Creedence Clearwater Revival Catalogue Bastardized Says Stu Cook

[Arisin Wind]

Creedence Clearwater Revival Catalogue Bastardized Says Stu Cook
By Paul Cashmere
Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:00:59 +1100

Stu Cook, the bass player for Creedence Clearwater Revival, says the CCR record label Fantasy Records has bastardized the Creedence catalogue.

Fantasy Records re-issued the Creedence albums last year with bonus tracks that have riled Stu. “I’m not too thrilled about the bogus tracks,” he tells Undercover News. “They did not consult us about that. We were not involved in anyway in putting those together. A lot of it is trash”.

The bonus songs used on the reissued albums were content that Creedence rejected from the original albums. “It was stuff that wasn’t good enough. That is why it wasn’t released before,” he says. “Some collectors like it. They did a good job of remastering the original discs but they should have found some other way to release the other stuff. I don’t think it generated enough sales to warrant bastardizing the original albums”.

When he heard one of the bonus tracks, he realised that he wasn’t even on the it. “We were in the studio with Booker T. & The MGs just jamming, Stu said. “I listened to ‘Down On The Corner’ and thought “oh no, that can’t be me”, and it wasn’t. It was ‘Duck’ Dunn playing the bass and every third note is a mistake. Why did they do that? What is the redeeming value of putting something like that out without even running it by a musician? It was poor taste, poor judgement and only about the bottom line. They would have done much better if they got the artist involved”.

The history between Creedence and Fantasy Records was well documented in the 70s. Fantasy has a new owner with Concord Music, but the problems still exist. “Fantasy are pathetic and the people who bought them are pathetic,” he says. “It’s the same story. The only time you are happy with a label is when they think they need you. Then they treat you right. The rest of the time it is “get in line and shut up. I actually prefer the old Fantasy to the new Fantasy”.

[Voyeur]

Well, the new material is ok, the jam session with Booker T is interesting. The best bonus material is the unfinished tracks of "Broken Spoke Shuffle" and "Glory Be" off the Green River release and the blues jam "Crazy Otto" performed live by the band on the Bayou Country release.

[nerdistmonk]

The new cd's suck, the sound is a nightmare, and as for the bonus tracks....pffft

Thanks Stu, Its good to know at least one other person hates these numerous re-re-re-releases of the same stuff and managing to make it worse each time.


---the monk

[nerdistmonk]

Originally Posted by Johnny Corvette

The 20K remasters are complete *!@&. The sound is so compressed that the vocals distort. Fantasy really outdid themselves on this reissue. Can they trash CCR anymore - YES!

Well sounds to me your sound system is setup wrong, as the 20kbit remasters have even more depth than the anniversery version. (Espically "The Concert" which is the best version they have managed)

I cannot stand the newest version, The cassette versions of CCR contain the best cuts ive heard, but due to tape turning into dust extremely fast, thats moot. (the vinyl version is good too, but too much hiss/scratch and pop not too mention wear)

I got all the albums on their original CD releases, im satisfied with these. I dont need no new re-re-releases of any of the albums.

I have even got to listen to the DCC Gold disc versions (which are a snore-fest, seriously how do you make a mix thats weaker than a vinyl!)

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As for Stu Cook's concerns, good for him, all the outtake cutting room floor stuff should have been a seperate release.
CD's and DVD's in general piss me off because of the gimmicky extras they throw in to get you to buy it for the 23rd time.
CD's should have kept coming in the large box cases like they did in 1982, thats why I always like vinyl, you get your moneys worth, theres weight to it,
large artwork, etc, and not mention opening Pendulum and seeing that large photo of fogerty waving the crowd off is worth it just to hang on the wall.

[Arisin Wind]

Wow. I thought I was the only one who thought the sound on the CD's was poor. All the hiss on Keep on Chooglin', the mixing of the tight stereo to mono really detracts from the quality. I took the original CD releases and ran them through Magix Audio Lab. I took out the hiss, opened the separation on some of the narrow tracks, expanded the dynamic range, added a little more low end and other "adjustments". Now I have some really nice sounding CCR.