Pendulum (Creedence Clearwater Revival album)

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Pendulum
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Pendulum.jpg
Studio album by
Creedence Clearwater Revival
ReleasedDecember 9, 1970 (1970-12-09) [1]
RecordedNovember 1970
Studio Wally Heider (San Francisco)
Genre Swamp rock
Length40:56
Label Fantasy
Producer John Fogerty
Creedence Clearwater Revival chronology
Cosmo's Factory
(1970)		Pendulum
(1970)		 Mardi Gras
(1972)
Singles from Pendulum
  1. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" / "Hey Tonight"
    Released: January 1971

Pendulum is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records on December 9, 1970. [1] It was the second studio album the band released that year, arriving five months after Cosmo's Factory .

Contents

Background

The album was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco and took a month to complete, an unusually long time for the band. [2] A band meeting before the sessions saw Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford demanding that bandleader John Fogerty allow them greater creative input. With the backlog of John's songs already released earlier that year on Cosmo's Factory, the band entered the studio planning to jam and experiment, [3] but no new songs materialized from this method. John wrote that he regretted this way of working:

The guys didn't want to do the work. They just wanted to go into the studio and come up with songs by osmosis, spontaneous combustion ... At some point after a few days, I started to go home after the daily session and write. ... The meticulous preparation was gone. ... Pendulum happened during a period in my life when my head started to feel really dry. I don't know exactly how to describe it or what it means, but my head felt physically dry. I still worked as hard on Pendulum but there aren't as many great songs. [4]

John wrote "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about the band's impending breakup. [4] The closing instrumental "Rude Awakening #2," a venture into avant-garde psychedelia inspired by the Beatles' "Revolution 9," was variously dismissed by the band as "embarrassing" and "free-form nonsense." [3] [4]

Pendulum is the last album the band recorded while Tom Fogerty was still a member, as he left the group in early 1971 to start a solo career; and the last of the band's albums to be produced solely by John Fogerty. [3]

Musical style

Pendulum expands the band's sonic palette with instruments such as John's keyboards and saxophones, as well as Cook's contributions on piano. Various bandmembers also played harmonica, vibraphone, recorder and percussion. John played Hammond B-3 organ on many Pendulum tracks, notably in "Have You Ever Seen the Rain", inspired by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group he had long idolized. When Clifford played the album for Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper of the M.G.'s, they commented that it sounded remarkably similar to the playing of their bandmate Booker T. Jones. [3]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Christgau's Record Guide A− [6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]

Pendulum was released in December 1970 and proved to be another hit for the band, charting within the top 10 in 10 countries, and peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The only single taken from the album, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"/"Hey Tonight", was released in January 1971, and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice enjoyed the album and rated it an A−, despite criticizing "Molina" and "Pagan Baby" as "slightly subpar," "Sailor's Lament" as "a little more so," and "Rude Awakening #2" as "a pretentious moment I hope—and expect—he [John Fogerty] has the sense never to repeat." However, he praised the other six songs on the album as "so superpar Steve Barri or Tommy James would kill (or least steal) for them. Ho hum, another Creedence album." [8] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the album "isn't transcendent" like their previous work, but nevertheless called it a "grower," praising John Fogerty's expansion of their sound. [5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Fogerty.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Pagan Baby"6:25
2."Sailor's Lament"3:47
3."Chameleon"3:05
4."Have You Ever Seen the Rain"2:39
5."(Wish I Could) Hideaway"3:53
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Born to Move"5:39
2."Hey Tonight"2:43
3."It's Just a Thought"3:45
4."Molina"2:41
5."Rude Awakening #2"6:19
40th Anniversary Edition CD bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."45 Revolutions Per Minute (Part 1)"3:17
12."45 Revolutions Per Minute (Part 2)"7:19
13."Hey Tonight" (Live in Hamburg September 17, 1971)2:30

Tracks 11 and 12 on the 40th Anniversary Edition CD are musique concrète tracks in the vein of "Revolution 9", including tongue-in-cheek interviews with band members.

Personnel

Performers [3] [9]

Production

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Pendulum
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Finland (Musiikkituottajat) [22] Gold20,000 [22]
United States (RIAA) [23] Platinum1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. 1 2 "Billboard 19 dic 1970" (PHP). Billboard . December 19, 1970. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  2. ↑ Selvin, Joel (2008). Pendulum (Expanded Reissue) (PDF) (CD liner). Creedence Clearwater Revival. Beverly Hills, California, United States: Fantasy Records. FAN-30881-02. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 14, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hank Bordowitz (2007). Bad Moon Rising: The Unauthorized History of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated. pp. 106–108. ISBN   978-1-55652-661-9.
  4. 1 2 3 Fogerty, John; McDonough, Jimmy (2015). Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music. New York: Little, Brown. pp. 212–214. ISBN   978-0-316-35189-8.
  5. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Pendulum – Creedence Clearwater Revival". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  6. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: C". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Creedence Clearwater Revival". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0-85712-595-8.
  8. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Creedence Clearwater Revival". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  9. ↑ Kitts, T M, 2015. John Fogerty: An American Son. 1st ed. U.S.A: Routledge. p. 30.
  10. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  11. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 3762". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  12. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Pendulum" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  13. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Pendulum" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved July 8, 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Creedence Clearwater Revival".
  16. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  17. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Pendulum". Hung Medien. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  18. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  19. ↑ "Creedence Clearwater Revival Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  20. ↑ "Creedence Clearwater Revival Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  21. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1971. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  22. 1 2 "Creedence Clearwater Revival" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland . Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  23. ↑ "American album certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Pendulum". Recording Industry Association of America.
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