John Fogerty Albums (11)
'The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again'
Release Date 8/25/2009
Tracks 12
Label Verve Forecast
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What The Critics Say
John Fogerty released his first solo CD, an album of covers on which he played all the instruments, under the name the "Blue Ridge Rangers," and he revives that concept on 2009's The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again. Where the first smacked of the righteous zeal of a young purist, Ride Again is a lot looser in its attack, something reflected in how it splits the difference between country and rockabilly classics and reflective numbers from '70s songwriters. These unexpected covers of John Prine, Delaney & Bonnie, and John Denver offer a peek at a sweeter, gentler Fogerty, a Fogerty who can also be heard on how he lays back instead of pushing ahead on Buck Owens' "I Don't Care (Just as Long as You Love Me)" and Ray Price's "I'll Be There," and even on his revamp of his own neglected swamp rocker "Change in the Weather." He can still raise an unholy ruckus, wailing his way through Gene Simmons' rockabilly classic "Haunted House" and joyously duetting with Bruce Springsteen on the Everlys' "When Will I Be Loved," but Ride Again isn't a raucous rock & roll album, it's a relaxed good time, a little bit of cheerful nostalgia that's pretty charming. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Not long after the 2004 release of his fifth solo album, Deja Vu All Over Again, John Fogerty parted ways with DreamWorks -- but perhaps a more important label development for the singer/songwriter was that his old home Fantasy Records, the place where he cut all his classic Creedence Clearwater Revival albums, was sold to Concord Records. He had a longstanding feud with Fantasy and its head, Saul Zaentz, but Concord sought to make amends with Fogerty, quickly signing him to the label. Just as rapidly, Fogerty finally embraced his CCR material, beginning to play it in concert and releasing a compilation called The Long Road Home, which blended his Creedence hits with solo cuts, a welcome return for all involved -- so welcome that Fogerty continued to push this re-acceptance of Creedence on his 2007 follow-up to Deja Vu, Revival. Its very title, of course, echoes CCR -- while its cover echoes Blue Ridge Rangers and his eponymous debut -- and Fogerty goes out of his way to stoke those comparisons by writing "Creedence Song," but it's possible to oversell this return to the fold as a massive shift in sound and aesthetic, when it's really an imperceptible change, at least in terms of pure sound. Fogerty may have shunned Creedence, but that is only in terms of songs: he never ran away from the sound. After all, this is a guy who was sued for plagiarizing himself -- sure, it was a frivolous suit, but it's a pretty good indication that his solo work sounded a lot like his classic stuff. So, anybody expecting Revival to be a big shift in direction will be disappointed, because it has a similar feel to any of his other records, along with a very relaxed vibe, not dissimilar to anything he's done after Eye of the Zombie. Even if the acceptance of Creedence hasn't made much of a difference in terms of sound, it does have an effect on Fogerty as a writer, as he attempts to recapture the vibe of his '60s stuff, tapping into the charged political vibe of "Fortunate Son" and "Who'll Stop the Rain" in particular. Revival spills over with topical songs, both metaphorical ("Gunslinger") and thuddingly literal ("Long Dark Night," where George W., Rummy, and Dick Cheney are all called out by name). Sometimes Fogerty's missives lack grace -- impassioned though it is, the name-calling in "Long Dark Night" is clumsy -- but there's a real fire to his writing here, turning Revival into a missive as immediate, effective, and telling as Neil Young's Living with War. Like that album, it does feel like the work of an old pro, in how the music is lived-in and simple. Sometimes, this can veer into something that's just this side of stodgy -- "Don't You Wish It Was True" sounds like something to be played while swinging on the front porch -- and there's a crankiness that runs through this record that's kind of ingratiating. Fogerty is longing for the past here -- crooning like Merle Haggard when he wondered if the good times were really over -- but this isn't a new wrinkle; Fogerty has always been nostalgic. When he was a young man, he romanticized America's past, creating a world that likely didn't exist, but his visions were all the more alluring because of their fantasy. Perhaps it was inevitable that as he aged, he'd turn to romanticizing his own past, yet it's still odd to hear him embracing the "Summer of Love" when he never, ever was part of the scene in San Francisco; knowing this, it kind of gives away the artifice behind his creation. Still, artifice can be a crucial part of art, and Fogerty is an uncannily sharp musician in how he can mold the past to fit his own world, which he does with "Summer of Love," turning it into a fuzz-toned choogle with a sly paraphrase of "Sunshine of Your Love." This is also true on "Creedence Song," which is far from self-aggrandizing -- it's wryly funny and crackling with musical allusions to CCR songs, some so sly they pass by without notice. This is Revival at its most fun, but even if the world-weariness drags down some of the rest of the album, this is nevertheless his strongest album in years, standing proudly against Centerfield as one of his best. Which may be the reason that Fogerty and Fantasy are playing the Creedence card so hard: it will hook listeners into an album that they know won't disappoint. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Deja Vu All Over Again'
Release Date 9/21/2004
Tracks 10
Label Geffen
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What The Critics Say
