Was CCR really THAT good of a band? Wasn't it all John Fogerty?

John Fogerty solo never had the same magic as his CCR band had, the group had a solid groove thing going down, kudos to the main guy, but.

 

And there is the correct answer.

 

Mardi Gras is one proof of the enormous talent that the dynamic duo of Doug and Stu posess. Not to mention their landmark carreer after CCR with a real highlight in their current Revisited band. A band where they out of kindness only play the second rate song of John

 

My last album with Fogerty is Mardi Gras

 

He needed the right drummer, bassist, and rhythm guitarist.
Something he hasn't had in the last 45 years.

 

Be careful, I think Cosmo Clifford and some of his family members post here. They may have already posted.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/ente...7/07/doug-clifford-ccr-john-fogerty/29792885/

Doug Clifford makes some excellent points here including on the musical side.

 

HA!
Careful, sarcasm flies right over many heads here.

 

Second only to the Beach Boys!

 

You listened more than once to this?

 

I love Gene Clark as much as anybody, but at no time was he ever the "alpha male" of The Byrds.

In fact, many of Clark's career difficulties can be traced to his inability to act like an "alpha male".

 

I agree and John lost the plot without the band. Doug Clifford's drumming was perfect for Fogerty's songs... the arena rock tub-pounders he's been using in his solo career are totally inappropriate to his music.

 

And the Dead!

 

Excellent point. Being "the main singer and songwriter" doesn't make you into an "alpha male" of a band by default. An excellent example would be the Dave Clark Five, where the alpha male of the band had very little discernible musical talent at all, yet he completely steamrolled over Mike Smith, the singer and (one of the) primary songwriters.

 

That's a straw man argument, because no sane person would claim that Clifford or Cook are Fogerty's equals in singing or songwriting. The true debate is whether they deserve some of the credit for the quality of the CCR records, or none of the credit. I would argue that the inferiority of Fogerty's post-CCR output (and specifically, the musicianship therein) support the notion that Tom, Clifford and Cook deserve some of the credit. MUCH less credit than John Fogerty, of course, but some.

 

They were a tight band, but they would have been nothing without John Fogerty. Look at Creedence Clearwater Revisited: no John, yet they need to play his songs in order to attract suckers at your local state fair.

 

This is the best description of Kenny Aronoff's work I've ever read.

 

The band in many ways was the result of John's vision of the sound of the songs. He was the main voice, guitar, songs.....just about every thing.

However, you have to give kudos to the rest of the band to be able to produce what John wanted in the songs.

 

I was more or less speaking about John Fogerty. In the case of Gene Clark, he was a prolific songwriter and because of the songwriting royalties he received, it caused friction and jealousy with some of the other band members. My favorite Byrd songs are those written by Gene Clark. It was too bad that he was only with them for the first 2 LP's. They could have been even better had he remained with the band. Unfortunately, that is all ancient history now.

 

Says it all!

JG

 

With all respect to Mr Guy E., whose post I agree with, Kenny Arnoff is an excellent studio drummer and has great control when he needs it, the guy is so precise he is a human drum machine.

But that isn't what CCRs music needed. It needed a very adept and creative dude who could get the bar band groove going.
That is exactly what made CCR , they are still the worlds greatest bar band. They got that bar band sound.
Which is the best sound a rock n roll band can have.
Mr Arnoff is a great musician, but that doesn't mean he is appropriate for all situations.

For JCFs solo work, I would have picked somebody like Jamie Oldaker or Jim Keltner, both who can do the very controlled bar band sound. They both have that nice backbeat groove, Mr Oldakers style being a little more complex.
But no doubt either could have gotten a groove going to Suzy Q that was nearly as creative as Doug Cliffords historic drum beat in a live situation.

Cartoonish?

 

I think there was one clear major talent in the band. But the chemistry of this group elevated that. So, their contributions shouldn't be discounted. That happens a lot in bands. That's actually one of the things that makes a band a great band.

 

Whatever level of significance the sidemen played, the magic was beginning to fade with Pendulum.

 

Who cares. Zanz kant danz.

 

I'm a bit skeptical of John's latter-day claims that he told them exactly what to play, and they had no creative input whatsoever. It is certainly true that John's vision was the driving force behind everything. But I take issue with the assertion that the band deserves no credit at all.