Latest news with #UpAroundtheBend
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
John Fogerty Announces Re-Recorded Album of Creedence Clearwater Classics
The post John Fogerty Announces Re-Recorded Album of Creedence Clearwater Classics appeared first on Consequence. John Fogerty has taken a cue from Taylor Swift and re-recorded some of his biggest hits and deep cuts from his days in Creedence Clearwater Revival. Those 20 tracks have been collected into his new album, Legacy: the Creedence Clearwater Revival years, out August 22nd via Concord. Co-produced by Fogerty with his son Shane Fogerty, Legacy features beloved songs including 'Proud Mary,' 'Fortunate Son,' and 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain.' Both Shane and his brother, Tyler Fogerty, perform throughout the album, accompanying their father's newly re-recorded vocals. Pre-orders are ongoing. Get John Fogerty Tickets Here In an interview with Rolling Stone, Fogerty joked that he 'lobbied very much' to call the project Taylor's Version, referring to Swift's series of re-recorded albums after her back catalog was sold to Scooter Braun. Although Fogerty reclaimed a majority interest in the Creedence Clearwater Revival publishing catalog in 2023, this did not include his master recordings. 'For most of my life I did not own the songs I had written,' Fogerty added in a statement. 'Getting them back changes everything. Legacy is my way of celebrating that — of playing these songs on my terms, with the people I love.' Stream the new 'John's Version' recordings of 'Up Around the Bend,' 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain,' and 'Porterville' below. After celebrating his 80th birthday at New York City's Beacon Theatre last night (Wednesday, May 28th), Fogerty is returning for another performance tonight, May 29th. He'll remain on the road this summer with a string of festival appearances in the UK/Europe and a handful of headlining US shows. Get tickets here. Artwork: Tracklist: 01. Up Around the Bend 02. Who'll Stop the Rain 03. Proud Mary 04. Have You Ever Seen the Rain 05. Lookin' Out My Back Door 06. Born on the Bayou 07. Run Through the Jungle 08. Someday Never Comes 09. Porterville 10. Hey Tonight 11. Lodi 12. Wrote a Song for Everyone 13. Bootleg 14. Don't Look Now 15. Long As I Can See the Light 16. Down on the Corner 17. Bad Moon Rising 18. Travelin' Band 19. Green River 20. Fortunate Son Popular Posts Billy Joel Diagnosed with Brain Disorder, Cancels All Upcoming Tour Dates Man Wearing Nazi T-Shirt Gets a Beatdown from Fans at Punk Rock Bowling Fest Freddie Mercury's Alleged Child Revealed in New Biography The 30 Best Action Movie Stars of All Time, Ranked Is The Who's Farewell Tour in Turmoil? David Lynch's Personal Archive Going Up for Auction Subscribe to Consequence's email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
John Fogerty Is Re-Recording Creedence Classics. We Asked Him Why
As John Fogerty begins talking about his new album, a bemused smile comes over his face. 'I wanted to call it Taylor's Version,' he says during a recent visit to New York. 'I lobbied very much to the record company.' Whether he's joking or not, Fogerty says his label passed on the idea. Then again, he had a point. Onstage at New York's Beacon Theatre Wednesday night, during the first of two 80th birthday celebration shows, Fogerty announced his upcoming LP, Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years. Due Aug. 22, the album's 20 tracks aren't just covers of his best-known and beloved songs from his Creedence days. Rather, they're painstaking recreations of the original versions, down to Fogerty's singing and guitar parts and the original rhythm section, starting with 'Up Around the Bend' and continuing through big hits like 'Proud Mary,' 'Who'll Stop the Rain,' 'Bad Moon Rising,' and 'Down on the Corner,' and deep cuts like 'Porterville' and 'Bootleg.' More from Rolling Stone John Fogerty Celebrated His 80th Birthday With Cake, Confetti, and Loads of CCR Classics Bruce Springsteen Jams With John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Smokey Robinson at American Music Honors The Best of SXSW Day One: John Fogerty, Case Oats, Gloin, and More 'I'm still kind of waiting to hear feedback,' Fogerty says. 'But the first five or six people I've talked to who've listened to it all say it sounds 'fresher.' Maybe what they're saying is it's clearer, or the fidelity is better or something? That may be something I hadn't even counted on, but there's more dimension to it, more depth.' Musicians have been releasing note-for-note covers of their older material for decades now, but for Fogerty, the thought arrived two years ago. With a push from his wife and manager, Julie, he finally acquired a majority interest in the publishing rights to his Creedence song catalog in 2023. It was Julie, he says, who then suggested a remakes album, although Fogerty admits he was skeptical. 'I didn't want to have anything to do with that,' he says. 'But then as time went on, I thought, 'Okay, I'll stick my toe in the water and see how that is.'' That process started with Fogerty and his son (and guitarist) Shane digging deep into the Creedence recordings. With the help of isolated audio tracks — known as 'stems' — they could listen separately to each vocal and instrumental part, including every aspect of Fogerty's singing, in order to create a precision copy. In that regard, Fogerty insists the project is different from his previous remakes albums: the all-star duets project Wrote a Song for Everyone and 2020's Fogerty's Factory, where he recut Creedence songs with members of his family. 'In those cases, I suppose I was simply singing the songs, whereas this time around the idea was to, I guess they call it 're-record,'' he says. 'Instead of going off on a tangent of 'Oh, let's do a folk music version' or something, the idea was to sound closely like the original.' After cutting a few preliminary backing tracks with a band — Shane on guitar and session veterans Bob Glaub on bass and Matt Chamberlain on drums — Fogerty started by adding a new vocal onto the remade 'Proud Mary.' The moment proved pivotal to the project. 'I've been singing 'Proud Mary' for over 50 years, and I developed a lot of bad habits singing it, with no reference to the original,' he says. 'But here was the moment where I realized, 'John, that wasn't close enough. You're not really doing the song. You're doing a 'drive-by' version.' I had to relearn the song, with all the inflections in all the same ways. It's like people in New York don't go to see the Statue of Liberty, because it's right there. Shane was able to point out many times, 'Dad, I think that part is a little more complicated than you've been doing it.'' That process continued as more songs were recreated over a period of two years. Fogerty realized he was singing 'Lookin' Out My Back Door' with what he calls 'more syncopation' at his concerts. 'The way I had recorded it, because it was probably within a few weeks of me writing it, it was kind of straight,' he says. 'Kind of corny, you know? Then we listened to 'Born on the Bayou,' and it became a whole new thing. I said, 'Man, I like this better than the old way,' because the parts were very much like a jam band, but a really good jam band. Not waiting forever for something to happen.' Adding to the revisiting-the-past process, Fogerty even played the same Rickenbacker guitar (with 'Acme' hand-painted on its body) that he'd used during his Creedence days. He'd given it away in the Seventies and had an opportunity to buy it back in the Nineties, he says, for $40,000. But he passed at the time, partly for financial reasons and partly emotional ones. It's no secret that Fogerty's relations with his former bandmates, as well as the late Fantasy Records head Saul Zaentz, have been fraught, clouded by lawsuits and hard feelings. So the memories attached to the guitar were, he says, too painful to revisit. 'I was hurt. I was damaged,' Fogerty says. A decade ago, though, Julie Fogerty secretly bought the guitar back (for an undisclosed sum) and gave it to her husband as a Christmas present, after which he says the healing began. 'I started as a kid full of joy doing music, but during the time of Creedence, and shortly after that, it became certainly not joyful,' he says. 'The idea [behind Legacy] was to reconnect and feel that way about everything again. The guy who couldn't even stand to look at his own guitar in the Nineties or beyond would have never done that.' Even if he didn't use a Swiftian title for the album, Fogerty says Legacy is nonetheless connected to the way Swift began remaking her albums after her back catalog was sold to Scooter Braun. (Similarly, Fogerty and his former bandmates in Creedence don't own the masters of their albums.) 'I understood her plight,' he says. 'She's had a wonderful career, and, of course, had saved a lot of money and was a major touring artist, so she was quite able to pay whatever amount the person that was going to sell it. I really felt for her at the time, because the guy was selling it to somebody else. That sort of thing has certainly happened to me. It's very much like what Saul Zaentz might do.' Like Swift, Fogerty does own the masters of his remakes, which could result in a financial windfall if Legacy sells or streams well. (Tellingly, Legacy doesn't include the band's hit covers of 'Susie Q' or 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine,' neither written by Fogerty.) Still, a question hovers over Legacy: Since these renditions faithfully mimic the recordings that longtime fans know, why would they need them? 'That's a great question, because I asked that myself,' he says. 'But there's a couple of things. Number one, there's probably no chance in the world I will ever have any part of the ownership of the old masters. This is kind of the Taylor Swift part. But another thing is, I think there's a joy quite evident in the music that may not be there in the original versions.' In Fogerty's mind, certain songs have also benefited, especially lyrically, from the passage of time. 'When I listen to the finished vocal on 'Lodi,' it certainly sounds like the guy who lived that part, whereas I'm not sure the guy who sang it the first time did,' he says. In 2021, Fogerty re-emerged with the gospel-style 'Weeping in the Promised Land,' his first newly written song in eight years. At the time, he told Rolling Stone that an album would likely follow, but it never did, and he now says fans expecting such a record may be disappointed. 'Do I have a bunch of songs written and recorded?' he says. 'No, I don't.' But he adds that participating in last month's American Music Honors, where Bruce Springsteen inducted him, proved to be inspiring — especially after Jackson Browne led some of the musicians in a version of 'Take It Easy': 'On our drive back to the hotel with my wife, I said, 'I'm like 10 feet off the ground. I want to go write songs and record them!'' For the moment, though, Fogerty chooses to revel in Legacy and its surprise announcement at his birthday show. 'When you're 80 years old, you finally are given the special key to the kingdom,' he says. 'I guess you can do whatever you want. And I decided this is what I wanted to do, to give myself a present.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
