Artist: Fogerty, John
Label: Universal Music Group
Release: 2004
No need to waste words on John Fogerty! He’s a former member of the legendary Creedence Cleartwater Revival and one of the best songwriters in rock history…
Fogerty’s 1997 solo studio album “Deja Vu (All Over Again)” leaves you with the nagging feeling that you’ve heard every song on it before. Not just sometime, but somewhere. With that feeling you glide smoothly back into the old days, the sixties, when rock was at its peak. The songs on “Deja Vu” sound so familiar and incredibly fresh at the same time!
Fogerty’s home band CCR was already famous for its deft blending of rock with other musical genres, and that’s exactly what Fogerty serves up on his solo record too – a bit of country – Sugar-Sugar (In my life), I Will Walk With You, dirty, boogie-soaked blues in the style of Lynyrd Skynyrd in Wicked Old Witch and In The Garden, Radar hints at some funk moves in the intro but later turns into pure-blooded rock, and the chorus of She’s Got Baggage even calls to mind the Ramones and their Blitzkrieg Bop.
On Nobody’s Here Anymore, Mark Knopfler came to Fogerty’s aid and stamped his own character on the song, that Dire Straits character, which sadly can’t be found in such honest, spontaneous form on his latest album “Shangri-La”. It’s also a track where the lyrics come through a bit more, since they blend with the music better than on the other songs.
Fogerty pulled off what many of his peers couldn’t: he carried old, often forgotten musical genres into the 21st century and served them up with real taste for younger and older listeners alike. Maybe the music kept the stamp of the sixties and seventies also because Fogerty produced it himself, so it doesn’t sound too clean and artificial, but rather old-school (in the good sense of the word) and honest.
Lineup
John Fogerty – vocals, guitar, organ, bass guitar, percussion
Alex Acuna – percussion
Benmont Tench – organ
Bob Applebaum – mandolin
Bob Britt – electric “slide” guitar
David Santos
Jerry Douglas – dobro
Viktor Krauss – bass guitar
Kenny Aronoff – drums
Paul Bushnell
Production
John Fogerty
Tracklist
1. Deja Vu (All Over Again)
2. Sugar-Sugar (In My Life)
3. She’s Got Baggage
4. Radar
5. Honey Do
6. Nobody’s Here Anymore
7. I Will Walk With You
8. Rhubarb Pie
9. Wicked Old Witch
10. In The Garden
