Search - Ccr :: Mardi Gras (20 Bit Mastering)

Most bands just fight behind closed doors, but THESE guys...

Gregory J. Bendokus | Lansford, PA United States | 09/14/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I still can't believe, after over 30 years of listening to CCR, that this album was actually released. I consider myself a huge CCR fan but this is one album that most definitely does not have a reason to exist. Yeah, we all know that Stu and Doug wanted to get in on the writing action, and that actually WOULD have been a great idea except for that fact that they couldn't write a song to save their lives. I can almost appreciate that Fogerty actually released this stuff, probably just to haunt those two guys for the rest of their lives. They deserve it. The fact that these two guys had the audacity to think that their first-ever songwriting efforts could even BEGIN to approach even the weakest Fogerty composition is absolutely mind-blowing to me. One wonders if they were acutally listening to the songs on the previous six albums they just made. Also, if they are such great songwriters, that must explain why they play SO many of their own compositions during their Revisited gigs. Yeah right. Don't even get me started on the Revisited thing...



I'm not leting Fogerty off the hook here either; considering he had just made 6 incredible albums before this to an exacting standard, I think it was beneath him to even release this and it cost him some artistic integrity, that's for sure. Yeah, go ahead and get pissed at your record company and your bandmates, but there's no need to take it out in the record-buying public by releasing this tripe. I know I just ravaged Stu and Doug above but I get the impression that Fogerty was no angel himself, I'm sure.



Ok, to be fair, I agree with some of the other reviews here, as there are actually some listenable moments on the Stu and Doug songs. But, as someone else has mentioned, the venom which Stu has in his singing makes for a quite uncomfortable listen. Looking back, I really feel bad for these guys that they couldn't have worked everything out and that this whole thing got so ugly for them. The first 6 albums by this band have provided me with literally a lifetime of enjoyment and it saddens me that all parties concerned probably look back at the creation of those albums with contempt.



At least this whole thing (probably) served as a lesson to future bands; if things are going south, go out on top. It worked great for the Police, Cream, and many other bands.



"

A good attempt

Craig | Greensboro, NC | 04/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mardi Gras is the last of the CCR albums and while it doesn't come close to "Cosmo's Factory" or "Willie and the Poorboys" it is still a decent album. Although the band had lost a member(rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty) they were able to put aside their differences for one final album. Everything on this album was divided equally, so for fans that aren't so welcoming to a lead singer beside John this isn't the album to start off your collection. I know that John is better than Stu and Doug at anything dealing with the album and they'd be no where without him, but you should still listen to their songs.

Although John only does a third of the work, which means Doug and Stu do sing some of the songs, there are still some good songs on this album. Even though John's "Sweet-Hitchhiker" and, what I think is one of the band's best, "Someday Never Comes" were the only true hits from this album there are a few that could be hits. Stu Cook should honestly stick to the bass even though his songs are...decent, they aren't bad, the guy just can't sing. Doug Clifford isn't that bad as one would expect although he is a drummer he's decent. John wrote and produced 3 songs and sung 4("Hello Mary-Lou" being a remake)

1. "Lookin For A Reason"-doesn't really sound like a CCR song and it foreshadows all of the controversy that the band was involved with at the time.

5. "Someday Never Comes"-hands down the best track on the album and one of their best songs ever. A long sorrowful tune that pretty much says everything is over.

8. "Helly Mary-Lou"-a fine remake like all CCR covers, this is really the only song where the band is a "whole", when they really come together.

10. "Sweet-Hitchhiker"-I would have to say this song is decent, I think it is kinda over-rated but it is still a classic.

Cook and Clifford's attempts were not as successful as Fogerty's but I still like some of their songs. They each had a song trying to clear up the controversy in the band, Cook's "Take It Like A Friend" and Clifford's "Need Someone To Hold".

2. "Take It Like A Friend"-(Cook) A decent song for someone's first attempt, trying to clear up disputes with John.

3. "Need Someone To Hold"-(Clifford) A good song that also tries to clear things up with John but it isn't that bad

4. "Tearin Up The Country"-(Clifford) My least favorite of Doug's, not bad but it proves that CCR wouldn't be CCR without John.

6. "What Are You Gonna Do"-(Clifford) By far my favorite non-Fogerty-CCR song it has a catchy tune and it is so simple but good.

7. "Sail Away"-(Cook) Probably his best song, but it still isn't a hit. Decent overall.

9. "Door to Door"-(Cook) I think his worst song, Cook is the worst singer of the three and this casts it in stone. His voice sounds scratchy and I think it isn't that bad but it definately isn't that good.

Mardi Gras is a fine attempt by a band snowballing down a hill and you should own it not only to complete your collection but also hear some unknown classics as well as chart-toppers."

(1.5 stars) Eurgh. Just eurgh.

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 03/06/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Generally when your brother leaves your band, you should know that the ship has sunk. Alas, somebody forgot to tell John Fogerty this. This story behind this truly wretched album that I've always heard is that not even Stu and Doug wanted to make this, but John forced them both into making it and writing their own songs, which are atrocious. All six of them. They're both pretty bad singers: Stu totally overdoes it, and Doug puts no feeling into what he sings at all. They're also both pretty bad songwriters: these songs are hookless messes, stuff that would otherwise have been standard-issue country if 'tweren't for that their songwriters were in over their heads and hadn't the faintest idea of what they were doing. Most of them are fast, with a sort of stale, forced energy that often comes out of a band that's at the end of their rope: under Forgerty, something like "Take it Like a Friend", "What Are You Gonna Do", and "Door to Door" would've been exciting and full of inescapable melody. I know this because Fogerty's rocker, "Sweet Hitch-Hiker", is quite some song, unbridled rock that recalls the band's glory days. But here they're dry, stupid, and half-hearted. And there's nothing one can do to save "Tearin' Up the Country", which shows the group degenerated to the point of caricature. Same for the two ballads - again, had Fogerty directed them, they would've probably had some redeeming qualities - emotive singing, maybe, or perhaps interesting lyrics. In other words, they could've been like "Someday Never Comes", a gripping ballad featuring one of John's best vocals. But "Sail Away" is disgraceful, and "Need Somebody to Hold" is only a bit better. Plus there's a weak cover of the country classic "Hello Mary Lou". Fogerty's two aforementioned classics are really all that keeps this album from being even worse than it already is - and even then, his third tune ("Lookin' for a Reason") is quite poor as well. To think that, two years beforehand, this group put out Cosmo's Factory. That's pretty screwed, if you ask me."