Pendulum
Pendulum was credence Clearwater Revival’s sixth album and comes at the end of a remarkable run of form. Perhaps inevitably, after such a strong run, things are beginning to change here. Most notably, this album is close to a John Fogerty solo album, as he wrote the majority of the material on it and shows his talent as a multi-instrumentalist, adding his own, very good, horn and organ parts. It’s another one recorded at Wally Heider’s in San Francisco over the summer/autumn of 1970.
Stylistically, Pendulum also shifts away from the pop-rock two and a half minute and outro formula that served them well. Here the sound shifts from hard-edged rock (Pagan Baby) through Stax/soul and the gospel-tinged call and response of Sailor’s Lament. Even so, this is the album that gave us the genuine classic Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
I do not intend to suggest that this is a poorer-quality offering than its predecessors; it isn’t. For almost all of its running length this is a very fine album and a good listen. Right up until we get to its closer, Rude Awakening #2.
I listened and made notes before I Googled for more info. about this track, and my notes read: bizarre. Fogerty goes experimental, with Beatles-ish vibes amongst other things, and fragments of God Save the Queen mixed in. An interesting exercise that doesn’t really work. As far as I can tell, Fogerty thinks much the same. The latter part of the track was influenced, he says, by the sound collage of Revolution #9. I don’t mind a good sound collage, and it isn’t as if I shy away from the avant-garde or Bay-area weirdness; this one doesn’t go anywhere, though. I don’t get the sense of a guiding thought behind it.
I listened on Spotify. There are multiple YouTube playlists
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