COSMO'S FACTORY  -  CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL

YEAR:  1970
LABEL:  Fantasy Records
TRACK LISTING:  Ramble Tamble,  Before You Accuse Me,  Travelin' Band,  Ooby Dooby,  Lookin' Out My Back Door,  Run Through the Jungle,  Up Around the Bend,  My Baby Left Me,  Who'll Stop the Rain,  I Heard It Through the Grapevine,  Long As I Can See the Light
BONUS TRACKS:  Travelin' Band (Remake Take),  Up Around the Bend (Live in Amsterdam, September 10, 1971),  Born On the Bayou (Jam with Booker T at Fantasy Studios)
IMPRESSIONS:  I've never been what you'd call a CCR fan; however this album was a very strong presence during my very young years and I always get very nostalgic about it.  In fact, it's one of those album which conjures very strong sensory recall when I merely see the album cover or hear the songs within.  When the album came out I was only 4 years old but I can remember very strongly COSMO'S FACTORY playing in the living room of our old house in Maple Surple.  Music playing loudly in our living room was an almost-constant occurrence in my childhood.  In this particular instance, it was a warm summer day and the front door was open revealing through the screen door the very green grass of our front yard and the strip of green next to the sidewalk.  It was also, I recall, raining very heavily so the atmosphere was very much like a sultry, humid bayou caught in a summer downpour.  I cannot hear "Lookin' Out My Back Door" (even though it was my front door), without immediately flashing on this scene from my very early childhood.  Of course, the humid, rainy day also flashes back to me when I hear "Run Through the Jungle" or "Who'll Stop the Rain" as well.  The record played often over the years during my seventies childhood on Linwood Avenue but these vivid memories always cling to this album like a swamp vine to a weeping willow tree.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Before You Accuse Me,  Travelin' Band,  Lookin' Out My Back Door,  Run Through the Jungle,  Up Around the Bend,  Who'll Stop the Rain,  I Heard It Through the Grapevine,  Long As I Can See the Light
GUEST ARTISTS:  Booker T. (on "Born On the Bayou")
FACT SHEET:  COSMO'S FACTORY is the fifth album by Creedence Clearwater Revival which consisted of John Fogerty (lead guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, vocals, songwriter, producer, arranger . . . yeah), Tom Fogerty (rhythm guitar), Stu Cook (bass) and Doug Clifford (drums).  The album cover was designed and photographed by Bob Fogerty.  The album has been certified four time platimun with sales over four million copies.  The title of the album comes from the rehearsal room during CCR's early career.  John Fogerty insisted that the band practice every day and the rehearsal room was often so full of cigarette smoke that drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford started to refer to the rehearsal space as "the factory".  Early pressings of the album featured an earlier mix of "Travelin' Band" with John Fogerty's first guitar solo mixed behind the horn section as well as "Before You Accuse Me" featuring a three-second audio dropout in the left stereo channel; both these takes were restored to the 40th anniversary cd release of the album.  COSMO'S FACTORY topped the album charts in six countries.  The first double-sided single "Travelin' Band/Who'll Stop the Rain" hit #2 on the Billboard Top 100 followed by the double A-sided single "Run Through the Jungle/Up Around the Bend" which reached #4 and # 2 respectively and "Lookin' Out My Back Door b/w/ Long As I Can See the Light" reached #2.  All songs were written by John Fogerty except "Before You Accuse Me" which was written by Ellas McDaniel, the Roy Orbison cover "Ooby Dooby" written by Wade Moore & Dick Penner, "My Baby Left Me" written by Arthur Crudup and the Motown classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.  In the Coen Brothers film "THE BIG LEBOWSKI", it is a cassette of "COSMO'S FACTORY" that "The Dude" has in his car stereo.