Chronicle, Vol. 2
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD – playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.
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There aren’t too many bands who could put out an anthology album containing 20 songs (”Chronicle”) and still have enough first rate material left to issue a second album that’s equally strong. That CCR was able to do so is a testament to what a vastly talented group they were. “Chronicle Volume Two” contains a few leftover radio hits not included on the first “Chronicle” album, including “Born on the Bayou” and “Midnight Special.” It then offers up a generous helping of first rate album tracks, including “Cotton Fields,” “It Came Out of the Sky,” “Pagan Baby,” “Hideaway,” and “Molina.” Throw in some classic rock and blues covers “Before You Accuse Me,” “Hello Mary Lou” and “Good Golly Miss Molly,” and you have an excellent package on your hands. I actually prefer the second “Chronicle” album to the first because these are the songs that haven’t been overplayed on classic rock radio stations. Between the two albums, CCR’s heyday is well represented.
This follow up to Chronicle 1 is just as essential and rich as the first volume. This one consists mostly of album songs that were never released as singles. Some of them were. That’s something that makes this CD even more fun to listen too than the classic hit filled first volume. Everyone knows those songs, but a lot of these songs aren’t well known to the casual observer. You get cover versions of “Good Golly Miss Molly” and an unbelieveable pitch perfect cover of Ricky Nelson’s great hit “Hello Mary lou”. Fogerty was definitley channeling Ricky on that one!. It’s a mystery as to why a CCR classic such as “Born On The Bayou” is on this volume instead of the first one. Other gems here are “Don’t Look Now(It Ain’t You Or Me)”, the up tempo funk of “Born To Move”, and the rocker “Pagan Baby”. The band was known for doing fairly short to the point rock songs with no glitz or glamor. They are pretty much the quintessential rock band. There are many songs on here that you knew and heard of, but didn’t realize that it was them who did it. Songs like “The Midnight Special” and “Before You Accuse Me”. This collection also gives you the fun novelty rocker “It Came Out Of The Sky”. It also has the undoubtedly perfect ballad, “(Wish I Could) Hideaway”. If you have Volume one, then you need this one. It’s an essential piece of music that would be in any rock and roll fan’s collection.
The 20-track “Chronicle” retrospective is by far the best single-disc Creedence compilation out there, and this second volume makes the “Chronicle” package even better. There are no hit singles here, those were all on vol. I, but plenty of great album tracks, and while few of them are as immediately recognizable as “Proud Mary” or “Bad Moon Rising”, the overall quality of this material is very, very high.
Creedence put out some fabulous double-A-sided singles, but they weren’t just a singles band…there were excellent album tracks stacked away on all of their LPs, and these are (most of) the best of them. Acoustic folk-rock, tough, swampy blues-rock, rockabilly and country, it’s all here, and songs like the blistering rocker “It Came Out Of The Sky”, the country ballad “Looking For A Reason”, the spriritual-like “Don’t Look Now”, a groovy rendition of Leadbelly’s “Midnight Special”, and the bluesy “Tombstone Shadow” are among Creedence’s finest.
A superb compilation, almost as transcendent as volume I.