Cosmo's Factory

Ramble Tamble, the opening number, is great, but the music really starts to pull you in from track three, Lookin’ Out My Back Door, through brilliant songs like Up Around The Bend, Who’ll Stop The Rain, Long As I Can See The Light, to end with the brilliant on-the-road masterpiece Travellin’ Band. Almost right in the middle of this majestic sequence is their devastating interpretation of Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through he Grapevine, the definitive rock version of the great soul classic.

I recommend this enduring masterpiece to all rock fans that wish to enjoy one of the most authentic and soulful rock groups of the sixties. I would say that Cosmo’s Factory is a better introduction to CCR than the admittedly great compilation albums, as it captures the band at the height of its power while the individual songs and the way they follow one another are just right.

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The opening track, the long, meandering instrumental "Ramble Tamble", is not one of them, though, and CCR's takes on "Ooby Dooby" and "My Baby Left Me" are pretty good, but nothing special, and they pale by comparison to John Fogerty's originals.

Fogerty wrote some of his best songs for "Cosmo's Factory", which produced no fewer than six hit singles, every one of them peaking in the top five. "Up Around The Bend" and "Travelin' Band" are glorious, piledriving rockers; "Who'll Stop The Rain" is one of Fogerty's true classics, a wonderful folk-rock song with thoughful lyrics and a great melody, and the #2 hit "Long As I Can See The Light" is a glorious slow soul tune and one of the most underrated songs in Creedence's catalogue.

The group's rendition of the Marvin Gaye classic "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" is excellent as well, sporting a great riff, and Fogerty does a great Bo Diddley on "Before You Accuse Me".
All in all, there are a couple of lesser songs here, but most of "Cosmo's" is simply magnificent, capturing the spirit and versatility of Creedence Clearwater Revival in general, and John Fogerty in particular. A must-have for any Creedence fan.

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As someone else has commented, this album begs to be listened to in one uninterrupted sitting. From the magnificent opening track, Ramble Tamble, through to Ooby Dooby, this album is a barrage of hit after hit. It's truly unyielding. It features favourites such as Up Around the Bend, Lookin' Out My Back Door and the anthemic As Long As I Can See the Light. Peppered with some superb blues standards and an eleven minute version of Gaye's I Heard it Through the Grapevine it becomes inherently impossible to dislike anything that's offered here.

Fogerty and co. really were on top form - those ever-strong vocals, driving drums and tireless playing. This really harks back to the days when music was purely just about that...MUSIC; not image, celebrity girlfriends and 3-year hiatuses. Fogerty and his men were from the long-lost era where bands could knock out 2-3 albums a year and still have time to tour. As it was once said - Fogerty wasn't just some white guy trying to emulate black blues; he was a guy who effectively created his own unique brand of white blues.

Rants aside this is a perfect album to spring any would be CCR fan into the fray and in it's new remastered (and repackaged) format it's as great as it ever was. Go buy!

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