Creedence Clearwater Revisited - RETIRING

All you need to do is listen to any of Fogerty's band iterations over the years to know that the bass and drum parts could not have been played by anyone.

 

If Axl Rose can play with Slash again never say never.

That being said it would be nice to get some live material released but as far as a reunion tour I saw John Fogerty this past year for a reasonable price and other than paying big $$$ for tickets because of the CCR the brand name I don't see the attraction should they tour again.

 

I mean, the name was a pretty lame attempt at being just different enough to avoid legal ramifications, but similar enough to probably have suckered some people in during the pre-internet era. I dunno, maybe "scam" isn't the right word, but it still always seemed pretty lame. Not much different than the two guys from The Jam trying to tour without Weller, or Mick Avory forming a Kinks cover band. I dunno. I feel bad for musicians in that situation, but also can't fathom why anyone would go paying actual money to see two largely nondescript band members who didn't write or sing a note of the songs that make up their setlist. I can't fault those two for trying, but I'm in awe that it actually stuck. I would've assumed it'd have died out sometime around the early 2000's, but I guess not (clearly they've never played anywhere near me since I hadn't seen the name advertised in decades).

 

I know he had Kenny Aronoff and John Molo at different points. If you can get that caliber of drummers, of course you go for it. Even though his set was mostly CCR tunes, I don't think he picked his solo band based on their ability to sound exactly like the CCR guys, he wanted the best band he could get, and so he went and got it.

I've had to play all those songs more times than I ever wanted in bars over the years, and trust me, almost anyone with decent timekeeping skills can play those parts with the mild competence displayed on the original recordings. (I suppose part of the appeal of CCR was its simplicity, mild competence was all that was needed). I love drummers like Charlie Watts and Levon Helm who weren't showy, but have irreplaceable feel and groove, but I don't hear that in CCR, at all.

 

CCR was “Feel and Groove” all the way.....

 

Feel and groove in stiff 4/4 for hours.

 

I feel DC fits exactly into that category of irreplaceable feel and groove.

 

No.
Not “stiff” at all...

 

To each their own. I just can't find anything unique or interesting about their rhythm section, at all.

 

I think they could find someone else who can strum E7 for five minutes at a time. Not knocking Tom but there really wasn't much for a rhythm guitarist to do in CCR, especially with Mr. "I wanna control everything" in the band.
I've read Fogerty's book - is there a good one that tells the other side of the story?

 

"Up Around The Bend" is a pretty fair (imo) writing about the band.

 

I am not sure about CCR books.

I just figured a true reunion would have had to occurred while Tom was still alive...since he was on all but one of their studio albums.

Not sure it matters. These fellas are way past their prime and do not like each other... so let's hope they never reunite.

I wonder if Tom brought anything to the table?

 

Compare certain songs from the Concert album to their counterparts on Live In Europe, and listen closely. Like any you’d rhythm player, you don’t notice them until they’re gone.

 

Another is Bad Moon Rising by Hank Bordowitz.

 

I truly can’t get the motivation to knock the CCR rhythm section at all for its (much overstated) simplicity. What the F else were they supposed to do with Fogerty’s material? They did what was called for and a bit more, but it’s a fine line. You see Fogerty with a “world class player” like Arnoff and it’s a total, overplayed mess.

 

If nothing else this thread inspired me to slap Green River on the turntable....wonderful hits. Nearly every song could have been a hit.

 

I wasn't interested myself, but I don't begrudge their right to play the songs that define their musical lives to whatever audience they can gather round. "Creedence Clearwater Revisited" may abbreviate to CCR, but I never saw them attempt to advertise it that way. Far worse vibes could be pumped into the world than Creedence music played by the rhythm section that birthed it.

 

Correction: replace “you’d” with “good”.

 

It’s hilarious how we laud some drummers for their simplicity and their “playing for song” and how much space they leave for the music to breath, but when it comes to Cosmo: all those qualities mean he sucks anyone can play his parts.

 

this certainly has the feel and the groove.

 

If you want to know what Doug Clifford adds to the music watch this footage of him playing with John Fogerty at their high school reunion in 1983 and then watch any other version of Born on the Bayou that Fogerty has done since the Creedence days. They hadn't played together in ten years and were instantly in the pocket and sounding like the Creedence of old. It's all about the feel which Kenny Aronoff sorely lacks and is the reason I can't listen to Fogerty playing the Creedence songs with his band.

 

Clifford is chic while Aronoff is geek.

 

Time to leave this thread i think.

 

nor can, i. the "rhythm section" of ccr wasn't their strong suit per se.. it was them together as a "band" and the great songs with fogerty.

four on the floor ain't rocket science.