John Fogerty is many things, but predictable is not one of them. His solo career has proceeded in fits and starts, with waits as long as a decade separating solo albums, and when the records did arrive, they could be as brilliant as Centerfield or as bewilderingly misdirected as Eye of the Zombie. There was no telling what a new Fogerty record would bring, but perhaps the strangest thing about his sixth studio album, 2004's Deja Vu All Over Again, is that it's the closest thing to an average, by-the-books John Fogerty album that he's released in his solo career. Unlike its immediate predecessor, the Southern-obsessed Blue Moon Swamp, there is no unifying lyrical or musical theme, nor was it released with the comeback fanfare of that 1997 affair. Instead, Deja Vu slipped into stores in September of 2004, and its sound was as low-key as its release. Fogerty handled the arrangements and production, and while it was recorded in a professional studio in L.A. with studio veterans like drummer Kenny Aronoff and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, the album retains a homemade feel, largely because the songs are so simple and modest. Deja Vu has a little bit of everything that fits into Fogerty's signature style -- revamped rockabilly ("Honey Do," "Rhubarb Pie"), swamp rock ("Wicked Old Witch"), old-fashioned rock & roll ("Sugar-Sugar (In My Life)"), choogling minor-key jams ("In the Garden"), sweet country-tinged acoustic tunes ("I Will Walk With You"), even a protest song in the vein of "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" (the title track, a truly effective effort in drawing parallels between Vietnam and the Iraq war). While the sound on these is a little too polished, these are enjoyable songs which are somewhat undercut by a handful of cuts that recall the flailing cluelessness of Eye of the Zombie: the empty hard rocker "She's Got Baggage," the odd disco/new wave vibe of "Radar," and "Nobody's Here Anymore," where Fogerty sounds like an old fogy as he despairs about disconnected computer geeks with "a stash of Twinkies" and a bored kid in a classroom "listenin' to the rock star on a CD," when he'd be more likely to listen to rap on his iPod. These songs amount to minor bumps on a record that's otherwise pretty smooth sailing -- a relaxed, friendly collection of songs that reside comfortably within Fogerty's signature sound. At its core, it's more of a collection of songs than a unified album, and these songs are enjoyable, but modest. Apart from the title track, there are no major statements here, but there's enough craft and spirit to ensure that most Fogerty fans are bound to find several songs to actively enjoy on Deja Vu All Over Again. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Upon its release in the spring of 1997, John Fogerty's long-awaited comeback album Blue Moon Swamp was lavished with praise -- it didn't become the crossover hit that Centerfield was, but it earned great reviews and a solid cult audience. Furthermore, his tour -- his first ever to feature classic Creedence material -- was, if anything, even better received than Blue Moon Swamp, so it made some sense that he quickly released Premonition, his first solo live album, in 1998. Premonition is frighteningly good -- Fogerty doesn't sound like a veteran rocker, he sounds nearly as powerful as he did on old Creedence live shows. He also sounds more mature, bringing increased depth to his older songs as he energizes recent material, from "The Old Man Down the Road" to "Swamp River Days." Premonition is essentially the province of dedicated Fogerty fans -- there's only one new song, and the differences in the live performances are things only the hardcore will spot -- but they'll be delighted with the quality of the music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Blue Moon Swamp'
Release Date 5/20/1997
Tracks 12
Label Warner Bros.
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What The Critics Say
Listening to the easy roots rock shuffle of Blue Moon Swamp, it's hard to believe that it took John Fogerty a full decade to write and record the album. It's not just because the album isn't a great stylistic departure from his past work, it's because Blue Moon Swamp sounds so natural and unforced. Nothing on the album sounds fussy, nor does it sound like a meticulous reconstruction of the past. Instead, Fogerty's songs and performances are richly evocative of tradition, but they're vibrant and living for the present, which makes the rockabilly, blues, country, and swampy rock & roll sound fresh. It's not as raw or as hooky as Creedence Clearwater Revival, nor as pop-oriented as Centerfield, but it's a warm, laid-back, and mature record of roots rock at its very best. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Knockin' on Your Door'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 1
Label Warner Bros.
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'Eye of the Zombie'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 9
Label Warner Bros.
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What The Critics Say
"Put me in coach, I'm ready to play." These are lines familiar to any baseball fan, for John Fogerty's "Centerfield" has become the unofficial song of our national pastime. Those lines also signaled Fogerty's return to the music business after a ten-year absence. The music is mighty familiar, as Fogerty works the same terrain he mined for gold with Creedence Clearwater Revival from 1968-1972. The riff of the opening track, "The Old Man Down the Road," sounds so much like the Creedence hit "Run Through the Jungle" that Fogerty was sued by his former record company for plagiarizing himself. (He won the suit, the court upholding a composer's right to sound like himself.) "Old Man" was a Top Ten single, and this album reached number one itself. "Big Train (From Memphis)" is a rockabilly salute to Elvis, while "I Saw It on TV" takes us on a trip through the '50s and '60s "from Hooter to Doodyville," via the boob tube. "Searchlight" recalls "Keep On Chooglin" and the other extended one-chord jams of the Creedence days. Fogerty also lashes out at his old nemesis Saul Zaentz, head of that former label, Fantasy Records, with whom he had battled (and lost) over rights to his own catalog of Creedence songs. On "Mr. Greed" and "Zanz Kant Danz" (renamed "Vanz Kant Danz" on later pressings due again to the threat of lawsuit), he vents his anger over these past legal battles and foretells the one to come over "Old Man." Fans hoped Centerfield would indeed mark the return of John Fogerty to the playing field, but after releasing the bitter Eye of the Zombie the following year, he disappeared again, not to return until 1997's Blue Moon Swamp. ~ Jim Newsom, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This one-man extravaganza finds John Fogerty plowing the same ground he worked with Creedence Clearwater Revival. This mix of originals and rock & roll classics finds him in fine voice, with the familiar vocal scream and hot guitars augmented in places by saxophones reminiscent of CCR's "Travelin' Band." Several of these songs rank with the top tier of Fogerty's Creedence material, particularly "The Wall," "Almost Saturday Night," and the anthemic "Rockin' All Over the World." He also delivers satisfying versions of Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" and Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise" (written by Huey "Piano" Smith). The closer, "Flyin' Away," could have come off the Doobie Brothers' Toulouse Street. This underappreciated album is worth checking out. ~ Jim Newsom, All Music Guide
