Recollection [live]

by Bruce EderThis double-CD set is maddening. One would like to assail it as utterly superfluous, in light of the fact that every note of music CCR ever cut is readily available, and the existence of John Fogerty's 1998 concert release of his own repertory; but these are 22 good songs, played well, and thus, it's not easy to deride them. In actual fact, apart from transcendent readings of "Run Through the Jungle" and "Heard It Through the Grapevine," there isn't too much worthwhile on Recollection, cut in the fall of 1997 at a series of concerts in western Canada, that fans of CCR won't find better represented on any of the group's original albums or best-of compilations. But there are some attempts at freshness here that do succeed -- the group's original extended version of "Heard It Through the Grapevine" was not one of its more inspired moments, and Elliot Easton does inject some excitement here in the form of serious guitar pyrotechnics. On the other hand, the presence of backing vocals on "Bad Moon Rising" demonstrates that the band was mimicking the records rather than trying for a real concert sound on part of this set. The harmonizing on "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," however, actually improves the song, and they attack "Fortunate Son" at a slightly slower tempo than the original, which works better; but "Travelin' Band" works less well in its marginally slowed-down version. CCRevisited play with lots of enthusiasm, which is understandable -- not only did Cook and Clifford spend so many years performing this repertory nightly that they could probably play it properly in their sleep, but it's unlikely that they (or any of the others present) will ever have as fine a body of songs to work with. The 22 songs are drawn from the hits and popular album tracks, and it's notable (and fortunate) that none of Cook or Clifford's songwriting attempts from the final CCR effort are included. The pity is they didn't reach out to some of the lesser known CCR gems, such as "Cross-Tie Walker." The sound is very good, incidentally.