5 Mediocre Albums By Great Bands

Creedence Clearwater Revival were one of the great American bands of the 20th century. Their brand of boogie style rock mixed with country and blues still has the power to conjure up memories from the Vietnam War and political strife of the late 1960's. However, as the band began to fall apart towards the end of that decade, their last album was an absolute disaster.

After rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty left the band, frontman John Fogerty decided to continue making the album as a trio. Amid all this, band members Stu Cook and Doug Clifford were pushing to contribute more musically. With Fogerty uninspired, many of the other members' songs appear on the record, which range from pleasant and inoffensive to grating and so-bad-they're-good quality.

Fogerty did have a few quality songs lying around though, like the ballad "Someday Never Comes" and the barnburner "Sweet Hitch Hiker." But this album feels like a project that was released kicking and screaming out the door. When other artists were making bold innovations as they transitioned into the 1970's, CCR fell apart and put out a half-baked boogie record so they could fulfill the rest of their contractual obligations.