Xmastime Doc Review

Because I have human ears connected to my human brain I love CCR and was looking forward to the new doc about them on Netflix. However, while the concert footage from the Royal Albert Hall is incredible - they were at their absolute peak - it's pretty clear that in the end they're just not really that interesting as a band or as people. John Fogerty himself can be somewhat amusing in that he constantly vacillates back and forth between his working man of the people persona and sounding like weird hippy youth of the future, but that's about it. The other three - including his older brother who was a total shithead to him up to an including on his deathbed - are mere dull mortals who could be anybody, and should have considered themselves as lottery winners before shooting themselves in the foot with the oldest rock cliche in the world: "Now that we're rich and famous it's time to resent the guy with all the actual talent and work ethic who made it happen for us". An easy parallel between Fogerty and Paul Westerberg can be made (other than the flannel shirts) in that they both were their respective band's entire creative and directional vision who had to deal with his much less-talented bandmates once they started getting some level of success. The other parallel would be that anyone who doesn't include the both of them in any list of the Top 5 American songwriters in rock & roll history are just out of their goddam minds.

If you know absolutely nothing about CCR then by all means watch the doc; otherwise, skipping ahead to the concert footage is well worth your time, particularly in how revealing it is that on top of everything else, Fogerty - John, not dipshit Tom - fucking CARRIED them onstage with his lead guitar playing.