Creedence Clearwater Revival by Creedence Clearwater Revival, released 1968/69 by Liberty Records, value £80

CREEDENCE Clearwater Revival was formed in 1959 with brothers John and Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, who all attended the same high school in the San Francisco Bay area of California, writes MICHAEL BROOKS. They began their musical careers playing cover versions of rock 'n' roll standards. A small independent label Fantasy records offered them a contract but surprisingly changed their names to The Golliwogs; despite releasing a small number of singles, only minimal record sales were achieved. The quartet turned professional when Liberty records offered them a better deal on the proviso they change their name to avoid any racial overtones, and so they became Creedence Clearwater Revival.

This, their first album, was recorded in July 1968 but was not issued in the UK until '69. Two more albums Bayou Country and Green River were released later that same year. John Fogerty became their main songwriter. Though they hailed from California, his songs cried out from the heart of the Louisiana swamplands up to the Mississippi river. Their first hit, Proud Mary, became the band's most covered song with more than 100 cover versions, including a 1971 hit for Ike and Tina Turner. It was their second album Bayou Country that sparked their biggest hit Bad Moon Rising, that acknowledged dark perimeters of a conventional pop song. Other songs introduced the mixture of southern Creole music, often referred to as swamp music, likened to rockabilly.

CCR performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, their set piece was included in the box set: Woodstock, Three Days Of Peace And Music. Bassist Stu Cook remarked that years later people do not remember CCR taking part in the event? Songwriter John Fogerty always said, "the previous band The Grateful Dead, put the audience to sleep." He looked down from the stage and described the scene as bodies from Dante's Inferno, all intertwined, asleep and covered in mud. Between 1968-72 CCR achieved unparalleled success, but because of internal friction within the band, John Fogerty embarked on a solo career. His greatest song Rockin' All Over The World was immortalised by Status Quo and became their biggest hit. John Fogerty still performs and tours with a different band; he still sings the hit songs of CCR most of which he wrote himself. He remains a legendary composer among America's consummate purveyors of late 1960s pop.