John Fogerty is taking a cue from pop superstar Taylor Swift and has re-recorded some of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s best songs for a new album.
Back in January 2023, Fogerty regained the rights to his CCR song after fighting for those rights for 50 years. However, he doesn’t own the master recordings of those legendary recordings. So, similar to how Swift has re-recorded her earlier albums to create new master recordings she now owns, Fogerty has re-recorded 20 CCR songs for Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, a new album due out on August 22.
Fogerty told Rolling Stone, “I wanted to call [the album] ‘Taylor’s Version.’ I lobbied very much to the record company.” The outlet notes that these re-recordings “aren’t just covers,” but “painstaking recreations of the original versions, down to Fogerty’s singing and guitar parts and the original rhythm section.”
“I’m still kind of waiting to hear feedback, but the first five or six people I’ve talked to who’ve listened to it all say it sounds ‘fresher,’” said Fogerty. “Maybe what they’re saying is it’s clearer, or the fidelity is better or something? That may be something I hadn’t even counted on, but there’s more dimension to it, more depth.”
Legacy is extra special for Fogerty, because his backing band includes his sons, Shane and Tyler, who he’s worked with extensivly over the years. In fact, in May 2020, Fogerty released a CCR covers EP with Shane, Tyler, and his daughter, Kelsey. That EP, titled Fogerty’s Factory, was made up of live performances from the quarantine era of the coronavirus pandemic that were featured on various programs, including NPR’s Tiny Desk and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years is available for pre-order at ConcordRecords.com. The first three preview tracks for the album — “Up Around The Bend,” “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” and “Porterville” — can be heard below.
“Up Around The Bend”
“Have You Ever Seen That Rain”
“Porterville”
