Creedence Clearwater Revival – Willy And The Poor Boys
Fantasy 8397 [1969] / reissue Fantasy/Concord [2008]
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)
Released in 1969, Willie and the poor Boys was Creedence Clearwater Revival’s fourth album and their third in less than a year. But far from running out of inspiration, the band delivered another classic.
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 you’ve 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 had its roots firmly anchored in the blues/folk tradition. This feeling is reinforced by the jug band instrumental Poorboy Shuffle that sees the members of Creedence Clearwater Revival actually play the instruments featured on the cover (washtub, harp, washboard) and gives you an idea the sounds of Willie & the Poor Boys.
Feelin’ Blue could have been recorded by Ike and Tina Turner, a great rhythm’n’blues tune and a Fogerty forgotten jewel.
The B-side 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. The original album ends with Effigy which is rather close to Hendrix’s Hey Joe and one of the only concessions of the band to the sound of the Woodstoock generation.
It was re-released in a new remastered edition with three bonus tracks that comprise two live recordings 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 chosen 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 photo session completes these fine reissue.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