John Fogerty Celebrated His 80th Birthday With Cake, Confetti, and Loads of CCR Classics
John Fogerty could have celebrated his 80th birthday with a quiet family meal at home or a private party with his closest friends. Instead, he gathered nearly 3,000 people in New York's Beacon Theater, took the stage alongside his longtime band — which includes his sons Shane Fogerty and Tyler Fogerty — and played an explosive set of Creedence classics and solo hits that showcased a level of energy, vocal power, and swagger few of rock's octogenarians outside of Mick Jagger can muster. Before the show even started, Fogerty appeared on a large screen and addressed the crowd. 'It's been quite a journey to get to this big eight-oh,' he said. 'Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I appreciate each and every one of you, every little dip and turn in the such an honor to have people know all your words. Thank you for singing these songs all these years. I just really love performing live with my sons in this band, especially as they grow into adulthood and become really good. That sense of joy about making music is really real.' More from Rolling Stone John Fogerty Is Re-Recording Creedence Classics. We Asked Him Why Bruce Springsteen Jams With John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Smokey Robinson at American Music Honors The Best of SXSW Day One: John Fogerty, Case Oats, Gloin, and More He proved that by walking out onto a riser stationed between two bright, billowing smoke machines, and kicking into 'Proud Mary' as confetti rained down on the audience. He followed it with 'Up Around the Bend,' 'Green River,' 'Born on the Bayou,' 'Who'll Stop the Rain,' and 'Lookin' Out My Back Door.' Like the vast majority of the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog, these songs came out in a little sliver of time between 1968 and 1970 when Fogerty somehow wrote a significant chapter of the Great American Songbook entirely by himself. This golden period was followed by many dark years where the bitter breakup of the band and a nasty spat with his former label head caused Fogerty to turn away from the Creedence legacy. When he finally launched a solo tour in 1986, he disappointed crowds all across America by refusing to perform even a single CCR song. He wouldn't relent until 1997, a quarter of a century after the band split. By that point, the Creedence rhythm section of Doug Clifford and Stu Cook had recruited a new singer and were touring under the banner Creedence Clearwater Revisited. But Clifford and Cook quietly dissolved their band in 2020. Two of their former compatriots, guitarist Kurt Griffey and vocalist Dan McGuinness, have attempted to keep the CCR flag flying by booking shows as Revisiting Creedence, but they are essentially a tribute band to a tribute band. That means Fogerty is now the only authentic member of the band keeping the music alive. He bills many of his shows today as 'John Fogerty Celebrates His Songs From Creedence Clearwater Revival,' just so there's no confusion about who created this music. But the 80th birthday show at the Beacon wasn't merely a Creedence retrospective. Midway through, he broke out his 1997 solo cut 'Joy Of My Life.' It's a tribute to his wife, Julie, who was parked on the side of the stage all night, beaming with joy. 'Julie is the one,' he told the crowd. She is the rock in our family. I wouldn't even be standing here if it wasn't for Julie. We recently celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. Somewhere along the way, I wrote this song for her.' Later in the night, he also revisited his Eighties solo hits 'Centerfield' and 'The Old Man Down the Road.' Vintage baseball cards flashed on the screen during the former, and Fogerty's daughter Kelsy came out for a brief guitar jam with her brothers on the latter. The man set wrapped up with a fiery 'Fortunate Son' as fake dollar bills fell down from the rafters. Before the encore, Fogerty sat down in a folding chair and told the crowd about his upcoming LP, Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years. (For much more on that, check out David Browne's recent interview with Fogerty.) The crew then wheeled out a birthday cake, but Fogerty had no time to cut a slice for himself or anyone else. He instead wrapped up the show by ripping through 'Travelin' Band,' 'Bad Moon Rising,' and a quick repose of 'Proud Mary,' taking the night full circle. The 80th birthday celebration continues Thursday night with an encore show at the Beacon before heading over to Europe in June and July for a run of festival dates, including Glastonbury. The last show on the books is stop at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Massachusetts, on August 3rd for a special event commemorating the 400th anniversary of the town. But there's every reason to believe Fogerty will keep touring for the foreseeable future. A 90th birthday concert in 2035 may seem like a distant dream, but there's little reason to think it won't happen, considering how oddly vital he remains as he kicks off his eighties. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
