Analogue Productions - CAPP 8402 SA - SACD Hybrid Stereo 

Mastered By Steve Hoffman & Kevin Gray  - Hybrid SACD Plays On All CD Players

Cosmo's Factory- the name drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford gave CCR's rehearsal studio because so many hits were created there- lived up to its namesake in spades. Released in July 1970, the album contained more hit singles (six) than any other CCR LP, achieved multi-platinum status and became the band's all-time best-selling album both in the U.S. and worldwide (69 weeks on the Billboard charts). In addition, the trailblazing extended version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine (which Rolling Stone pronounced "more intense than any six minutes of Grateful Dead music on record") was never released as a single during the group's heyday but received enormous AM and FM airplay, boosting both the song and the LP to No. 1 on all three trade music charts. 

 

"The third classic album that Creedence cranked out in less than a year, after Green River and Willie and the Poor Boys. Highlights: the eleven-minute guitar party "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and the front-porch reverie "Lookin' Out My Back Door." - www.rollingstone.com

 

Throughout 1969 and into 1970, CCR toured incessantly and recorded nearly as much. Appropriately, Cosmo's Factory's first single was the working band's anthem "Travelin' Band," a funny, piledriving rocker with a blaring horn section -- the first indication their sonic palette was broadening. Two more singles appeared prior to the album's release, backed by John Fogerty originals that rivaled the A-side or paled just slightly. When it came time to assemble a full album, Fogerty had only one original left, the claustrophobic, paranoid rocker "Ramble Tamble." Unlike some extended instrumentals, this was dramatic and had a direction -- a distinction made clear by the meandering jam that brings CCR's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" to 11 minutes. Even if it wanders, their take on the Marvin Gaye classic isn't unpleasant, and their faithful, exuberant takes on the Sun classics "Ooby Dooby" and "My Baby Left Me" are joyous tributes.

 

Still, the heart of the album lays in those six fantastic songs released on singles. "Up Around the Bend" is a searing rocker, one of their best, balanced by the menacing murkiness of "Run Through the Jungle." "Who'll Stop the Rain"'s poignant melody and melancholy undertow has a counterpart in Fogerty's dope song, "Lookin' out My Back Door," a charming, bright shuffle, filled with dancing animals and domestic bliss - he had never been as sweet and silly as he is here. On "Long as I Can See the Light," the record's final song, he again finds solace in home, anchored by a soulful, laid-back groove. It hits a comforting, elegiac note, the perfect way to draw Cosmo's Factory -- an album made during stress and chaos, filled with raging rockers, covers, and intense jams -- to a close.

 

Selections:

 

1. Ramble Tamble

2. Before You Accuse Me

3. Travelin' Band

4. Ooby Dooby

5. Lookin' Out My Backdoor

6. Run Through The Jungle

1. Up Around the Bend

2. My Baby Left Me

3. Who'll Stop the Rain

4. I Heard It Through the Grapevine

5. Long As I Can See the Light