Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River (olive green vinyl) [CONCORD JAZZ INC.]

Why you'll love it

This Fantasy reissue puts Green River on olive green vinyl, a fitting colour for the record. It was the band's first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, reached No. 2 in Canada and is certified triple platinum.

This edition

• Olive green vinyl
• Stereo

About the album

Green River was a soda before it was a song. John Fogerty named the title track after a lime-flavoured syrup he loved as a kid, and set it on Putah Creek near Winters, California, where his family spent summers. Recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco in the spring of 1969, it was the second of three albums Creedence put out that year, and Fogerty has called it his favourite.

Fogerty and Saul Zaentz produced, and the band is lean and swampy throughout. "Bad Moon Rising" pairs a cheerful tune with a doom-laden lyric (inspired by a hurricane scene in the film The Devil and Daniel Webster) and went to No. 2, as did "Green River." "Lodi" is about being stuck in a small town Fogerty had never actually visited; he just liked the sound of the name. "Commotion" rattles along, "Wrote A Song For Everyone" is the reflective one, and a cover of Ray Charles' "The Night Time Is The Right Time" closes it out.

Rolling Stone placed it at No. 95 on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums. The good people of Lodi, to their credit, have long since forgiven him.

Also at Kops: more Creedence Clearwater Revival on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Fantasy / Craft Recordings (cat# CR00830), a reissue of the 1969 album.