The Best Of Creedence Clearwater Revival (Vinyl record album review)

Record basics

• Album name: The Best Of Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Group name: Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Year: 1978
• Number of discs: one
• Label: K-Tel International
• Collection: Selman
• Distinguishing characteristics:
  • Scratched into side one of LP: NU 9360 Side “A”
  • Scratched into side two of LP: NU 9360 Side “B”
• Buy it on Amazon: $13.89

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this CCR compilation specifically, but I’m familiar with, and a fan of, most of the songs on it.

What I expected

Iconic country- and blues-rock of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

What it was actually like

The first thing I noticed about this record was that it was produced by an outfit, K-Tel International, that sounded potentially fake. I was aware that CCR had a ton of legal disputes around the ownership of their music, so that was not a surprise. Also, “As advertised on T.V.” is a pretty weird thing to appear on the front of a record album.

The second thing I noticed was that it had a ton of songs on it. A standard LP can hold 22 minutes of music per side, so 44 minutes if each side is full, and this record had 20 songs, which allowed about two minutes and 12 seconds per song, maximum.

The third thing I noticed was that there were going to be a ton of hits (“20 SUPER HITS,” in fact), including many that I recognized.

Though CCR’s music is everywhere, I probably have not intentionally listened to it in at least 10 years, which is because I mostly listen to complete records, rather than individual songs or “best of” compilations. The musical style was extremely consistent, though more electric than I recalled, and Fogerty’s voice was more distinctively weathered than I recalled.

I don’t normally give individual ratings to each song, but chose to do it on this record because, with 20 songs, it was liable to turn into a string of “I liked that one… and that one… and that one…”

Song	Rating	Notes
Proud Mary	5/5	It’s rare for both an original song and its cover to be equally phenomenal, but I think it’s important for everyone to listen to Tina Turner’s version as well[1].
Bad Moon Rising	5/5	Allow me to introduce my dear friend, Lady Mondegreen.
Lodi	4/5	It’s fascinating to me that Fogerty would write a song about the last ruling dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
Green River	4/5
Commotion	4/5
Born On The Bayou	5/5
Midnight Special	5/5	Lead Belly
Molina	2/5	I did not recognize this song at all, and did not like its saxophone part.
Travelin’ Band	5/5
Who’ll Stop The Rain	5/5
Lookin’ Out My Back Door	5/5
Up Around The Bend	5/5
Run Through The Jungle	5/5
Long As I Can See The Light	2/5	This song was a lot slower than the rest, and also had a saxophone part that was bad.
Good Golly Miss Molly	5/5	I had never heard this version before, but I loved it, though I still consider the King Ralph version to be canonical.
Porterville	4/5
Down On The Corner	5/5
Fortunate Son	5/5
Have You Ever Seen The Rain?	5/5
Hey Tonight	3/5	This song was slightly Oompa-Loompa.

Grade

5/5: love it