Revival

by Stephen Thomas ErlewineNot 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. ... Read More...