Live at Woodstock (Creedence Clearwater Revival album)

Live at Woodstock
The band onstage
Live album by
Creedence Clearwater Revival
ReleasedAugust 2, 2019 (2019-08-02)
RecordedAugust 17, 1969
VenueWoodstock, Bethel, New York, U.S.
GenreSwamp rock
Length50:36
Label
Producer
Creedence Clearwater Revival chronology
Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics
(2012) 		Live at Woodstock
(2019) 		At the Royal Albert Hall
(2022)

Live at Woodstock is a live album released on August 2, 2019 via Fantasy Records. The set documents swamp rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival's set at the Woodstock music festival on August 17, 1969.[1] The release has received positive reviews and moderate chart success.

Recording and release

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Creedence Clearwater Revival was the first act to sign a contract for August's Woodstock festival in April 1969, for $10,000 (equivalent to $83,000 today). Given their late start time and omission from the Woodstock film (at John Fogerty's insistence), Creedence members have expressed bitterness over their experiences regarding the festival.[2]

In 1994, "Commotion", "Green River", "Ninety Nine and a Half (Won't Do)", and "I Put a Spell on You" appeared on Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music and for the 40th anniversary home video release of the film, the band allowed the inclusion of "Born on the Bayou", "I've Put a Spell On You", and "Keep On Chooglin".[3] This album also coincides with a 38-disc box set from Rhino Records compiling the entire festival, Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive.[4]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic84/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
American Songwriter[7]
Classic Rock[8]
Mojo[9]
Uncut[10]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Live at Woodstock received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 from six critic scores.[5]

On AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, "Throughout their hour-long set, CCR sound ferocious, tearing through their hardest material ... The hardness of their choogle is a bit of a revelation, as the band sound fiery in a way that they don't on any of the officially released Creedence live recordings."[6]

In American Songwriter, Hal Horowitz wrote, "The foursome cranks out their songs with requisite energy ... But it's the closing cover of Ray Charles' "Night Time Is the Right Time", plus "Keep on Chooglin'" and "Susie Q", the latter two over ten minutes long, where the sparks really fly ... The remastered audio captures each instrument with surprisingly sharp and clean separation."[7]

In Classic Rock, Fraser Lewry said, "The recording is great, Fogerty's in fine voice throughout, the hits keep coming, and when the band slip into those chugging grooves they're emphatically fierce. "I Put a Spell on You" is even more ominous than the recorded version, and the 20 minutes given over to "Keep On Chooglin'" and "Suzie Q" as the set climaxes are flat-out intense."[8]

In The Spill Magazine, Gerrod Harris wrote, "The band's cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' 1956 hit, "I Put a Spell on You" is a definite showstopper. With its haunting melody, rhythms, and chord progressions, Fogerty makes the track his own with a flawless performance that is topped only by his jaw–dropping guitar solo... It comes as no surprise that Live at Woodstock is a stellar live album."[11]

In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot said, "Contrary to Fogerty's original take on the performance, it's a blazing document of the band at its peak and should've helped cement the band's legacy ... 'The performances are classic CCR,' bassist Cook later told band biographer Hank Bordowitz, 'and I'm still amazed by the number of people who don't even know we were one of the headliners.'"[1]

Track listing

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All songs written by John Fogerty, except where noted

  1. "Born on the Bayou" – 5:34
  2. "Green River" – 3:16
  3. "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)" (Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett) – 4:46
  4. "Bootleg" – 3:38
  5. "Commotion" – 2:48
  6. "Bad Moon Rising" – 2:13
  7. "Proud Mary" – 3:52
  8. "I Put a Spell on You" (Jay Hawkins, Herb Slotkin) – 4:28
  9. "The Night Time Is the Right Time" (Nappy Brown, Ozzie Cadena, Lew Herman) – 3:30
  10. "Keep on Chooglin’" – 10:29
  11. "Suzie Q" (Dale Hawkins, Robert Chaisson, Stan Lewis, and Eleanor Broadwater) – 10:52

Personnel

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Creedence Clearwater Revival

Production

  • Mason Williams – album release producer
  • Andy Zax – audio production
  • Brian Kehew – audio production, mixing
  • Dave Schultz – mastering
  • Edwin Kramer – location recording engineer
  • Lee Osborne – location recording engineer
  • Hanley Sound, Inc. – original 8-track recordings
  • Henry Diltz – photography
  • Tommy Steele – design
  • Ryan Jebavy – editorial

Charts

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Weekly sales chart performance for Live at Woodstock
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 29
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 60
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] 25
French Albums (SNEP)[15] 137
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 34
Scottish Albums (OCC)[17] 24
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[18] 70
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 60

References

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  1. ^ a b Kot, Greg (August 14, 2019). "Everybody Forgets Creedence Clearwater Revival Headlined Woodstock in 1969. A New Live Recording Will Change That". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 16, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  2. ^ Bordowitz, Hank (2007). Bad Moon Rising: The Unauthorized History of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. p. 390. ISBN 978-1-55652-661-9.
  3. ^ Hilburn, Robert (June 9, 2009). "Woodstock Still Has More to Show". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ Browne, David (May 8, 2019). "Back to an Even Bigger Garden: Massive Woodstock Box Set Planned for August". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Live at Woodstock by Creedence Clearwater Revival Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock". AllMusic. Archived from the original on August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Horowitz, Hal (August 7, 2019). "Creedence Clearwater Revival: Live at Woodstock". American Songwriter. Archived from the original on August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Lewry, Fraser (August 7, 2019). "Creedence's Woodstock set: 50 years on, still bristling with energy". Classic Rock. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  9. ^ "Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock". Mojo. September 2019. p. 107.
  10. ^ "Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock". Uncut. October 2019. p. 45.
  11. ^ Harris, Gerrod (August 2, 2019). "Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock". The Spill Magazine. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  12. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  13. ^ "Ultratop.be – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  14. ^ "Ultratop.be – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  15. ^ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes – SNEP (Week 36, 2019)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved September 16, 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  16. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  17. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  18. ^ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 33: del 9.8.2019 al 15.8.2019" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  19. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
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