Creedence Clearwater Revival - Pendulum (1970)

'Pendulum' is the sixth studio album by Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records on 9 December 1970, arriving five months after 'Cosmo's Factory'. During 1969 and 1970, CCR was dismissed by hipsters as a bubblegum pop band, and the sniping had grown intolerable, at least to John Fogerty, who designed 'Pendulum' as a rebuke to critics. He spent time polishing the production, bringing in keyboards, horns, even a vocal choir, and his songs became self-consciously serious and tighter, working with the aesthetic of the rock underground. 'Pendulum' was constructed as a proper album, contrasting dramatically with CCR's previous records, and it's the only one by the band not to contain any cover songs, with all of the tracks being written by John Fogerty. It's also the last album the band recorded while Tom Fogerty was still a member, as he left the group in early 1971 to start a solo career. To some fans of classic CCR, this approach may feel a little odd, since only the single 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain' and maybe its b-side 'Hey Tonight' sound undeniably like prime Creedence, for which they were rewarded with a number eight position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Given time, the album is a real grower, revealing many overlooked Fogerty gems, and while it isn't transcendent like the albums they made from 'Bayou Country' through to 'Cosmo's Factory', 'Pendulum' finds a first-class songwriter and craftsman pushing himself and his band to try new sounds, styles, and textures. This does result in one stumble, with 'Rude Awakening #2' portentously teetering on the verge of prog-rock, but the rest of the record is excellent, with such great numbers as the bluesy groove 'Pagan Baby', the soulful vamp 'Chameleon', the moody 'It's Just A Thought' and the raver 'Molina'. While this record is slightly different to previous posts, in that the extra instrumentation was added entirely at Fogerty's request, it's the fans who have clamoured to hear the songs shorn of their horn arrangements, and so this stripped down version of the album gives them a chance to hear the raw CCR on this unjustly overlooked record. 

Track listing

01 Pagan Baby
02 Sailor's Lament
03 Chameleon
04 Have You Ever Seen The Rain
05 (Wish I Could) Hideaway
06 Born to Move
07 Hey Tonight
08 It's Just A Thought
09 Molina
10 Rude Awakening #2