John Fogerty 'The Long Road Home

On October 31st, 2006, Fantasy Records, the original and present label home of rock visionary John Fogerty, will release, on compact disc, the audio companion piece to his 2006 DVD, The Long Road Home – In Concert. This rousing performance dramatically displays Fogerty’s boundless energy and unmatched skill as a writer/singer/guitarist. He tears through 26 classic songs spanning the rock icon’s remarkable career, from his Creedence Clearwater Revival smashes, “Bad Moon Rising,” “Proud Mary,” “Down on the Corner” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain” to Fogerty’s signature solo gems like “Centerfield,” “Rockin’ All Over the World,” and “Déjà vu All Over Again.”

Fogerty's first live album since 1998’s Premonition and his first-ever live recording for Fantasy Records, The Long Road Home – In Concert represents another essential piece of the artist’s rich catalog for a fan base that now spans several generations. The new double album also bookends 2005’s career-spanning hits collection, The Long Road Home, which marked Fogerty’s return to Fantasy after a 32-year separation. That milestone album achieved his highest chart debut (#13) since Centerfield in 1985, while both the album and the live DVD have been certified gold by the RIAA.

Fogerty and Fantasy go back a ways, to say the least: the youngster worked there as a shipping clerk in ’65 and ’66 prior to forming Creedence and taking the then-tiny East Bay indie label to the top of the charts. The historic reunion occurred in 2005 after Fantasy was acquired by Concord Records, whose new owners welcomed the long-disenfranchised artist back into the fold, thus reuniting Fogerty with his treasured catalog of Creedence master recordings “The fact that I’m treated with respect and the music is treated with respect is a great new feeling, it really is,” Fogerty said recently.

The performance documented on The Long Road Home – In Concert, brings one of the most distinctive bodies of work in the annals of rock & roll into the present tense, as Fogerty and band seamlessly juxtapose 18 of his Creedence standards—including all nine of the band’s Top 10 hits as well as indelible album cuts like “Keep On Chooglin’” and “Bootleg”—with eight equally memorable solo songs. What’s striking about these 26 numbers, from the plainspoken eloquence of their lyrics to the resonance of their guitar riffs, is that they’re immediately identifiable as John Fogerty songs. As Goldmine

magazine’s Craig Werner noted in his 1997 overview of Fogerty’s indelible oeuvre, “If you can name the artist in three notes, chances are pretty good they’re going to wind up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

The Long Road Home – In Concert was recorded by live specialist Guy Charbonneau (Paul McCartney, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, U2) and mixed by the renowned Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco, Lucinda Williams). Together, they vividly captured the thrillingly visceral performance from a long-vital artist whose storied intensity is undiminished, and whose spirits have never been higher.

Biography

The first fruit of John Fogerty’s reunion with his original label, Fantasy Records, is The Long Road Home—The Ultimate John Fogerty·Creedence Clearwater Revival Collection, a hits-packed retrospective of the singer/songwriter’s brilliant career as leader of the seminal Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a renowned solo artist. John has indeed ‘come home’ to the label where he began one of the most illustrious and important chapters in rock history.

“I’ve always wanted to do a greatest hits collection that was inclusive of my entire career,” says Fogerty, whose undiminished power as singer, writer and bandleader is fully showcased on the CD. “But there was a stumbling block. Now I can combine the Creedence songs, all of which I wrote, with my solo material. It’s great that I can finally document the various changes I’ve gone through musically over the years without having to follow any artificial lines.”

The collection encompasses the crème de la crème of Fogerty’s Creedence songs, ranging chronologically from 1969’s breakout hit “Born on the Bayou” to 1972’s “Sweet Hitch-Hiker,” as well as his own hits, including “Centerfield” (1985), “The Old Man Down the Road” (1985), “Hot Rod Heart” (1997) and “Déjà Vu (All Over Again)” (2004). Other CCR standout tracks include “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” “Down in the Corner,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?,” “Lodi” and “Green River” among others. “I’m very happy to be back in touch with a part of myself,” says Fogerty. “It’s surreal. For 35 years, I never thought I’d be reunited with the music I wrote during the Creedence Clearwater Revival years.”

In addition, the 25-song The Long Road Home features four live tracks, newly recorded this past summer: including the blistering and timely “Fortunate Son” (the original CCR version is also in the set), “Bootleg,” “Hey Tonight” and “Keep on Chooglin’.”

Unstoppable during its brief heyday, Creedence became the all-time most successful U.S. rock band, reigning supreme from 1968 to 1972. The group with its trademark swamp-rock sound scored 20 singles on the Hot 100 charts within an 18-month period, garnering nine Top 10 hits in a row. Eventually, CCR sold more than 100 million records worldwide, amassing 21 gold or platinum discs. However, the band imploded in 1972, which ushered in one of the most vitriolic chapters of pop music history.

The Long Road Home liner note writer Jim Bessman points out, “With the breakup of Creedence, Fogerty entered an extended period of music business hell and the agony that came with it. It all resulted from contractual obligations and disputes [among] Fogerty, his former band members, and Fantasy, and led to celebrated lawsuits including the extraordinary scenario where Fogerty, by then a Warner Bros. recording artist, was actually sued by his former label for plagiarizing his own CCR hit ‘Run Through the Jungle’ in writing ’The Old Man Down the Road,’ his Top 10 single from his No. 1 1984 album Centerfield.”

The feud between Fogerty and Fantasy (which lost the plagiarism lawsuit) turned so bitter that he stopped playing his CCR songs in concert for nearly two decades, from 1972 to 1990. He returned to his legacy after realizing during a visit to the Mississippi Delta grave site of blues legend Robert Johnson that in fact he was the spiritual owner of his songs, even if his former record company continued to reap their publishing royalties.

Fogerty’s trip came full circle when he and his wife made contact with senior executives at the Concord Music Group when they were in negotiations to purchase Fantasy. “We heard rumors over the years that Fantasy was on the marketplace, but nothing materialized,” Fogerty says. “About a year ago we heard the same rumor again, so Julie and I met with people at Concord just to get acquainted. At our first meeting, they expressed great respect and appreciation. When they finally acquired Fantasy, we figured the time was right to see if we could work together.”

This couldn’t have pleased Concord more. “When we completed the deal to buy Fantasy, talks with John began in earnest,” says Concord Music Group president Glen Barros. “We were all aware that there had been much bitterness over the years between John and the label. We wanted to build a bridge back to him so that we could reconnect him to the Creedence catalog. We wanted to celebrate his solo work, the hits with Creedence, and move forward with him so that he could create new music. We’re delighted that John is back with Fantasy, and we have tremendous enthusiasm for our long-term plans.”

A member of the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Fogerty is equally excited: “I’m happy to say that the new Fantasy is very enthusiastic about my body of work. All the people there have been delightful. They are honoring my songs that hold an important place in the history of American music. And they are honoring me, including my solo career.” Hence, The Long Road Home, the first project in what promises to be a rewarding future, both for the artist and the label.

For Fogerty, The Long Road Home not only sums up the past, but also points to the future with a renewed sense of creativity. In talking to liner note writer Bessman, Fogerty says, “I had to go through so much to get to this stage. But I actually think I’m better now. I sing better, I play better, I have more energy. I’m certainly in better shape than I was when I was 23. And it’s remarkable that I get to smile about all the record company stuff that only a little while ago I would have certainly run away from because it was just too painful. I have to pinch myself every once in a while—but this is the way it always should have been.”

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Tracklisting

John Fogerty - The Long Road Home - In Concert