By 1971 CCR had been reduced to a trio, as Tom Fogerty had left when his brother John's dictatorial leadership style finally got too much for him. However surprisingly John Fogerty then announced to his remaining band members (bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford) that the group would now become a 'democracy'. The songwriting and singing duties would now be split between the three of them, which no doubt came as quite a shock. Fogerty threatened to quit if they didn't agree to this 'democracy', so Cook and Clifford had to come up with some songs of their own.
Their next single was Fogerty's "Sweet Hitch Hiker", which gave them their ninth Top 10 hit at #6. Their next album was a long time coming (considering CCR's previous record for fast output), as they went on tour throughout both the US and Europe. Mardi Gras finally came out in 1972, with the singing and songwriting split between the three of them. As of such it was quite a disjointed affair, and was panned by the critics, though it did still manage to chart at #12.
Cook and Clifford's songs were all quite respectable, but they were obviously going to pale beside the band's previous Fogerty-penned output. "Sweet Hitch Hiker" was included, and the other three songs Fogerty sang included a cover of the Ricky Nelson classic "Hello Mary Lou", and the excellent "Someday Never Comes". The latter was clearly the strongest song on the album, and released as its second single it got to #25 (a modest chart position for CCR). It actually turned out to be their last single. After one more US tour, CCR broke up in October 1972.
Pendulum (1970) <|
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Rock critic JON LANDAU wrote in 1976:
"On this album he seems to have just given up. The result is, relative to a group's established level of performance, the worst album I have ever heard from a major rock band."
This pretty much sums it up for me as well.
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