Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Green River

 
Album Review: Green River

Review

If anything, CCR's third album Green River represents the full flower of their classic sound initially essayed on its predecessor, Bayou Country. One of the differences between the two albums is that Green River is tighter, with none of the five-minute-plus jams that filled out both their debut and Bayou Country, but the true key to its success is a peak in John Fogerty's creativity. Although CCR had at least one cover on each album, they relied on Fogerty to crank out new material every month. He was writing so frequently that the craft became second-nature and he laid his emotions and fears bare, perhaps unintentionally. Perhaps that's why Green River has fear, anger, dread, and weariness creeping on the edges of gleeful music. This was a band that played rock & roll so joyously that they masked the, well, "sinister" undercurrents in Fogerty's songs. "Bad Moon Rising" has the famous line "Hope you've got your things together/Hope you're quite prepared to die," but that was only the most obvious indication of Fogerty's gloom. Consider all the other dark touches: the "Sinister purpose knocking at your door"; the chaos of "Commotion"; the threat of death in "Tombstone Shadow"; you only return to the idyllic "Green River" once you get lost and realize the "world is smolderin'." Even the ballads have a strong melancholy undercurrent, highlighted by "Lodi," where Fogerty imagines himself stuck playing in dead-end towns for the rest of his life. Not the typical thoughts of a newly famous rock & roller, but certainly an indication of Fogerty's inner tumult. For all its darkness, Green River is ultimately welcoming music, since the band rocks hard and bright and the melancholy feels comforting, not alienating. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Green River (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (2:36)
Commotion (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (2:44)
Tombstone Shadow (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:39)
Wrote a Song for Everyone (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (4:57)
Bad Moon Rising (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (2:21)
Lodi (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:13)
Cross-Tie Walker (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:20)
Sinister Purpose (Lyrics) John Fogerty Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:22)
The Night Time Is the Right Time (Lyrics) Lew Herman, Napoleon Brown, Ozzie Cadena Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:08)

Credits

Shigeo Miyamoto (Mastering), John Fogerty (Vocals), John Fogerty (Guitar), Tom Fogerty (Guitar), Stu Cook (Drums), Basul Parik (Photography), Doug Clifford (Bass), Dave Marsh (Liner Notes), Kenta Hagiwara (Liner Notes), Basul Parik (Cover Photo), Basul Parik (Tray Photo), Tom Fogerty (Guitar (Rhythm)), Tom Fogerty (Vocals), Steve Hoffman (Mastering), Doug Clifford (Drums), Tamaki Beck (Mastering Supervisor), John Fogerty (Producer), Stu Cook (Bass), Tom Fogerty (Rhythm), Saul Zaentz (Producer), Kevin Gray (Mastering), John Fogerty (Arranger)
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Green River (album)
Top
Green River
Studio album by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Released August 3, 1969
Recorded 1969, Wally Heider's Studio, San Francisco, California
Genre Roots rock
Length 28:50 (original)
44:35 (40th Anniversary Edition)
Label Fantasy
Producer John Fogerty,
Saul Zaentz
Professional reviews
Creedence Clearwater Revival chronology
Bayou Country
(1969)
Green River
(1969)
Willy and the Poor Boys
(1969)

Green River is the third album by American band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in 1969. In 2003, the album was ranked number 96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Lodi

The song "Lodi," describes the plight of a musician who has wandered into Lodi, California (pronounced "low-die"), a small agricultural town about 70 miles from John Fogerty's hometown of Berkeley. After playing in local bars, he finds himself detesting the town but unable to raise bus or train fare to leave. Fogerty later said he had never actually visited Lodi before writing this song, and simply picked it for the song because it had "the coolest sounding name." However, the song unquestionably references the town's reputation as an uninteresting farm settlement, although the narrator does not mention any specific complaints about Lodi.[1] The song's chorus, "Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again," has been the theme of several city events in Lodi.

Michael and the G2s cover the song in their album "Michael and the G2s Cover Everything."[1]


Track listing

All songs written by John Fogerty, except where noted.

Side one

  1. "Green River" – 2:36 †
  2. "Commotion" – 2:44 †
  3. "Tombstone Shadow" – 3:39
  4. "Wrote a Song for Everyone" – 4:57

Side two

  1. "Bad Moon Rising" – 2:21 †
  2. "Lodi" – 3:13 †
  3. "Cross-Tie Walker" – 3:20
  4. "Sinister Purpose" – 3:23
  5. "The Night Time Is the Right Time" (Napoleon "Nappy" Brown, Ozzie Cadena, Lew Herman) – 3:09

Note: All tracks recorded mid-1969, except for † recorded March 1969

40th Anniversary Edition CD bonus tracks

  1. "Broken Spoke Shuffle" - 2:39
  2. "Glory Be" - 2:48
  3. "Bad Moon Rising" (Live in Berlin, 9/16/71) - 2:07
  4. "Green River/Susie Q" (Live in Stockholm, 9/21/71) - 4:28
  5. "Lodi" (Live in Hamburg, 9/17/71) - 3:19

Personnel

Production

  • Producer: John Fogerty
  • Recording engineer: Russ Gary
  • Mastering supervisor: Tamaki Beck
  • Mastering: Kevin Gray, Steve Hoffman
  • Arranger: John Fogerty
  • Liner notes (CD): Dave Marsh
  • Photography: Basul Parik

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1969 Black Albums #26
1969 Pop Albums #1
1970 UK Album Charts #20

Singles

Year Single Position
Pop Singles UK Top 40
April
1969
"Bad Moon Rising" #2 #1
April
1969
"Lodi" #52
July
1969
"Green River" #2 #19
July
1969
"Commotion" #30
Preceded by
Blind Faith by Blind Faith
Billboard 200 number-one album
October 4 - October 31, 1969
Succeeded by
Abbey Road by The Beatles

Trivia

  • Wrote a Song for Everyone was featured in an episode of Tour of Duty.

References

  1. ^ "Residents are proud to be ‘Stuck in Lodi’" Lodi News Sentinel. Retrieved June 7, 2007.

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Green River (album)" Read more