Bad Moon Rising Over Lodi (Refine Masters)
Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA – July 4th, 1971
(55:33): Born on the Bayou, Green River, It Came Out of the Sky, Door to Door, Travelin’ Band, Fortunate Son, Commotion, Lodi, Bad Moon Rising, Proud Mary, Up Around The Bend, Hey Tonight, Sweet Hitch Hiker, Keep On Chooglin
A week after Bill Graham closed the doors on the Fillmore East in New York, the Fillmore West in San Francisco closed on the fourth of July with Santana and poetry reading by Allan Ginsberg among others. Bad Moon Rising Over Lodi captures Creedence Clearwater Revivial’s set that night recorded by KSAN in excellent quality and, since it comes from WV, is in excellent pre-FM quality. The vocals and drums are predominant in the left while the guitar and bass are in the right.
Since 1971 was the height of their popularity before their break up the following year, it follows that the set is filled with hit songs that have become standard in the classic rock canon with particular emphasis upon their latest two albums Willy & The Poor Boys and Cosmo’s Factory. It is interesting that this is the time when they were performing as a trio and when they were trying to be more “democratic” in their approach. Thus in addition to the John Fogerty penned hits, more obscure tunes like “It Came Out Of The Sky” and Stu Cook’s “Door To Door,” which also feature him on vocals, are played.
Some of the highlights include a nasty version of “Fortunate Son” which segues directly into “Commotion.” The set ends with both sides of their latest single, “Sweet Hitchhiker” and “Hey Tonight.”
Before the encore Fogerty reminiscences, saying: “This is our three year anniversary playing the Fillmore. The very first time was the fourth of July 1968 when we closed out the old Fillmore. A little later we closed the Avalon down…so we like to make a habit of showing up in the end.” An eight minute jam on “Keep On Chooglin” closes the set and CCR’s association with the Fillmore West. Refined Masters package this in a beautiful digipack with several photos from the event but, unlike the Jeff Beck BBC released at the same time, without liner notes. CCR releases are scarce so this is an excellent title to pick up.
