husbands and gamblers. Creedence bang out nine great songs in under thirty minutes as the pastoral beauty of "Green River" flows into the sexy nightmare of "Sinister Purpose."

CCR got looser and jammier on Green River, soaking in the Northern California air, but they stood apart from the San Francisco psychedelic bands -- partly because of their blue-collar earthiness and partly because their drummer didn't suck. Fogerty's spit-and-growl voice was the purple-mountain majesty above the fruited plain of phenomenal rhythm section Doug Clifford and Stu Cook, California's answer to Wyman and Watts. The guys rambled their tamble while Fogerty ran down the road, chased by a tombstone shadow under a bad moon rising. Absurdly underrated as a lead guitarist -- just listen to his terrifying one-note solo in "Tombstone Shadow" -- Fogerty sang his hairy ass off in soulful ballads of struggles personal ("Lodi") and political ("Wrote a Song for Everyone"). Still, CCR were staunchly committed to the public pleasures of rock & roll, making music anyone could love at first listen, which is why their songs have been sung by everyone from Richard Hell to Def Leppard, from Tina Turner to the Minutemen, from the halls of Bonnie Tyler to the shores of Bon Jovi. In short, for a year or two there, Creedence were as great as any rock & roll band could ever be. (RS 840)

ROB SHEFFIELD

Further Listening:
Willy and the Poor Boys (1969) FIVE STARS
Cosmo's Factory (1970) FOUR AND A HALF STARS
Pendulum (1970) FOUR STARS