Cosmo’s Factory

This is a James Last version of Trout Mask Replica. Non-Stop Chug-A-Lug Blues Rock Party.

All the songs sound the same. In fact they all sound like the same Chuck Berry song played endlessly in a pub in the Isle of Man. And Manx Blues really sucks. It’s difficult to tell where one rumpty-tum bluesy boogie ends and the next begins.

The musicians and singer are limited but those limitations lead to a few interesting moments. This band probably got worse as they became more competent so vacuous are the ideas.

This albums inclusion is illustrative of the American bias in what is supposed to be a British book. Not everything the gatekeepers of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame or the Rolling Stone love is worthwhile. A very brief flash in the pan here and quickly forgotten, I bet they still get played at Trump rallys.

3 songs I would consider all time greats. 11 min version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine that doesn't touch the original was too over indulgent for my liking. 3.5/5. Raising to 4.

Hard to beat this for nostalgia rock.

What the… a second album by CCR this week!
Again, not so random, maybe more luck…
I can’t believe this is their fifth album in 2 years!
It’s got a nice, warm sound capturing some great performances.
Along with the numerous covers, they really seem to be paying homage to their roots and influences on this album although maybe that’s their sound, and if it is, it does sound very refined at this point in their career.
Although the long ones here might be a tad long (but that’s how I felt when I heard the other album this week) it was a good listen.

To be honest, going into this I wasn't all that excited. Before this, I had heard a few songs in passing, didn't think too much of it, and never really looked deeper. Besides, I think it's reasonable to be a little skeptical of a swamp rock band from California. But I was surprised by a good few things while listening to this. Firstly, I knew like 3 or 4 of these songs. Second, CCR's swamp rock is remarkably convincing. And third, this was really really good. As a CCR skeptic, I am so glad they kicked this album off with one of the better songs. Ramble Tamble has so much energy and groove, and its command over momentum is truly exciting. From here, we have the blues rock of songs like Travelin' Band and Up Around The Bend. We have dour reflections on Vietnam in Who Can Stop The Rain and the slightly ominous Run Through The Jungle. And we have the incredibly sweet sounding Lookin' Out My Back Door, a song with such innocence that it is the only other piece of music in the folder in my mind with I Think We Are Going To Be Friends by The White Stripes (which may be a really weird take, now that I'm thinking about it). These songs are all unexpectedly fantastic. The four covers here are even particularly inspired, although I do think that Ooby Dooby and Before you Accuse Me are probably the weakest songs on the album. But conversely, My Baby Left Me is strong, and I Heard It Through The Grapevine is *very* strong (and it better be, it's like 11 minutes long). Cosmo's Factory closes with Long As I Can See The Light, another very sweet cut, and a great ballad to tie it all up (with great sax to boot). I will say, being completely won over by a CCR album was not on my to-do list today, but I'll never complain about discovering more great music. They capture the sound and atmosphere of blues, southern rock, and the "swamp sound" perfectly on Cosmo's factory and a lot of the songs here are already becoming my favorites within the genre. A couple of weaker covers and some of the best songs here being criminally short are really the only complaints I have here (I would easily take an extra minute or two of Up Around The Bend, Lookin' Out My Back door, and Who Can Stop The Rain). But at the end of the day, I'd rather an album leave me wanting more than being overstuffed. This is great music.

No

I've been blessed with CCR two days in a row. They're so great.

Grapevine lowkey ate

I’m at a 10.

No flaws there. Not a single one. Just a CCR masterclass, really. John Fogerty’s vocals are on point here, the writing is about as sharp as it could possibly be, and the band is firing on all cylinders, especially in the guitar / percussion work. That is a stellar 42 minutes. The only track I knew going in was “Up Around The Bend” (all timer, obviously) – of course, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” gave me a classic “this is that song” moment, & “Who’ll Stop The Rain” did as well. The cover of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” here is electric; maybe just a tad long, but the way it builds & evolves around the melody for the final 7 minutes or so after playing it perfectly straight in the beginning is just super cool to hear.

“Ramble Tamble” is a great opener, & I liked the blues tones of “Before You Accuse Me” a lot. I’m surprised at the 1-2 punch of Little Richard inspired tracks for “Travelin’ Band” & “Ooby Dooby”, both of which gave me really big “Tutti Frutti” vibes, especially the latter. It just makes me think we need more upbeat, purely energetic tracks like that nowadays; make it go viral on TikTok next year or something. “Run Through The Jungle” is immediately striking with the intro & outro effect, and despite John Fogerty’s protests, that is a perfect anti-Vietnam track. “My Baby Left Me” has huge Ray Charles energy, in a good way, and I love the way the instrumentation layers itself throughout “Long As I Can See The Light”, which is a really strong capper on an album that’s loosely centered around traveling & leaving to escape some sort of hardship on a vast majority of the tracks, given that he finally finds a desire to return home, according to the lyrics.

I really, truly don’t have any complaints. That’s as close to perfect as you can get, I think. Stop reading this & just go listen to it, if you somehow haven’t; a foot-stomping banger of a time, elevated by John Fogerty’s voice and his pen, capturing the very frustrated essence of 1969 / 1970, in a way that just rocks like a motherfucker. I loved that – an easy, easy 10. I can only hope “Green River” is just as good.

Tuneful primitivism. Another great collection of originals and covers. Last in an amazing run of albums.

Damn good rock, genuinely enjoyed it.

This was a killer album. Not a substandard track on it

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Ganz guter 60/70s Rock, aber auch nicht mega

This is proper good. Really, it is! I've never taken much of a plunge into CCR despite the constant banging on about them from my fellow pub-goers, and on this evidence I 100% get the love for them.

Jubilant, swinging rock and roll at its foundations, there is also a healthy and very tasteful country influence weaved into the fabric here, not dominating the sound but accentuating it very well. A deceptively simple album on the surface of it, but there were some interesting variations and subtle switch ups in time signatures and song structures to keep each track fresh in direct succession from one another. It chugs along brilliantly whilst avoiding becoming too formulaic, and the playing here is really tight. Interesting to note that the album's title derives from the meticulous rehearsal sessions which were conducted in drummer Doug Clifford (Cosmo)'s warehouse, though this doesn't pervade into the music too much for me as to detract from the intimate nature of it.

Another one to whack onto the wishlist, honestly there is very little, if any fault I can pick with this one.

The first couple songs of the album, in my opinion don't quite warm you up for the awesomeness of the rest of it. Traveling band, Lookin' Out My Backdoor, Run Through the Jungle, should I just list all of the rest of the tracks because there's more bangers than not.

It has some great songs, but honestly they all sound too similar. I like everything about every song though. Nothing bad about this album. Just there's also nothing in this album that makes me too excited. It's really solid and I hope to listen to these songs another time.

Absolutely classic album by a group at the height of their powers!

Ramble Tamble is an amazing first track. The vocals have an unhinged craziness to them that the rest of the album lacks - later on I kept wanting him to loosen up a bit more.

The cover of I Heard it Through the Grapevine is also fantastic, but similarly, reminded me that the rest of the album had lacked some of the poppier melodic moments that this track brings in spades.

Elsewhere there’s a professional mix of blues and rock n roll but not something that sets my world alight.

I have heard nothing but praise for this group. I expected something more. Maybe if I had zero expectations I would've liked it more.

I really liked the first song, but everything else after that just kinda mellowed along