"Green River," Creedence Clearwater Revival's third album, is generally dark and brooding despite its opening, up-tempo namesake hit. "Green River" (the album, not the song) is about the blues as seen through the eyes of a young man in the late 1960s.

Put into commercial focus after a big hit with "Proud Mary" on its previous album, Creedence Clearwater Revival ("CCR" for the rest of this review) apparently wanted to be considered more for its artistic expression than its commercial hits. So although there were two big hits on "Green River," most of the album is about death and misery.

The guys did have a way with this material, however, giving it that swampy, soulful sound that only CCR ever achieved. Southern rock and country bands would borrow back the riffs and sounds that CCR developed out of the blues and early rock and roll, giving us Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers and even groups like the Georgia Satellites and Kentucky Headhunters but no one has yet tried to mimic that dragged-from-the-swamp sound of CCR. (Okay, maybe "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" by the Hollies, but that's it.)

The members of CCR are John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook. John Fogerty is responsible for the lead singing, lead guitar playing, musical arrangements, production and writing of all the original songs. Doug Clifford's drumming is mixed loud, front and center on "Green River" and it is always rock-steady. Stu Cook's bass is more pedestrian on this album, playing the basic root note of the chord and runs to and from one root note to another. He does surprise now and then, but he isn't given the opportunity to shine as he did on the group's earlier "Bayou Country" album. Tom Fogerty's rhythm guitar is always there, always on-rhythm and seldom calling attention to itself.

The album kicks off with "Green River," a rollicking, happy childhood-based song that sounds torn from the bayou. On this album and in this song, John Fogerty layered the guitar leads, often with different guitars in different stereo channels. He also plays a dobro (an acoustic guitar with a resonant chamber made of metal) for some of the leads in this song. The steady beat drives this song and helped make it a hit.

"Commotion" is one of CCR's patented one-chord songs, a dark complaint about the hectic nature of modern life. The words are good but the single chord pounding away gets tedious after a while.

"Tombstone Shadow" is a terrific uptempo blues song with fun, spooky black magic lyrics. In listening to these CCR albums recently, I'm struck by how close the band stuck to pure blues for so many of its songs. "Tombstone Shadow" is among the best of CCR's blues songs, and that's saying a lot.

I've previously noted that CCR sings about everything but romantic love. However, that topic is hinted at in "Wrote a Song For Everyone," a long, slow song about failing to communicate. It's a good song with well-crafted lyrics, but the prominent beat steals thunder from both the words and John Fogerty's singing. Don't expect an obviously romantic theme in this song, by the way... as I said, it's just a hint.

"Bad Moon Rising" is another of CCR's smash hits and the one that has the line that gets garbled into "There's a bathroom on the right." (It actually is "There's a bad moon on the rise.") Three chords, a rockabilly beat and dark words about vague danger... what more do you want in a rock song? Okay, sex... but CCR didn't do sex and you will have to make do with what's here.

I recently got a live recording of James Taylor from the period just before he became famous. He plays several of his best songs from his "Sweet Baby James" album and yet gets just polite applause from an audience that is clearly unfamiliar with his material and not willing to commit itself to this unknown musician. This is the theme of "Lodi," the next song on CCR's "Green River" album. In "Lodi," the band is stuck in some god-forsaken little town with nothing to show for its efforts besides meaningless promises from a "man from the magazine" and lack of attention from drunks in the crowd. There is a Lodi in California, so I assume that is the inspiration for this pretty good song, which uses more sophisticated chords than CCR's usual blues-driven fare.

"Cross-tie Walker" is another of CCR's rockabilly charmers, similar in sound to "Bad Moon Rising." You can almost see the two-stepping dancers when you hear this fun up-beat song.

So much for fun and up-beat... "Sinister Purpose" is a dark, gloomy thing that tries to stuff the world's misery into its 3:19 length. It doesn't succeed and it mostly sounds like CCR was trying to impress listeners -- or rock critics -- with the group's seriousness.

The album wraps up with the old blues number, "The Night Time Is the Right Time," which could vaguely be considered a "love song" I suppose. This is the only song on the album not written by John Fogerty and, with it, the band pays homage to its rhythm and blues roots. It sounds forced to me.

Like most of CCR's albums, this one is very short. The running time for these 9 songs is a mere 28:50. Some of this can be excused by understanding that this was one of three(!) albums that CCR released in 1969. But that just means that you had to pay more to get a reasonable amount of music.

The liner notes are nonexistent beyond the names of the songs and the names of the band members. That's it... there's not even a copyright date.

"Green River" did have two big hits on it: "Green River" and "Bad Moon Rising." In addition, there are three or four really good songs done with CCR's swampy rockabilly style that was so distinctive both in 1969 and today. The best of the non-hits -- "Tombstone Shadow," "Lodi" and "Cross-tie Walker" are very good and would be the pride of a lesser group.

But there's not as much for your money with "Green River" as you deserve. Sure, the band is working hard but so are you and money doesn't grow on trees. I won't fault you if you run out and get "Green River" but you just might make do with the "greatest hits" CD and bypass this somewhat skimpy release.

I still like "Green River" and recommend it, but it represents the nadir of value for CCR recordings.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving