It was a benefit at the Fillmore West for KPFA, the Conscience and Culture radio station of Berkeley, and the place was filled much beyond the legal capacity. The bill was mixed; several eminent bores and some bands as talented as Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, a rising group that has succeeded in capturing the essence of country music.
But the crowd had come, virtually to a man, to see Creedence Clearwater. It was an overwhelmingly suburban audience, and from the remarks hovering in the air that was rank with sweat and deodorant-derivatives, most people had never heard of KPFA and would be scarcely impressed with it even if it was explained. "But, it's a vital part of the
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liberal-academic community, I tell you." So the clean-cuts and bouffants waited through several hours of barbiturate-rock. Only the light show and the passage of joints differentiated this show from 1960-Friday-Night-At-The-Boys'-Club.
When Creedence did come on, there was no stopping the audience. If you didn't manage to force your way to a point where you could barely see, you would have had no way of knowing whether Creedence was there or if their records were being played.
In all probability, there is no other rock group that can play its material so letter-perfect, exactly-like-the-record as Creedence. Even John Fogarty's harp solo on "Keep On Chooglin'" was note for note.
The crowd lived it, although spontaneity was as lacking in the crowd as in the band. Except for the dedication of "Bad Moon Rising" to R. Milhous Nixon, it was entirely predictable. As far as Fillmore groups go, it was more a demonstration than a performance. But, the crowd nearly became dangerous when Creedence refused to do an encore, and left in a bad mood.
Still, it was beautiful.
Song after song was clear, distinct and memorable. Lack of spontaneity can also be translated as lack of waste, and in the case of Creedence, it's the latter that's appropriate. They play songs. Period.
Creedence is simply not an improvising group (neither were the Beatles) and their approach is as successful as it is unusual. At this writing, they are the biggest draw in American rock. Their style and talents have also afforded them complete mastery of the AM radio. They think and play in terms of singles.
"A single means you've got to get it across in a very few minutes. You don't have twenty minutes on each side of an LP. All it really means is you've got to think a little harder about what you're doing. We learned from the singles market not to put a bunch of padding on your album. Each song's got to go someplace." So says John Fogarty, the heart and brains behind Creedence Clearwater.
There are those who feel that to write for the AM radio is a sign of either decadence or lack of talent. Fogarty:
"Most of this is a built-in uptightness ... 'Singles is what I dug when I was little, therefore I have to change now. I've grown up, I don't like
Willy & the Poorboys has some of CCR's biggest hits, but it's the biblical ominousness of "Don't Look Now" and the pinpoint accuracy of "It Came Out of the Sky" that stand among John Fogerty's finest moments. (Don't miss the Ronald Reagan reference in the latter track.) Also note how blistering an indictment "Fortunate Son" was in 1969, amid the Vietnam War.
