Make no mistake, Willie & the Poor Boys is a fun record, perhaps
the breeziest album CCR ever made. Apart from the eerie minor-key closer
"Effigy" (one of John Fogerty's most haunting numbers), there
is little of the doom that colored Green River. Fogerty's rage remains,
blazing to the forefront on "Fortunate Son," a working-class
protest song that cuts harder than any of the explicit Vietnam protest
songs of the era, which is one of the reasons that it hasn't aged where
its peers have. Also, there's that unbridled vocal from Fogerty and the
ferocious playing on CCR, which both sound fresh as they did upon release.
"Fortunate Son" is one of the greatest, hardest rock & rollers
ever cut, so it might seem to be out of step with an album that is pretty
laid-back and friendly, but there's that elemental joy that by late '69
was one of CCR's main trademarks. That joy runs throughout the album,
from the gleeful single "Down on the Corner" and the lazy jugband
blues of "Poorboy Shuffle" through the great slow blues jam
"Feelin' Blue" to the great rockabilly spiritual "Don't
Look Now," one of Fogerty's overlooked gems. The covers don't feel
like throwaways, either, since both "Cotton Fields" and "The
Midnight Special" have been overhauled to feel like genuine CCR songs.
It all adds up to one of the greatest pure rock & roll records ever
cut.
(by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All
Music Guide)
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