Chronicle, Vol. 2 (Remastered)

Where Chronicle Vol. 1 wields CCR’s original 19 hits, Vol. 2 cements their staying power with an excellent selection of hit- worthy album cuts. Why “Born On the Bayou” wasn’t initially chosen as a single (it was the B-Side to “Proud Mary”) remains a mystery. The song’s swampy twang is immediately fetching, with that opening guitar-picked hook, the mellow voodoo groove, and one of John Fogerty’s best vocal performances — not to mention, it convinced everyone that four guys from the Oakland suburbs of El Cerrito came from the gator-infested wetlands of Louisiana. And aside from the Little Richard staple, you won’t find a more rocking version of John Marascalo and Bumps Blackwell’s “Good Golly Miss Molly” than the one here. CCR’s gospel-rock take on the old traditional folk song “The Midnight Special” is so good that it inspired a great television musical variety show by the same name in 1973. ” If Vol.1 turned you on to CCR, the tastefully remastered Vol.2 will turn you into the kind of fan that looks for other epic CCR album gems like the strangely absent “Keep On Chooglin’.”