Creedence Clearwater Revival: Pendulum (half-speed master) [CRAFT]

Why you'll love it

Abbey Road Studios cut this 50th anniversary edition at half-speed, and it comes on 180g vinyl in a tip-on jacket copying the original gatefold. Pendulum reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and the top 10 in 10 countries, and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" hit No. 8 on the Hot 100.

This edition

• Half-speed master
• Mastered at Abbey Road Studios
• 180g vinyl
• 50th anniversary edition
• Tip-on jacket
• Pressed in Germany
• Remastered
• Stereo mix

About the album

Pendulum was Creedence's second album of 1970, arriving five months after Cosmo's Factory, and for once they took their time. The band spent a full month at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, a long stretch by their standards, and John Fogerty, who wrote, arranged and produced every song, took to going home after each day's session to write more.

The sound opens up, too. Fogerty plays Hammond B-3 all over the record, inspired by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group he had long idolized, and adds keyboards and saxophones, while Stu Cook sits in on piano and the band pick up harmonica, vibraphone and recorder. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" is the big one, a melancholy, organ-swept classic, and "Hey Tonight" is a hard-charging rocker. "Pagan Baby" opens with a long, swampy groove, "Chameleon" and "Born to Move" bring the horns, and "Molina" rattles along like a Saturday night.

When Doug Clifford played the album for Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper of the M.G.'s, they said the organ sounded remarkably like their bandmate Booker T. Jones. From the chaps who invented that sound, that counts as a glowing reference.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On Fantasy / Craft (cat# CR00129), a reissue of the 1970 album.