Peak Music

Oh, hell yes. Everyone talks "Aja", and it's great, but this record blew me away.

 

Creedence Clearwater Revival, from Jan. 1969 to July, 1970. Four albums that made the Top Ten in eighteen months. Four absolute stone classics I'd put up against any other band's top four - Lodi, Bad Moon Rising, Green River, and Proud Mary, and that leaves out songs like Born on the Bayou, Travelin' Band, Down on the Corner, Fortunate Son, and Up Around the Bend.

If I had to put a date on when Americana took root I'd plant the flag here.

 

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was their grand commercial triumph, but OutKast peaked on one of the three albums before that. I would give a slight edge to Stankonia but couldn’t really argue much with ATLiens or Aquemini.

 

Speaking of Creedence, there's a new documentary on Netflix with their concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. There really isn't much footage of these guys, and apparently the producers got the rights to this right after the film surfaced. There's a fairly standard band doc that follows their progress, and then you get the full concert. There are no theatrics, it's a very businesslike set with the band pretty much walking out and then standing there and playing. The stage is all but bare, just a drum riser, a couple of Marshall stacks and a bass cabinet. No big PA.

What's striking is that they walk out there and bang out the songs and they sound exactly like the record. No theatrics, no drama. There's maybe two guitar pedals. It's very bare bones, these guys just play their music. It's still pretty cool, because you never get concert footage of CCR. It's truly an artifact of another time.

 

I've always thought this parody version is brilliant.
An over-the-top, peak performance itself. By college kids!

 

Three albums that I always string together and remain the peak for the artists:

Randy Travis - Storms of Life
Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, etc.

They had bigger hits on subsequent albums, notably Travis who had an absolute smash.

I listened to these three religiously in high school and they’ve followed me through life.

Here’s a reminder If what an absolute little banger Guitar Town is. For the record, I’m not a big Copperhead Road guy.

 

Yeah, you almost have to pick something before Speakerboxxx/The Love Below because that was the end of Big Boi and Andre 3000 actually performing together. I love both of those albums, though.

 

I love "Copperhead Road." But I love "Guitar Town" even more.

"Absolute little banger" describes it perfectly. That song never gets old.

 

2:32 doesn’t leave a lot of time for fuckaround.

Guitar Town and Guitars, Cadillacs are alphabetical neighbours in my electronic library. I don’t think I’ve ever skipped over either one when they pop up. They are immune to my moods and whims.

 

I'm not much for country music, actually. But I like Steve Earle's songwriting.

Been banging a lot of rockabilly lately during work. Here's a good one ... from a Swedish band.

 

REM recording Automatic for the People so late in their run, to me, goes against artists recording their best work earlier in their careers.

Harry Styles is peaking right now.

New Order was Power, Corruption and Lies.

 

Great concert, and really solid footage. As you mentioned, not a lot of CCR stuff out there.

Two things that documentary reminded me of are:

1. There was a time when the band actually got along and functioned pretty well as a live entity. Hard to remember after 50 years of hatred and lawsuits.

2. Besides being a great songwriter and singer, John Fogerty could really play his guitar. With minimal effect pedals, he got so many different sounds out of it.