Legendary rock band CCR releases collection of studio recordings

Half a century after their first album release, the eternal guitars and the rock roots of Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), the legendary rock band that successfully fused the country and blues genres into its music, return in a deluxe set that includes all the studio records by one of the greatest US bands.

Titled “The Studio Albums Collection,” the special release will go on sale on Nov. 30 with seven vinyl records remastered at Abbey Road studios.

The set includes recordings during the five-year period between 1968 and 1972 in which John Fogerty and his bandmates had the world at their feet and also includes a 76-page book with photographs and a biography of CCR.

From the band’s debut album released in July 1968 to its April 1972 farewell album “Mardi Gras,” with the band then as a trio after Tom Fogerty’s departure, the set attempts to explain the enormous popularity of a group that seemed to swim against the industry current when it emerged.

Founded in El Cerrito, near San Francisco, CCR was not inspired by the psychedelics or the experimental and spiritual elements that reigned in the music business in the late 1960s, opting instead for relatively simple songs, concrete lyrics and everyday themes, as well as raw guitars that took their cue from the southern rock, country, blues and soul genres.

And so, while The Doors in Los Angeles innovated in transcendental poetry and Jefferson Airplane in San Francisco sought new sensory horizons, CCR looked toward the more down-to-earth examples of Elvis Presley or Little Richard.

The bandmembers - John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, Stu Cook and Tom Fogerty - charted with a series of hits, including “Proud Mary,” “Travelin’ Band,” “Fortunate Son” and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”

Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 in a ceremony at which Bruce Springsteen extolled the group’s legacy.