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Mardi Gras (album)

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Mardi Gras
Studio album by
Creedence Clearwater Revival
ReleasedApril 11, 1972 (1972-04-11)
RecordedSpring 1971, January 1972
StudioWally Heider (San Francisco)
Fantasy Records Studio A in Berkeley, California[1]
GenreCountry rock[2]
Length28:20
LabelFantasy
Producer
Creedence Clearwater Revival chronology
Pendulum
(1970) 		Mardi Gras
(1972) 		Creedence Gold
(1972)
Singles from Mardi Gras
  1. "Sweet Hitch-Hiker"/"Door to Door"
    Released: July 1971 (U.S.)
  2. "Someday Never Comes"/"Tearin' Up the Country""
    Released: May 1972 (U.S.)

Mardi Gras is the seventh and final studio album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released on April 11, 1972 by Fantasy Records. Recorded after the departure of guitarist Tom Fogerty, it was the band's only studio album as a trio, and featured songs written, sung, and produced by each of the remaining members, rather than just John Fogerty. The recording sessions were marred by personal and creative tensions, and the group disbanded after a short U.S. tour to support the album.

Overview

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Unlike previous albums, on Mardi Gras, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford shared songwriting and production duties with John Fogerty, and they also provided their own lead vocal contributions for the first time. Due to the quality of what resulted when Fogerty ceded some of his control over the band to the other members, Jon Landau opened his original Rolling Stone review with the statement: "In the future, Mardi Gras may be known as Fogerty's Revenge."[3] On October 16, 1972, six months after the release of the album, CCR and its record label, Fantasy Records, released a statement announcing the official disbanding of the group.

Production

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Except for "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" and "Door to Door", which were recorded in the spring of 1971, Mardi Gras was recorded in January 1972. After Tom Fogerty, John's older brother, had departed the group in early 1971 following a dispute that was, in large part, caused by his desire to play a larger creative role and John's insistence on being the band's only singer/songwriter/business manager. John Fogerty only contributed three original songs to Mardi Gras and also sang lead on a fourth, a cover of the 1961 Ricky Nelson hit "Hello Mary Lou". According to Cook and Clifford, it was John Fogerty's idea for all of the remaining members to contribute an equal number of new songs, despite their reservations.[4] They believed he was bitter over Tom Fogerty's departure and their own requests to have additional say in the group's musical decisions, and that he was looking for an excuse to break up CCR to pursue a solo career. When Clifford and Cook at first demurred at the idea of having to supply two-thirds of the album's material themselves, they have said John Fogerty threatened to quit the band, and that, when they agreed, he refused to contribute any vocals or instrumentation to their songs, except for guitar.[4]

The album was a commercial success, peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and going gold, and contained two Top 40 singles: "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" and "Someday Never Comes" (both of which written and sung by Fogerty), but mounting financial and legal woes compounded the fragile situation within the band, and CCR disbanded on October 16, 1972, shortly after the Mardi Gras tour ended.[4] In 1976, John Fogerty told Rolling Stone: "I figured that Creedence made six albums. Let me count... the first one, Bayou Country, Green River, Willy and the Poor Boys, Cosmo's Factory, Pendulum... yeah, six. I wouldn’t even count Mardi Gras and neither would anybody else. I had no control over anything after that. The rest is horse manure. Baloney."[5]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Christgau's Record GuideB[2]
CreemA−[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]

Reviews for the album were mixed to poor,[9] with Jon Landau writing in his May 25, 1972, review for Rolling Stone that it was, "relative to a group's established level of performance, the worst album I have ever heard from a major rock band."[3] In a rare positive review, Gene Sculatti of Phonograph Record praised John Fogerty's performance on the record, but noted the absence of Tom Fogerty as a downside. He concluded: "It may not be Green River or Cosmo's Factory, but Mardi Gras offers some of Creedence's finest moments, and it's a damn good answer to any and all of those 'Rock is Dying' clowns."[10]

Mardi Gras was not remastered and reissued on CD until 2000. A remastered version of the album was featured on the 40th anniversary CCR box set, but not as a stand-alone album. It was remastered and released on 180 Gram Vinyl by Analogue Productions in 2006. The album was re-released in remastered format as a Japan exclusive in January 2011.

Track listing

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Side One
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead singerLength
1."Lookin' for a Reason"John FogertyFogerty3:28
2."Take It Like a Friend"Stu CookCook3:00
3."Need Someone to Hold"
Clifford3:01
4."Tearin' Up the Country"CliffordClifford2:15
5."Someday Never Comes"FogertyFogerty4:01
Side Two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead singerLength
1."What Are You Gonna Do"CliffordClifford2:42
2."Sail Away"CookCook2:28
3."Hello Mary Lou"
Fogerty2:14
4."Door to Door"CookCook2:09
5."Sweet Hitch-Hiker"FogertyFogerty2:59

Personnel

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Creedence Clearwater Revival

Technical personnel

  • Tamaki Beck – mastering supervision
  • Bob Fogerty – photography
  • Russ Gary – engineering
  • George Horn – remastering
  • Tony Lane – art direction, design, cover design
  • Shigeo Miyamoto – mastering
  • Craig Werner – liner notes on CD version
  • Baron Wolman – photography

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications for Mardi Gras
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[21] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Gary, Russ (May 15, 2006). "Who plays what instruments on Creedence Mardi Gras". forums.stevehoffman.tv. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Creedence Clearwater Revival: Mardi Gras". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the '70s. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306804093. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Landau, Jon (May 26, 1976). "Mardi Gras". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c The Classics with Steve Downs
  5. ^ Fogerty, John (May 6, 1976). "John's Clearwater Credo: Proud Fogerty Post-Creedence". Rolling Stone (Interview). Interviewed by Cameron Crowe.
  6. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Mardi Gras – Creedence Clearwater Revival". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (August 1972). "The Christgau Consumer Guide". Creem. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  8. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Creedence Clearwater Revival". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  9. ^ Bad Moon Rising: The Unauthorized History of Creedence Clearwater Revival Archived April 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Hank Bordowitz, Chicago Review Press, July 1, 2007. p. 143. Accessed via Google Books January 31, 2015.
  10. ^ Sculatti, Gene (May 1972). "Creedence Clearwater Revival: Mardi Gras (Fantasy)". Phonograph Record. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021 – via Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  11. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 7723". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  13. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Mardi Gras" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Mardi Gras" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  15. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  16. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved July 8, 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Creedence Clearwater Revival".
  17. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  18. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Mardi Gras". Hung Medien. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  19. ^ "Creedence Clearwater Revival Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  20. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1972. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  21. ^ "American album certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Mardi Gras". Recording Industry Association of America.
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