Creedence Clearwater Revival

小简介
Creedence Clearwater Revival(克里登斯清水复兴合唱团，简称CCR)，是20世纪60年代到70年代最受喜爱的一支超级摇滚乐队。他们的音乐植根于美国南方的民间音乐，早年的歌曲带有强烈的布鲁斯色彩，对Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sea Level, Dixie Chicken, ZZ Top等乐队有重要影响。
CCR的灵魂人物是John Fogerty，1959年,还是高中生的John与两个朋友Doug Clifford和Stu Cook一起组建了名为The Blue Velvets（蓝色丝绒）的乐队并开始在学生舞会中演出。后来John Fogerty的堂兄Tom Fogerty加入乐队，乐队改名为Tom Fogerty and the Blue Velvets并录制了一些单曲，逐渐有了些名气。
1963年，乐队签约Fantasy唱片公司并改名为The Golliwogs（丑玩偶），但是唱片公司为迎合当时披头士带来的英伦入侵热潮（British Invasion），要求乐队模仿英国乐队的风格。John在回忆那段日子时说：“The Golliwogs的每一首歌都显得那么不自然，我总是要考虑公司的意见，我觉得像是被捆绑住了。”
1967年底，乐队的机遇终于到了。Fantasy唱片公司易主，被John的好朋友，原公司的业务主任Saul Zaentz所收购。自此乐队与公司签订了新的唱片合约并改名为“Creedence Clearwater Revival（克理登斯清水复兴乐队）”。对此解释为：“Clearwater”符合当时提倡“回归自然”的社会潮流，“Revival（复兴）”表示乐队的决心和勇气，而“Creedence”则是取自乐队成员Tom一个朋友的教名。Saul告诉John，他要把乐队培养成和The Grateful Dead一样成功的乐队。
1968年乐队发行了第一张同名专辑《Creedence Clearwater Revival》, 专辑中一首改编自Dale Hawkins的经典老歌《Suzie Q》为小伙子们奏响了成功的序曲。John将这首歌重新编曲，改编后全曲长达9分钟，后半段近4分钟的器乐演奏融入了旧金山当地摇滚乐的迷幻风格，John赋予这首老歌新的生命。这首歌率先在KWBR电台播出后，得到了当地DJ们的肯定，并将这首歌在加州的许多电台音乐节目中播出，很快就传遍了整个西海岸地区。乐队的现场演出也人满为患，俱乐部里挤满了歌迷。这张专辑进入了排行榜第52位，并取得了金唱片的销量，不久又蹿生到了第11位。乐队在1969年先后发行了三张专辑，专辑的创作和制作的大部分工作都是John一个人完成的，他卓越的音乐天分和创作才华得到了充分的体现，也进一步巩固了他在乐队的核心地位。乐队第二张专辑《Bayou Country》刚发行不久就创下了百万销量，成为白金唱盘。这张融合了节奏布鲁斯、乡村摇滚、西海岸摇滚风格的专辑了冲入排行榜的第7位，其中单曲《 Proud Mary 》位列单曲榜第2名。乐队从第三张专辑《 Green River 》开始在音乐上逐渐摆脱了当地的迷幻摇滚乐的影响，John似乎对乡村音乐、传统布鲁斯音乐等美国南部地区的音乐风格情有独钟，这使得乐队在当地（旧金山地区）显得尤为不同，更像是一支南方乐队，他们的音乐充满了密西西比州的田园气息。《 Green River 》同上一张专辑一样取得了排行榜第7位的成绩。
CCR在短短的一年时间里迅速走红，1969年8月他们受邀参加了盛大的Woodstock音乐节。当时他们可能还不敢相信，很多乐迷都是特意为看他们演出而来的，但是乐队谢绝了在音乐节的记录片中出现。年底乐队延续他们的强劲势头，第四张专辑《Willy and the poor boys》排在专辑榜第3位并在歌词方面有所突破。单曲《Down on the corner》和Fortunate Son 》乐队第一次涉及了政治问题，表达了对越战的不满，这也顺应了当时的反战潮流，这两首单曲分列单曲榜No.3、No.14。而在歌曲《It Came Out Of the Sky》中乐队则公开抨击了总统Richard Nixon。John 和他的伙伴们近十年的努力换来了现在的成绩，但成功似乎来得太过突然，这时John与乐队其他成员之间逐渐出现了一些分歧。在录制单曲《Down on the corner》时乐队其他成员就认为这首歌根本就不是摇滚乐。
CCR在1970年4月份开始了第一次欧洲巡演。9月，乐队在巡演结束后发行了被认为最优秀的一张专辑《Cosmo’s factory》，上市三周就取得了300万张的白金销量，该专辑成为了英、美两地排行榜的双料冠军。其中单曲《Travelin’ band》和《Who will stop the rain》分别位列单曲榜NO.2和NO.13。乐队此时已到达了事业的顶峰，随着披头士乐队的解散CCR成为了当时最为炙手可热的明星乐队之一。同年底乐队又发行第6张专辑《Pendulum》同样取得了白金销量。尽管如此，乐队成员的内部关系却急剧恶化。Tom并不想待在弟弟的光环下，因此一直闷闷不乐。而另一成员Stu也听到了关于“他不过是John的累赘”之类的传言，同时队员们也因为收入的分配不公对John有所抱怨。乐队在推出了《Have you ever seen the rain》和 《Hey Tonight》两首单曲后，Tom Fogerty终于对外宣布离队单飞的消息，理由是音乐理想不合，其实大家都知道Tom不甘心在乐队中配角的位置。接下来，乐队就以三人组合的形式展开贯穿全美、欧洲、新西兰、澳洲及日本的巡回演出。
CCR的歌迷们仍然给予乐队足够的支持，漫长的全球巡演圆满收场。乐队开始了新专辑的筹备，实际上此前的6张专辑完全是由John一人负责创作并制作完成的，这时Stu和Doug都要求在新专辑中加入自己的作品并参与制作部分，他们认为在乐队里一直没有得到足够的尊重。于是1972年乐队发行了他们的第7张专辑，专辑名字很耐人寻味 ——《Mardi Gras》（《狂欢节的最后一天》），这张乐队史上最差的专辑也成为了CCR的最后一张专辑。最终，乐队在完成了7月份的欧洲巡演后，于1972年10月16日正式对外宣布了解散的消息。
Tom Fogerty在离开乐队后的个人事业很平淡，他曾经加入过Jerry Garcia的个人乐队，之后又组建了一支名位“Ruby”的乐队并发行了三张专辑，1990年9月6日Tom Fogerty死于艾滋病。Stu Cook 和 Doug Clifford先后加入过“The Don Harrison Band”和“Southern Pacific”两支乐队。1995年，两人联合几位乐手重组了CCR乐队，他们在美国各地的演出中演唱CCR的老歌并发行过一张演唱会专辑。
乐队的提前解散使之与公司签定的唱片合约无法完成，因此作为CCR乐队的经理人John Fogerty陷入了与Fantasy唱片公司的合同纠纷中。直到80年代初John转投Warner Brothers旗下后才再次迎来辉煌，凭借专辑《Blue Moon Swamp》获得了第40界葛莱美最佳摇滚专辑。
1993年Creedence Clearwater Revival乐队入选摇滚名人堂。
At a time when rock was evolving further and further away from the forces that had made the music possible in the first place, Creedence Clearwater Revival brought things back to their roots with their concise synthesis of rockabilly, swamp pop, R&B, and country. Though CCR was very much a group in their tight, punchy arrangements, their vision was very much singer, songwriter, guitarist, and leader John Fogerty's. Fogerty's classic compositions for Creedence both evoked enduring images of Americana and reflected burning social issues of the day. The band's genius was their ability to accomplish this with the economic, primal power of a classic rockabilly ensemble.
