Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s which consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty; bassist Stu Cook; and drummer Doug Clifford. These members had played together since 1959, first as The Blue Velvets and later as The Golliwogs. Their musical style encompassed roots rock, swamp rock, and blues rock. They played in a Southern rock style, despite their San Francisco Bay Area origin, with lyrics about bayous, catfish, the Mississippi River, and other popular elements of Southern United States iconography, as well as political and socially conscious lyrics about topics including the Vietnam War.
A sharp departure from 1999's acclaimed With a Song in My Heart, which featured Soloff in a rare straight-ahead jazz setting. This outing, in contrast, features no fewer than four songs from the classic rock canon: Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Susie Q" and "Born on the Bayou," Jimi Hendrix's "Up from the Skies," and – no kidding – Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." One almost wonders why they left out Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird." In all seriousness, Soloff and crew have a lot of fun with these, especially the Hendrix tune, which was a staple of the Gil Evans Orchestra's repertoire when Soloff was a principal member. Even the supermarket-ready reading of "Stairway to Heaven" has its rewards – Lou Marini playing the opening countermelody on a real flute instead of a Mellotron, for instance.
“If you don’t know the blues, there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock’n’roll or any other form of popular music,” says Keith Richards. Blues pioneers such as Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Johnson had a huge impact on the young Rolling Stones, influencing Richards’ guitar licks and Mick Jagger’s vocals and songwriting.
Chronicle, Vol. 1 contains every one of Creedence Clearwater Revival's original 19 hit singles – including "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," "Down on the Corner," "Travelin' Band," "Up Around the Band," and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" – plus "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," which became a hit at the same time this double-record compilation was released. The compact disc edition is hampered by the inclusion of the full-length, 11-minute album version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"; its presence slows down the momentum of the collection considerably. Chronicle, Vol. 2 effectively compiles all of the highlights from Creedence Clearwater Revival's career that weren't on the first volume. All of the singles were included on Chronicle, Vol. 1, so Chronicle, Vol. 2 is comprised solely of album tracks.