The Singles Collection

iTunes Review

Creedence Clearwater Revival were a remarkable singles band, cranking out a string of Top Ten singles that matched the band’s chunky rhythm section with singer John Fogerty’s wolfman howl. The R&B influences can be heard in their covers of Dale Hawkins’ “Suzie Q,” Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You,” and Motown’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and in the husky, soulful rasp of such originals as “Proud Mary,” “Born On the Bayou,” “Down On the Corner,” and “Run Through the Jungle.” This collection also includes the many lesser-known B-sides that were also a part of the band’s appeal. “45 Revolutions Per Minute” is a bizarre psychedelic piece of sound collage, but the bluesy garage-rock creep of “Walking On the Water” and “Tearin’ Up the Country,” (the country vamp written by drummer Doug Clifford) and the flipside to the sad finality of “Someday Never Comes,” are lesser-known examples of the band’s San Francisco-based Louisiana “Swamp Rock.” No band got more done in three minutes than CCR.