Author: Urban Bolta
Artist: Fogerty, John
Label: Vanguard Records
Released: 2013
Length: 59:27
Rating: 3.5/5
John Fogerty is a legendary American musician and songwriter who, at the turn of the sixties into the seventies, embodied the voice of an entire generation. We’re talking, of course, about the frontman of the then hugely popular quartet Creedence Clearwater Revival, and even after the band fell apart Fogerty stayed the course he’d set, only cementing his spot over the decades as one of the most revered songwriters in rock history.
Bruce Springsteen himself once paid Fogerty a compliment, saying there are few songwriters who can say as much in three minutes as he can. On his 68th birthday, Fogerty put out his ninth solo album, »Wrote a Song For Everyone«. It’s a collection of older hits, mostly from the Creedence Clearwater Revival era, a few solo reworkings and two brand-new songs, with freshness courtesy of a slew of guest musicians with eminent pedigrees. If Fogerty spent years literally ignoring his most successful artistic period, the hippie era, then after settling the three-decade-long dispute with his old label Fantasy he’s been digging through the CCR treasure chest more often himself in recent years, and four years after his last studio release he’s served up a kind of “best of” album, seasoned with a whiff of a new era.
With the dozen reworkings, Fogerty predictably didn’t go overboard with experiments; he simply let himself drift with the flow of the original recordings and tailored the arrangements to his chosen guests. Foo Fighters spiced up the opener Fortunate Son with a metallic guitar sound, so a song with a strongly anti-militarist charge from the Vietnam War era remains as relevant as ever today. Fogerty’s solo hit Almost Saturday Night was immortalized by Keith Urban’s banjo guest spot, which nudged it even closer to the traditional American sound rooted in country heritage. That country and folk flavor runs strong through the whole album, and the title track Wrote a Song For Everyone, recorded with young singer Miranda Lambert and RATM guitarist Tom Morello, comes alive in its new sonic look with a lighter touch. The modern production took away some of the CCR grit, but not the sincerity, so even the made-over classics Bad Moon Rising and Have You Ever Seen the Rain are still wrapped in a nostalgic aura of Fogerty’s trademark moves. A few of the new interpretations carry a different mood than the originals: Fogerty and Bob Seger sound melancholy, even sad, in Who’ll Stop the Rain, as if in the autumn of their lives. Proud Mary rounds out the whole thing with the logical guest pairing of a female and male voice, and Jennifer Hudson and Allen Toussaint can’t help but call to mind the best-known version of the song, credited to Ike and Tina Turner.
Throughout his solo career, John Fogerty has faced the thankless expectation of carrying on down the path laid out at the end of the sixties, and he holds up damn well! An artist known for metaphorically showing off his social engagement through his lyrics, which without doubt puts him shoulder to shoulder with Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen, presents two new songs on the album, Mystic Highway and Train of Fools. Wrapped in a light rock cellophane, the two tracks prove that even with the relentless approach of his seventh decade, Fogerty hasn’t forgotten his artistic gift, nor his mission of sharing hope with the young, working-class generation, as both compositions are suffused with optimism and a moderate dose of patriotism.
With the album »Wrote a Song For Everyone«, John Fogerty took a bow to his career of half a century and proved that the feuds that marked decades of his work were left far behind long ago. Given his long tenure, Fogerty has released few albums, and every one of them speaks even more strongly of the artist’s unique conglomerate of tight guitar phrases and metaphorical messages. It’s no different with the current record »Wrote a Song For Everyone«, even if plenty of Yankees will keep spinning their old Creedence Clearwater Revival vinyl rather than the author’s new take on his old hits.
Lineup
John Fogerty & guests
Tracklist
1. Fortunate Son (with Foo Fighters)
2. Almost Saturday Night (with Keith Urban)
3. Lodi (with Shane Fogerty and Tyler Fogerty)
4. Mystic Highway
5. Wrote a Song for Everyone (with Miranda Lambert featuring Tom Morello
6. Bad Moon Rising (with Zac Brown Band)
7. Long as I Can See the Light (with My Morning Jacket)
8. Born on the Bayou (with Kid Rock)
9. Train of Fools
10. Someday Never Comes (with Dawes)
11. Who’ll Stop the Rain (with Bob Seger)
12. Hot Rod Heart (with Brad Paisley)
13. Have You Ever Seen the Rain (with Alan Jackson)
14. Proud Mary (with Jennifer Hudson featuring Allen Toussaint and Rebirth Brass Band)
