Creedence Clearwater Revival - S/T debut

After slogging along in various incarnations (including the Golliwogs, a name they hated but  which they used for a couple of recording), the band came together as CCR with John Fogerty's vision of simple, swampy blues-based rock'n'roll. An arrangement of the Dale Lawrence standard "Susie Q" brought them some initial fame and they filled out their debut with a couple of other well- chosen covers and some early originals by Fogerty.

A fan of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, John pulled together a more straight-ahead blues arrangement of "I Put a Spell on You" to open the record. Of course, he wasn't going to try to duplicate Hawkins' insane vocal delivery, so there's some great, feedback-laden guitar work instead. "The Working Man" is a soulful original that sounds like it could have been a Stax cover, but with the distinctive CCR sound - this is a winner! They take an uncomplicated approach to "Susie Q", overall, although the extended solo sections are pure Fogerty and he added some neat, slightly buried, background vocals to highlight certain areas for a unique and interesting effect.

Wilson Picket's "Ninety Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" is less funky and more rock'n'roll, but still pretty hip, "Get Down Woman" is a more pedestrian blues - certainly not bad, but not all that special either, other than some fine guitar playing. Initially recorded as the Golliwogs, "Porterville" is one of Fogerty's first "story" songs and it featured the band doing backing vocals (something he took over for himself later on) but otherwise, it is not a stand-out. Sorry to say that "Gloomy" does not grab me particularly, as well, although the lead guitar interplay is quite effective. But the album concludes with one of my favorite songs, "Walk on the Water" (covered quite well by the Voidoids in the 70's), a spooky track filled with eerie imagery and with a fantastic, well-planned out, multi-part solo section that is far more than a "jam" and contains a nod to "Eight Miles High", as well as terrific rhythm interplay and effects. I would never have guessed that this was off of their debut, due to its neat complexity that just makes it fascinating and never dull.

This band had so many incredible songs to come and this is not their best effort, but it is a super-solid debut and a fine rock'n'roll album!