Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics

Personnel: John Fogerty (vocals, guitar, harmonica, horns, Hammond b-3 organ, tambourine); Doug Clifford (drums, background vocals); Stu Cook, Tom Fogerty (background vocals).
Liner Note Author: Alec Palao.
Recording information: Amsterdam (01/31/1970); Berlin (01/31/1970); Hamburg (01/31/1970); London (01/31/1970); Manchester (01/31/1970); Oakland (01/31/1970); Stockholm (01/31/1970); The Fillmore, San Francisco (01/31/1970); Amsterdam (03/14/1969); Berlin (03/14/1969); Hamburg (03/14/1969); London (03/14/1969); Manchester (03/14/1969); Oakland (03/14/1969); Stockholm (03/14/1969); The Fillmore, San Francisco (03/14/1969); Amsterdam (09/01/1971); Berlin (09/01/1971); Hamburg (09/01/1971); London (09/01/1971); Manchester (09/01/1971); Oakland (09/01/1971); Stockholm (09/01/1971); The Fillmore, San Francisco (09/01/1971); Amsterdam (09/10/1971); Berlin (09/10/1971); Hamburg (09/10/1971); London (09/10/1971); Manchester (09/10/1971); Oakland (09/10/1971); Stockholm (09/10/1971); The Fillmore, San Francisco (09/10/1971); Amsterdam (09/16/1971); Berlin (09/16/1971); Hamburg (09/16/1971); London (09/16/1971); Manchester (09/16/1971); Oakland (09/16/1971); Stockholm (09/16/1971); The Fillmore, San Francisco (09/16/1971); Amsterdam (09/17/1971); Berlin (09/17/1971); Hamburg (09/17/1971); London (09/17/1971); Manchester (09/17/1971); Oakland (09/17/1971); Stockholm (09/17/1971); The Fillmore, San Francisco (09/17/1971); Amsterdam (09/21/1971); Berlin (09/21/1971); Hamburg (09/21/1971); London (09/21/1971); Manchester (09/21/1971); Oakland (09/21/1971); Stockholm (09/21/1971); The Fillmore, San Francisco (09/21/1971); Amsterdam (09/28/1971); Berlin (09/28/1971); Hamburg (09/28/1971); London (09/28/1971); Manchester (09/28/1971); Oakland (09/28/1971); Stockholm (09/28/1971); The Fillmore, San Francisco (09/28/1971).
Photographers: Baron Wolman; Didi Zill; Jan Persson.
There have been countless Creedence Clearwater Revival hits collections released over the years, all of them good. Fantasy's 2012 triple-disc Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All Time Classics is also good, although it teeters on the edge of being too much of a good thing, largely because its third disc of live recordings is extraneous; enjoyable enough but nothing to return to frequently. That's not the case with the other two discs, which round up 40 of CCR's biggest and best songs, including all their familiar hits and most of their great album cuts, including "Don't Look Now," "It Came Out of the Sky," "Porterville," "Tombstone Shadow," and "Wrote a Song for Everyone." Not all of the great CCR songs are here but there are no bad ones, so Ultimate winds up as another one in a long line of enjoyable compilations of the great Creedence Clearwater Revival, even if it falls just short of the promise of its title. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine