Willy And The Poor Boys (LP)

 
Willy And The Poor Boys (LP) cover
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Creedence Clearwater Revival
Willy And The Poor Boys (LP)

[ Universal Music LP / LP ]

Release Date: Friday 20 March 2015

This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.

180 gram heavyweight vinyl. Includes MP3 download voucher.

Make no mistake, Willy & the Poor Boys is a fun record, perhaps the breeziest album CCR ever made. Apart from the eerie minor-key closer "Effigy" (one of John Fogerty's most haunting numbers), there is little of the doom that colored Green River. Fogerty's rage remains, blazing to the forefront on "Fortunate Son," a working-class protest song that cuts harder than any of the explicit Vietnam protest songs of the era, which is one of the reasons that it hasn't aged where its peers have.

Also, there's that unbridled vocal from Fogerty and the ferocious playing on CCR, which both sound fresh as they did upon release. "Fortunate Son" is one of the greatest, hardest rock & rollers ever cut, so it might seem to be out of step with an album that is pretty laid-back and friendly, but there's that elemental joy that by late '69 was one of CCR's main trademarks. That joy runs throughout the album, from the gleeful single "Down on the Corner" and the lazy jugband blues of "Poorboy Shuffle" through the great slow blues jam "Feelin' Blue" to the great rockabilly spiritual "Don't Look Now," one of Fogerty's overlooked gems.

The covers don't feel like throwaways, either, since both "Cotton Fields" and "The Midnight Special" have been overhauled to feel like genuine CCR songs. It all adds up to one of the greatest pure rock & roll records ever cut.
5 / 5 All Music Guide.

Tracks:

Side One:
Down On The Corner
It Came Out Of The Sky
Cotton Fields
Poorboy Shuffle
Feelin' Blue

Side Two:
Fortunate Son
Don't Look Now
The Midnight Special
Side O' The Road
Effigy