1968 Creedence Clearwater Revival were the epitome of teenage years. They arrived from nowhere, rose to dizzying heights, and suddenly, you noticed, they were gone.
What was it about "Proud Mary" that grabbed us, made us want to wear check shirts, and ponder on life on the Bayou with its bullfrogs and hound dogs? CCR was far and away my favourite band, overwhelming us with three album releases in one year. In 1970 they played the Royal Albert Hall. It was my first real live concert, and remarkably it is here on You Tube. There it all is; the immaculate delivery, but with hardly any live improvisation; the check shirt, but no on stage presence, no audience interraction; a complete set of great songs, but lasting less than 50 minutes; and the ecstatic and ultimately bewildered crowd who stay on for five more minutes, bellowing for the encore that never comes.
By 1972 they were gone. I disowned them before I left for University that year. But in retrospect their music wears well.
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