The key elements of Creedence had been woodshedding in bar bands for about a decade before their breakthrough to national success in the late '60s. John's older brother Tom formed the Blue Velvets in the late '50s in El Cerrito, CA, a tiny suburb across the bay from San Francisco. By the mid-'60s, with a few hopelessly obscure recordings under their belt, they'd signed to Fantasy, releasing several singles as the Golliwogs that went nowhere. In fact, there's little promise to be found on those early efforts, primarily because Tom, not John, was doing most of the singing. The group only found themselves when John took firm reigns over the band's direction, singing and writing virtually all of their material.
On their first album as Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1968, the group played it both ways, offering extended, quasi-psychedelic workouts of the '50s classics "I Put a Spell on You" and "Suzie Q." The latter song became their first big hit, but the band didn't really bloom until "Proud Mary," a number-two single in early 1969 that demonstrated John's talent at tapping into Southern roots music and imagery with a natural ease. It was the start of a torrent of classic hits from the gritty, Little Richard-inspired singer over the next two years, including "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," "Down on the Corner," "Travelin' Band," "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Up Around the Bend," and "Lookin' Out My Back Door."
Creedence also made good albums, but their true forte was as a singles band — their LPs contained some filler, both in the forms of average original material and straightforward covers of rock & roll chestnuts. When the Beatles broke up in early 1970, CCR was the only other act that provided any competition in the fine art of crafting bold, super-catchy artistic statements that soared to the upper reaches of the charts every three or four months. Although they hailed from the San Francisco area, they rarely succumbed to the psychedelic indulgences of the era. John Fogerty also proved adept at voicing the concerns of the working class in songs like "Fortunate Son," as well as partying with as much funk as any white rock band would muster on "Travelin' Band" and "Down on the Corner."
With John Fogerty holding such a strong upper hand, Creedence couldn't be said to have been a democratic unit, and Fogerty's dominance was to sow the seeds of the group's quick dissolution. Tom Fogerty left in 1971 (recording a few unremarkable solo albums of his own), reducing the band to a trio. John allowed drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook equal shares of songwriting and vocal time on the group's final album, Mardi Gras (1972), which proved conclusively that Fogerty's songs and singing were necessary to raise CCR above journeyman status.
It was John Fogerty, of course, who produced the only notable work after the quartet broke up. Even his solo outings, though, were erratic and, for nearly ten years, nonexistent as he became embroiled in a web of business disputes with Fantasy Records. His 1984 album Centerfield proved he could still rock in the vintage Creedence mode when the spirit moved him, but Tom Fogerty's death in 1990 ended any hopes of a CCR reunion with the original members intact.