Creedence Clearwater Revival’s legendary long-lost recording and footage of their 1970 show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, including their 1969 hit “Proud Mary,” will be available for the first time ever.
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Available in multiple formats, Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, out Sept. 16, features the band’s 15-song set from April 14, 1970, at Royal Albert Hall, one of two sold-out nights at the venue—just days after The Beatles broke up and two years before CCR would also part ways. The set includes their hits “Born On The Bayou,” “Fortunate Son,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and never-released footage of the band performing “Proud Mary.”
The documentary concert feature film, Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, directed by Bob Smeaton, who previously helmed The Beatles Anthology and Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies) will accompany the live performance. Narrated by actor and musician Jeff Bridges, the film features CCR’s John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook and a look at the band’s earlier years in El Cerrito, California, on through their rise.
The multi-track tapes of the concert spent 50 years in storage before being restored and mixed by producer Giles Martin, son of longtime Beatles producer George Martin, and engineer Sam Okell, who also worked together on The Beatles’ 50th-anniversary editions of Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, as well as music for the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman and Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back series, and mastered by engineer Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios.
On November 14, the album and the film will be available as a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, limited to 5,000 copies. Individually numbered and housed in a 12” x 12” box, the set includes the Blu-ray of the documentary along with Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall on two 45-RPM 180-gram vinyl LPs as well as on CD. A second CD features music from the film, and recordings from the band’s earliest incarnations, including Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets and the Golliwogs in addition to a reproduction of the original 1970 tour program, a 17” x 24” poster, and a 16-page booklet featuring an excerpt from Bridges’ voice-over script.
Written by CCR’s John Fogerty and released on the band’s 1968 album—one of three the band released that year— Bayou Country, “Proud Mary” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969, and was later covered by Ike and Tina Turner in 1971. Turner’s version reached No. 4 on the chart and earned her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group. The CCR and Ike & Tina Turner’s versions of “Proud Mary” also received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards in 1998 and 2003, respectively.
Prior to their 1970 concert at Albert Hall, CCR had one of their biggest years in the band’s brief five-year lifespan. Creedence released their seventh and final album together, Mardi Gras, in 1972.
Photo: Joel Selvin / Shore Fire Media
