Creedence Clearwater Revival
  Willy And The Poor Boys
Down On The Corner - It Came Out Of The Sky - Cotton Fields -¨Poorboy Shuffle - Feelin' Blue - Fortunate Son - Don't Look Now - The Midnight Special - Side O' The Road - Effigy
Bonus: Fortunate Son (live) - It Came Out Of The Sky (live) - Down On The Corner (jam with Booker T)

«Willie and the poor Boys» , CCR's  fourth album is their third in less than one year but far from running out of inspiration, the band delivers another classic and manage to reinvent itself with its most joyful album. It opens with «Down On The Corner» on which Fogerty equals the writing of Chuck Berry to tell the story of a street band. With lyrics like «You dont need a penny just to hang around/But if youve got a nickel, wont you lay your money down?/Over on the corner theres a happy noise/People come from all around to watch the magic boy.» you can’t go wrong ! Talking about Chuck berry, «It Came Out Of The Sky», the laughable story of a hillbilly boy who finds an UFO, is a flat out rocker in the best Saint Louis boy tradition. The two covers, «Cotton Fields» and «Midnight Special», show if needed that the band has roots firmly anchored in the blues/folk tradition. This feeling is reinforced by the jug band instrumental «Poorboy Shuffle» that sees CCR actually play the instruments featured on the cover (washtub, harp, washboard). «Feelin’ Blue» could have been recorded by Ike and Tina Turner, a great rhythm’n’blues tune and a Fogerty forgotten jewel. The side B opens with the hard rocking «Fortunate Son», a raucous and wild protest song followed by «Don’t Look Now» a spiritual rockabilly-folk that  slows the pace a bit. The second instrumental, «Sign O The Road», shows Fogerty  in full Steve Cropper mode and is far from the 15 minutes psychedelic jams of the era. The original album ends with Effigy which is rather close to Hendrix’s Hey Joe and the only concession of the band to the Woodstoock generation. The bonus tracks comprise two live take of "Fortunate Son" and "It Came Out Of The Sky" recorded after Tom Fogerty left when the remaining trio was touring Europe. These are alternate takes to the one choosen to figure on the "Live In Europe" album. The last bonus track is a "Down On The Corner" with Booker T and The MG's recorded for a TV special. Sadly the sound quality is poor but it's fascinating to hear Fogerty and Cropper together. A beautiful 16 page booklet with interesting liner notes and numerous outtakes from the Willy and the Poor Boys cover session completes these fine reissue.
More details on Concord Music Group's website.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis