Fogerty keeps busy with DVD, tour, recording
John Fogerty releases a new album almost as often a new resident moves into the White House — a grand tally of six studio releases in the three decades since his band Creedence Clearwater Revival broke up.
Every time he sits down to write a follow-up to 2004’s acclaimed “Deja Vu All Over Again,” he gets distracted by tour commitments, fatherhood, or — most recently — post-production on a new concert DVD that hits stores next Tuesday.
So far, all he has are guitar riffs, and a new label, Concord Music Group.
“It is my next priority. I’m absolutely not gonna let any more moss grow under my feet,” Fogerty, 61, told Reuters in a recent interview. “I can just hear my fans, their eyes rolling, ‘OK, Fogerty goes another decade.”‘
Indeed, fans had to wait 11 years between 1986’s “Eye of the Zombie” and 1997’s “Blue Moon Swamp,” the predecessor of “Deja Vu.” After his self-titled 1975 release, a decade went by before he returned with “Centerfield.”
Although he will hit the road later this month for a 10-week tour of Europe and the United States, Fogerty vowed to knuckle down beforehand.
In the meantime, fans can make do with “The Long Road Home: The Concert,” which he taped at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater last September. Backed by his band, Fogerty races through 26 songs spanning his Creedence and solo days in about 90 minutes. All the hits are included, such as “Fortunate Son,” “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising” and “Run Through the Jungle.”
Movie theaters in Detroit, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and San Diego will screen the concert film on the evening of its June 13 release date.
There are no overdubs on the DVD, no backing singers to help out on the tough notes, no goofy stage props. Just a singer/guitarist having some fun breathing some new life into what he admits are some “pretty well-worn songs.”
There are a few “deep cuts,” including the bluesy “Tombstone Shadow” (from 1969’s “Green River”), which Fogerty thought he blew but ended up feeling was a surprise success. Another is “Keep On Chooglin”‘ (from 1969’s “Bayou Country”), taking on a life of its own with a big triple-guitar, harmonizing jam at the end.
Fogerty hopes to resurrect some rarely heard golden oldies on the tour, which begins June 28 in Paris and brings him back to the United States on July 22 for a six-week swing that ends September 3 in Santa Barbara, California.
Such rarities could include “Ramble Tamble” (from 1970’s “Cosmo’s Factory”), “Commotion” (from “Green River”), and maybe his cover of “Hearts of Stone” (from the 1973 solo debut released under his Blue Ridge Rangers moniker).
If his new record does ultimately see the light of the day, it will come out — through a happy series of coincidences — on Concord’s newly acquired Fantasy Records label, for which Creedence recorded back in the day.
Disappointed with Geffen Records’ handling of the “Deja Vu” album, which failed to net any Grammy nominations, Fogerty found himself a free agent at the same time that Fantasy was being sold.
Fogerty’s distaste for the old guard at Fantasy, which owned the group’s copyrights, was no secret. But he liked the Concord folks, led by liberal activist-producer Norman Lear, and cast his lot with them.
One of their first acts was to pay Fogerty artist royalties on the Creedence catalog, which the old Fantasy had withheld for more than 25 years. He also looks forward to more regular songwriting royalty payments, recalling that it was a “huge struggle” to get any money out of the old Fantasy.
Reuters/VNU
