Creedence Clearwater Revival are synonymous with summertime BBQ’s, Vietnam War movie soundtracks and last call at your local dive bar. They are so ubiquitous that perhaps to some degree they are taken for granted in the classic rock canon. Their sound is a marriage of the slap-back soaked honky tonk of Nashville’s Sun Records and the bluesy, guitar driven grind of Chicago’s Chess records. Their songs are stylised to sound as if they are drifting from the depths of a Louisiana swamp yet their sun-kissed California image and hook laden songs land a little closer to the Beach Boys. A truly American band, Creedence is a collage of all of these things and Cosmo’s factory stands as their crowning glory. It is also the beginning of the band’s implosion – chief writer and lead vocalist John Fogerty kept a tight leash on the band, insisting on being the band’s only singer/songwriter and business manager. Drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford dubbed his house the “Factory” as Fogerty made them rehearse there almost every day. Tensions simmered for years and rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, John’s brother, quit after the completion of this album. Most of the songs on this record ended up as hits in one way or another, each flawlessly executed by a band at the peak of their powers, somehow so perfectly polished in all their swagger and raggedness, leaving Cosmo’s Factory as a high water mark in Creedence’s impressive career.
Pete Whelan 