 John Fogerty When music torrents started really exploding on the Internet, I found myself behaving quite like the kids in Willy Wonka when they enter the completely edible room. Suddenly, almost any bootleg CD or live show I could possibly want was available to me for free, lossless in quality – it made the old Napster days seem like kids' play. I soon amassed a hearty collection of boots by my favorite artists, burning and assembling CDs with an obsessiveness more akin to gambling addiction than to music fiend-dom. A funny thing happened, though, once I exhausted the available supply of "essential" boots … I began downloading stuff I would never be caught even looking at in a store. My choices became much less cool … and yet, arguably more sincere. Case in point: a 2004 live show by John Fogerty! Surely as guilty a pleasure as I can own up to, Fogerty's music has been with me since I was a wee lad, and never ceases to make me feel good. Though I was a bit skeptical about this set being anything but cheesy, I was totally surprised to find that it's awesome. Far from the oldies-circuit hit-fest you would expect, the show finds Fogerty sounding arguably more vital than ever – and, most amazingly, just joyful to be on stage. He's got a crack band that can really play, and he sounds as committed as ever to all the old songs. And, in another delightful layer of unexpectedness, his new songs are just about as good as anything he's ever done (perhaps because everything he's ever done is a variation on one or two basic ideas). Credit the good mood to Fogerty's wife and child, who seem to have given him a whole new outlook … and he's as grateful for it as can be, talking to the crowd about his blissful home life at seemingly every possible opportunity, at times sounding like a guy who just got his first girlfriend. It's charming as hell to hear a genuinely giddy John Fogerty. Of course, the songs help out a lot. Of course, he's doing the big hits, but also some songs you wouldn't necessarily expect ("Almost Saturday Night," "It Came Out of the Sky," "Tombstone Shadow"). I'd love to see a few real fan favorites in the mix ("Rock 'n' Roll Girls," "Rockin' All Over the World," "Sailor's Lament"), but beggars cain't be choosers. The sound is terrific, a matrixed audience recording that sounds as good or better than an official live album. Fogerty would do well to release a record from this tour, because it captures a spirit not normally associated with one of rock history's most eternally bitter dudes: contentment. In some ways, this CD gives every Fogerty fan some closure, letting us know that Johnny's doing fine after all, and we don't have to worry about him anymore. Tracklist: Intro · Travelin' Band · Suzie Q · Green River · Who'll Stop the Rain · She's Got Baggage · Lodi · It Came Out of the Sky · Sugar Sugar in My Life · Rambunctious Boy · Blue Moon Nights · I Will Walk With You · Born on the Bayou · Radar · Run Through the Jungle · Nobody's Here Anymore · Bootleg · Down on the Corner · Honey Do · Joy of My Life · Dèja Vu All Over Again · I Heard it Through the Grapevine · Almost Saturday Night · Have You Ever Seen the Rain? · Tombstone Shadow · Centerfield · Up Around the Bend · band intro · Old Man Down the Road · Fortunate Son · Bad Moon Rising · Proud Mary
Review by La Fée |