Craft RecordingsIn celebration of the 50th anniversary of Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s debut album this year, the band recently released a vinyl box set called The Complete Studio Albums featuring remastered versions of all seven of the influential roots-rock group’s studio LPs.
CCR drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford tells ABC Radio that he loves the sound of the new discs, which were mastered at half-speed at London’s Abbey Road Studios and pressed onto 180-gram vinyl.
“[I]t makes everything a lot cleaner, a lot more realistic and a lot warmer,” Clifford says of half-speed mastering.
Creedence’s entire seven-album studio output spans from 1968 to 1972, and during that time the band scored nine top 10 hits, five of which were two-sided singles. And while those hits certainly are highlights of the group’s catalog, Clifford says that many fans who buy the box set will get to discover many excellent lesser-known tunes.
“[T]here are some great album cuts on every single album of the seven, and [many] people will be hearing those for the first time,” he points out. “So to me, that’s really exciting.”
Asked what his favorite CCR album is, Doug chooses 1970’s Cosmo’s Factory, because it’s his “namesake album” and “was our most successful record.” The album spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and has sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. As for his favorite Creedence song, Clifford picks “Born on the Bayou,” the lead track from the band’s second album, 1969’s Bayou Country. (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
The box set also comes packaged with an 80-page book containing new liner notes, vintage photos and reproductions of band memorabilia.
Here’s a full list of the LPs included in CCR’s The Complete Studio Albums collection:
Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)
Bayou Country (1969)
Green River (1969)
Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)
Cosmo’s Factory (1970)
Pendulum (1970)
Mardi Gras (1972)
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