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Green River - One of the truly great pieces of songwriting in rock music. CCR embellishes John Fogerty's tales of gloom, doom, and Americana with intense, driving rhythms and catchy guitar chords to make a superb album. With each of the first eight songs, CCR creates a new scene within the basic theme of the album. I like this album almost as much as Bayou Country, but the guitar work is just not quite as good, although the lyrics are considerably better.
Green River - A classic song to headline a classic album. The memories of childhood experiences set to rock n' roll, with the poignant reminder that "if you get lost, come on home to Green River." John provides great guitar licks, although the studio version is a little too twangy for my taste, and the vocal drawl is a little overdone.
Commotion - Greatly underappreciated, "Commotion" tells a tale that seems very appropriate in the fast paced world of the nineties, showing John's foresight. The rhythm section does a great job with the demanding pace. The high pitched, intermittent "whistle" noise is somewhat annoying though.
Tombstone Shadow - Creedence plunges back into a bluesy song after the frenetic rock of "Commotion". As usual John lays down some good guitar work, including possibly the best one-note solo in history! Not too many can turn a trip to a fortune teller into a great song, but John can. The CCR rhythm section sounds as tight and polished as ever, but they sound almost like a house band playing with John the solo artist.
Wrote a Song for Everyone - One of John's best pieces of writing(and its hard to pick!), the title seems to epitomize his dream. A fine job of drumming by Doug Clifford on a slow song. Not much lead guitar work, but the solo is mesmerizing. John's singing is almost too mournful, although it suits this song better than most.
Bad Moon Rising - The song that turned me on to the greatest band in history will always hold special favor with me. The so-called "chooglin' backbeat" really gives you a lift when you listen to the song, despite the gloom and doom lyrics. One of John's finest vocal performances, and the guitar is tantalizing though not scorching as it is on some earlier songs. Fine job of guitar by Tom Fogerty also.
Lodi - What is there to say about "Lodi" except that it's a true American classic? Obviously superb lyrics, which many other groups have tried to capture the spirit of. Once again John Fogerty delivers an excellent vocal performance and a captivating guitar line. Another great thing about CCR songs is that they aren't drawn out uselessly. A lot of other groups would probably keep repeating some variation of "Stuck in Lodi again" just to elongate the song!
Cross-Tie Walker - Just another great tale of American life set to an interesting beat. I had certainly never thought of someone as a "cross-tie walker" before hearing this song - listening to CCR can certainly expand your vocabulary.
Sinister Purpose - A good song, but it just doesn't seem like something John would write. It adds to the gloom of the album, though, and John and Tom both do a fine job on guitar.
Night Time is the Right Time - This song REALLY doesn't fit in on this album - I think it should have been on CCR. A good rockin' concert song, but not real exciting lyrically - of course, John didn't write it! One of the better songs for pure guitar playing. I think the wa-do-day's actually add quite a bit to the song, whereas most people don't like them.
Overall Rating: 9.25 out of 10
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