by John and three seamless classics quickly followed, "Bayou Country" (January 1969), "Green River" (August 1969), and "Willy and the Poor Boys" (November 1969). "Cosmos Factory" (July 1970) and "Pendulum" (December 1970) completed an astonishing ruyn and one dazzling and enduring body of work. 1972's "Mardi Gras", recorded after Tom's 1971 departure, contains some good songs, but is an anomaly in the band's catalog, with drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook composing (and worse, singing) two thirds of the material, a failed attempt at democracy that led John to split fpr a solo career by the end of the year.
So here we have the classic CCR albums, remastered once again, and finally packaged with all the original LP graphics (except those "Fantasy presents. . . " lablels, which are exactly reproduced by DCC along with every other graphic and sonic detail, in their beautiful transfers issued in the mid 1990s). The question for anyone who is already a fan is, Do we need the third or fourth (fifth counting DCC's gold discs) reissues of the Creedence catalog? Well, perhaps not, unless you're as obsessive compulsive as I am. The bait here is the bonus cuts, and I must say the studio stuff is really only for completists - nothing left in the can for the past thirty or forty years is in any way revelatory, nor is there even a nice b-side ('Call It Pretending', which is interesting, has already been appended to the debut on the aforementioned boxed set). There are some nice live versions that have not been issued. As for these master transfers (George Horn) they in fact are superior to the ones issued earlier this decade - more powereful overall, and details jump out like the percussion on 'Born On The Bayou. ' Fogerty's guitars sting. And his piano, always mixed to be felt not heard, is another detail in what are afterall unparalelled original mixes. One may note the 2000-01 transfers of this and other CCR albums are somwhat shorter in length than bothe these new editions and the Steve Hoffman transfers for DCC. Thant's because of the digital devotee's horror of leaving in information from the original master tape that might be misinterpreted as "bad" or wrong; dare we lead the younger or less informed consumer to perceive any amount of audible tape hiss as a 'flaw' in the mastering process (usually audible during the fade near the end of a track, as it rightly should be as it's right there on the original analog master) as if discovering that some uncouth Great Dane relieved himself right there on the front stoop.
DCC reproduced the original masters faithfully, and George Horn does it here, though these new discs are sometimes a little bright for my taste and perhaps the overall ambience Fogerty worked to achieve. But at least 'Born On The Bayou' is 5:15 and not 5:10. And one can just bask in the details and the earth tones of these performances. The debut is a good one, but "Bayou Country" is the first undeniable classic from Creedence, invoking Sun Records, Howlin Wolf, Little Richard, and Mark Twain within a seamless and wonderously executed vision that is now Fogerty's own. .

Great remastering and bonus material!
After FINALLY making peace with Fantasy records, the CCR catalog has gotten the remastering treatment, along with several live bonus tracks. If you buy ANY Creedence Clearwater Revival CDs, look for a release date of September 30, 2008. In addition, these new downloads are actually CHEAPER than the others!

Bayou Country was MY introduction to CCR, and as such it and my second purchase, Willy and the Poorboys, will always remain my favorites. I downloaded this, then Willy, then said "what the heck" and went ahead and got Green River, the self-titled debut, and Cosmo's Factory. ALL FIVE are great and come highly recommended. Trust me, if you get one, you're gonna want all five. . .

GREAT STUFF! And much improved audio!.

CCR Begins Their String of Classic Albums
Albums like "Bayou Country", "Willy and the Poor Boys" and "Cosmo's Factory" disprove that attempt at belittling their legacy. I've seen self-appointed critics label CCR a "singles band" but that's bunk.

For my money the best thing CCR ever laid to vinyl didn't even make it to the knockout compilation "Chronicle". I'm referring, of course, to the opening track here, and the b-side of "Proud Mary", "Born On The Bayou". The a-side is present and accounted for here as well. The album closer, the almost eight minute long "Keep On Chooglin'" is also a must for even the casual fan of CCR. Such a song that so well defines a band's sound should also have made it to the definitive compilation.

In the days before Amazon's mp3 downloads I was determined to have "Born On The Bayou" on CD. Since I already owned "Chronicle" on CD I was reluctant to shell out for a whole album but in this case my venture was well-rewarded. This is a great album. Oh, I don't really have any use for the least of the set, the Little Richard cover, but it certainly doesn't harm the album. If one was to download individual tracks to complement "Chronicle", the tracks already named would be must-haves, but seriously, just spring for the whole thing. Only one of the seven tracks is on the 'best of' and when you hear the other six here, you will be very glad you added this to your collection. It's as solid, consistent, and distinctive as any of the Doors' best albums from this same era.
.

+1/2 -- The Great American Band finds their mojo
All six of the original foursome's albums (from 1968's Creedence Clearwater Revival through 1970's Pendulum) have been struck from new digital masters and augmented by previously unreleased tracks. With Concord Music Group having purchased the Fantasy catalog, the fortieth anniversary of Creedence Clearwater Revival's debut LP provides a suitable opportunity for a fresh round of reissues. Those who purchased the 2001 box set can pick up most of the bonus tracks separately as digital downloads (the two longest bonuses are CD-only). Those who didn't buy the box, and think they'll buy all six reissues may want to consider the box set for its inclusion of pre-Creedence work from the Blue Velvets and Golliwogs, the seventh CCR album Mardi Gras, the 1970-71 live recordings and several box-only bonuses. But for those just wanting to pick up a few favorite albums, these reissues are the ticket. Each is presented in a digipack with original front and back cover album art and a 16-page booklet with photos, credits and new liner notes.

By the time Creedence recorded their second album, Bayou Country, John Fogerty had fully merged his broad range of Americana music influences into a wholly new sound. The El Cerrito, California bred songwriter re-imagined himself as a bayou musician whose guitar rock crawled from the swamp laden with backwoods blues and country twang. Fogerty debuts his persona on the album's opener, with reverbed guitar bending over, around and through the group's brilliant rhythm section. It's a perfect bookend to the album's closer, "Keep on Chooglin'," whose title and rhythm define the underpinnings of the band's musical vocabulary. In between Fogerty crafted the lasting myth of "Proud Mary," fusing the group's newly born shuffle, the soul of Stax and fictionalized images of Mississippi riverboats.

The band plays spare, late-night blues on "Graveyard Train," but the images of lonely rural highways, railroads and undertakers all return to the album's bayou hoodoo. The lone cover is a version of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" that finds Fogerty tearing up his overdriven lead guitar. The 2008 CD's bonus tracks open with an alternate take of the shuffling "Bootleg" that's stretched to double the original three minutes with a scat vocal section added to the middle. There's also a trio of live tracks from the three-piece version of the group (sans Tom Fogerty) that toured Europe in 1971. "Born on the Bayou" is more rock `n' roll fierce than the album track, "Proud Mary" is a by-the-numbers rendition of a band's Big Hit (and seems most to miss Tom Fogerty), and "Crazy Otto" is a nine-minute blues jam recorded at the Fillmore in 1969. 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [�2008 hyperbolium dot com].

You can see a complete list of all Creedence Clearwater Revival discography, or go back to the Creedence Clearwater Revival tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.