John Fogerty - The Blue Ridge Rangers (1973)

The Blue Ridge Rangers is the first solo album by John Fogerty, the former lead singer and lead guitarist of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Upon its initial release by Fantasy Records in 1973, the album was credited to "The Blue Ridge Rangers" with no mention of Fogerty on the cover. Fogerty chose to do this in order to distance himself from his Creedence legacy. The LP was later reissued and credited to John Fogerty with a different cover design. The CD reissue restores the original silhouette cover photo and credits the album to Fogerty. The album is made up entirely of traditional and country covers, and features Fogerty playing all the instruments.
With wonderfully chosen songs like "Hearts of Stone" and George Jones' classic country weeper "She Thinks I Still Care," John Fogerty's solo debut with The Blue Ridge Rangers has held up well over the last two decades. It isn't the most supple or technically proficient one-man recording of all time, but it's a wonderfully engaging record; upbeat, unpretentious, and loaded with good songs. Fogerty's rigid, no-frills drumming took a lot of heat for being mechanical, but no one has ever explained how Fogerty's abilities on the trap kit are significantly different from Creedence's Doug Clifford. In retrospect, this was a tremendously risky record to make; country music in the early '70s was regarded as the domain of right-wing, rock & roll-hating Nashville traditionalists, and it was reasonable to assume that fans (even staunch ones) wouldn't take kindly to this genre switch. While it wasn't a huge success, it was in no way a disaster, and perhaps more importantly, served as a much-needed rock & roll history lesson.
The album peaked at #47 on the charts. Two singles from the album became hits: "Jambalaya" and "Hearts of Stone".

Track listing

01. "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues"   (Traditional)  - 2:29
02. "Somewhere Listening (For My Name)"   (Archie Brownlee)  - 2:37
03. "You're the Reason"   (Fred Henley, Terry Fell, Mildred Imes, Bobby Edwards)  - 3:12
04. "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"   (Hank Williams)  - 3:15
05. "She Thinks I Still Care"   (Dickey Lee Lipscomb, Steve Duffy)  - 2:57
06. "California Blues (Blue Yodel #4)"   (Jimmie Rodgers)  - 3:04
07. "Workin' on a Building"   (Traditional)  - 4:34
08. "Please Help Me, I'm Falling"   (Don Robertson, Hal Blair)  - 2:49
09. "Have Thine Own Way, Lord"   (Adelaide A. Pollard, George C. Stebbins)  - 2:59
10. "I Ain't Never"   (Mel Tillis, Webb Pierce)  - 2:49
11. "Hearts of Stone"   (Rudy Jackson, Eddy Ray)  - 2:10
12. "Today I Started Loving You Again"   (Merle Haggard, Bonnie Owens)  - 3:12

Credits
Producer, Arranged By, Vocals [Featuring] – John Fogerty
Engineer – Russ Gary, Skip Shimmin
Remastered By – Phil De Lancie

Notes
Genre:  Roots Rock
Length:  37:20

© 1973 Fantasy Records

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John Fogerty - Eye Of The Zombie (1986)

"Eye Of The Zombie" is a 1986 album by American singer/songwriter John Fogerty. It was his first album with a backing band, and it includes the Creedence-inspired track "Change in the Weather" as well as "Wasn't That a Woman" and "Soda Pop," his first forays into 60s-70s Motown-sounding funk and R&B. Fogerty hasn't played any material from this album in his concerts since the "Eye of the Zombie" tour in 1986.

He may have taken a decade to cut his third album, but John Fogerty wasted no time in delivering a sequel to his blockbuster 1985 comeback "Centerfield", rushing "Eye of the Zombie" into stores in 1986. "Eye of the Zombie" bears every mark of being a rush job from this notorious rock & roll perfectionist, containing only a couple of songs that rival those on "Centerfield" chief among them is the doomy groove "Change in the Weather", a tune he later salvaged with a stripped down re-recording on 2009’s The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again -- but what really sinks the record is its absurdly synthesized production, a clanking, cavernous collection of keyboards, squealing controlled distortion, and conflicting drum programs. To a certain extent, this unpleasantness may be intentional because at its core "Eye of the Zombie" is a very angry album, finding Fogerty railing against all manners of ‘80s evils, whether it’s crass consumerism, blaring headlines, or the violent policies they chronicle. Instead of pairing this doom to some swampy choogle, Fogerty sets it to too-tight synth rhythms and encases it in glassy production that not only is the antithesis of his rage, it undoes otherwise amiable cuts like the seemingly sunny soul-pop “Knockin’ on Your Door.” Track for track, it’s a misfire of staggering proportions, one that halted Fogerty’s comeback and sent him back into seclusion for another decade.

Track listing

01.  "Goin' Back Home"  (John Fogerty)  - 3:34

02.  "Eye of the Zombie"  (John Fogerty)  - 4:35

03.  "Headlines"  (John Fogerty)  - 4:29

04.  "Knockin' on Your Door"  (John Fogerty)  - 4:18

05.  "Change in the Weather"  (John Fogerty)  - 6:48

06.  "Violence Is Golden"  (John Fogerty)  - 5:20

07.  "Wasn't That a Woman"  (John Fogerty)  - 4:12

08.  "Soda Pop"  (John Fogerty)  - 5:54

09.  "Sail Away"  (John Fogerty)  - 4:41

Released:  October 1, 1986

Genre:  Heartland rock

Label:  Warner Bros.

Length:  44:07

Producer:  John Fogerty

Personnel

John Fogerty - vocals, guitar, keyboards

Neil Stubenhaus - bass

John Robinson - drums, percussion

Alan Pasqua - keyboards

Bobby King, Willie Greene Jr., Terry Evans - background vocals

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