Had a listen to my old LP copy of Pendulum by Creedence when I got home, as I’d been planning to do. I used to listen to my brother’s copy all the time back in the day, staring at the people in the crowd from the inner gatefold photo of a Creedence gig. I did the same this time too. They’re still there. There are quite a few cute girls staring up adoringly at Fogerty. Some, right by the stage, excitedly stretch out their hands to touch his boots. Back then you could get that close to the artists. A trio of witchy-looking girls somehow rise out of the crowd to the left of the picture like a three-headed hippy hydra. So many interesting-looking dudes, too. A guy near the stage at right looking up at maybe Tom Fogerty off-screen seems to sprout a giant hunched back, I don’t know what the fuck it is. Another, at extreme left, looks straight into the camera lens as if to say what the fuck are you doin’? They’re an interesting crowd.
And it’s an interesting album. A sort of transitional album where they were going from being a great band with Cosmo’s Factory to a mediocre one (and down to a three piece) with Mardis Gras. As Fogerty likes to say of the album, the pendulum was shifting for them. And it’s reflected in the brilliant cover art – the four faces making up a pendulum shape. All the songs are Fogerty’s, and he plays sax and keyboards as well as his usual lead guitar, giving the album a very different sound. It’s the one that has the great Creedence single Have Your Ever Seen the Rain. I like every song, except maybe Sailor’s Lament. The keyboard playing on the jam section in Born to Move is particularly astounding, with Fogerty getting a tone and style that’s very close to Booker T Jones, whose band Creedence had been playing with. I’ve always wondered if it was actually old Booker T playing that. He’s not credited, and Fogerty’s never said Boo about it, but I wonder. The standout track for me is It’s Just a Thought, a keyboard and rhythm section-led mood piece that’s just Heaven. The thought? A bad idea will take just about a lifetime to explain (and a good one’s gonna be much longer). And don’t give your song away (hmm, but it’s given away). The last track, Rude Awakening #2, divides people for its experimentation. It took me a while to get past the pleasant strummy opening section. The Rude Awakening that ends it was indeed a rude awakening. But now I like it. But I’m weird. I say good on John for trying something different. Yay Creedence!