Released in 1972, Mardi Gras was Creedence Clearwater Revival's last album. Most consider it the group's worst album and Rolling Stone Magazine called it the worst album by a rock band ever.
The project was mired in discontent, with Tom Fogerty leaving beforehand and John Fogerty only making a half-hearted effort. The rhythm section of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford – never considered songwriters before – were forced to pick up the slack. Tom, Stu and Doug felt that John was too controlling and unwilling to listen to their ideas, and John was angry that they didn’t seem to appreciate that their success was mostly due to him.
But what if cooler heads had prevailed? What if instead of Tom leaving the band, everyone took a year off to do their own thing? Tom could release his two solo albums of 1972 (Tom Fogerty and Excalibur), and John and Doug issued one apiece the same year (Blue Ridge Rangers and Cosmo, respectively). Then, they could reconvene for one last CCR album that was still dominated by John but also more of a group effort.
SIDE A
1. Sweet Hitchhiker
2. Lookin’ for a Reason
3. Mystic Isle Avalon
4. What Are You Gonna Do
5. Back in the Hills
SIDE B
1. Joyful Resurrection
2. Hello Mary Lou
3. Door to Door
4. You Don’t Owe Me
5. Someday Never Comes
To revamp Mardi Gras, it was first important to remove the worst songs, which I believe were “Sail Away,” “Take It Like a Friend,” “Tearin’ Up the Country” and “Need Someone to Hold.” Not coincidentally, these are all songs by either Stu or Doug. I kept one song by each, “What Are You Gonna Do” and “Door to Door.” In the end, I kept only six of the album's 10 tracks.
In 1973, John released a single credited to the Blue Ridge Rangers. But unlike the album under that name that was made up of all covers, both sides of the single were written by John: “You Don’t Owe Me” and “Back in the Hills.” So, I included both songs.
Also, that year, Tom recorded a song titled “Mystic Isle Avalon” that actually includes all four members of CCR – in essence, the last CCR-recorded song. The track appeared on Tom’s Zephyr National album, which has Stu and Doug on every track. I also took “Joyful Resurrection” – the same album’s single – to include on the revised Mardi Gras.
Finally, I arranged the tracks in a way that I thought worked best. “Lookin’ for a Reason” was a terrible opening track for the album in my opinion, and instead I opened it with the best track on the album, the barn-burnin' “Sweet Hitchhiker.” "Lookin' for a Reason" is moved to the second track, followed by Tom's "Mystic Isle Avalon" and Doug's "What Are We Gonna Do." The first side ends with John's Blue Ridge Rangers track "Back in the Hills."
Tom’s song “Joyful Resurrection” opens the second side, followed by the cover of "Hello Mary Lou" and Stu's "Door to Door." The album closes with John’s “Someday Never Comes,” which seems appropriate.
Overall, while I still don't think this would have been the best CCR album, I do believe it’s a considerable improvement over what was released. I kept the original cover.
Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.
