Basically a filmed concert augmented to feature length with a cobbled together bio of the band, this documentary delivers despite its modest ambitions, owing mainly to the fact that CCR was one of the few groups from the classic rock era who hasn’t been visually memorialized to within an inch of its reputation. I assume that’s because of leader John Fogerty’s decades-long refusal to do anything that would make money for his old label Fantasy, which screwed him out of his writing royalties, not to mention the enduring bad blood between him and the other surviving members. None of that enmity is apparent in the footage here, which was filmed in 1970 on the band’s first-ever European tour. As it happens, they played London’s Royal Albert Hall during the same week that the Beatles announced their breakup, a coincidence that prompts the director, Bob Smeaton, to insert comments that compare the two groups, which are not as farfetched as they might seem. Though CCR’s range was narrower than the Beatles and their tenure at the top of charts shorter, within their brief window of popularity at the turn of the decade they couldn’t be beat in terms of sales and quality of product. 

The interviews with the members, which mostly register their impressions of Europe, are perfunctory at best, but the mini group bio is enlightening in its simplicity and hind-sightedness. Some fans may be surprised to learn that three of the members had been playing together since 1959, and while I was aware that two were in the service at the height of the Vietnam War (John Fogerty had some kind of administrative stateside assignment), it didn’t occur to me that the band essentially remade themselves when they got back together after those tours-of-duty. As John says at one point, he wrote “Proud Mary” the day he was discharged. As related in the distinctive Dude-ish cadences of narrator Jeff Bridges, the information feels as authoritative (this is, to be sure, not a movie about the Eagles) as only a fan’s reminiscence could be. I’m also reminded of how ecumenical American TV was at the end of the 60s—one of the best clips is the band performing on “The Andy Williams Show”—because what their story makes clear is that CCR fell fully formed into a market that was perfectly primed for them. Timing was everything, which is why Fantasy could exploit them so mercilessly, though, at this point in their career, they seemed to be fine with that. Less than two years later it would all be over, amazingly enough. 

But the concert is the meat of the movie, and it’s more than satisfying—good sound, good camera placement and editing. The revelation is not so much John’s full-on professionalism and enthusiasm but Doug Clifford’s abandon behind the kit. He really was a great drummer, fluid and funky and minimal, and Smeaton (or whoever put together the concert footage) gives him plenty of exposure. Uncharacteristic for that time, the set is short and there’s no encore, but that, in a way, lends the performance the extra measure of authenticity the band was famous for. It’s no bullshit rock, which is why it remains timeless. 

Now playing in Tokyo at Human Trust Cinema Shibuya (03-5468-5551), Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho (03-6268-0015).

Travelin’ Band home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2022 Concord Music Group, Inc.