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Cook: the washtub bass is no picnic) and makes a great lead in to<br />
“Feelin’ Blue”; and “Side o’ the Road” is John’s concise answer to the<br />
Guitar God phenomenon of the period (less is more, guys).<br />
Willy and the Poor Boys is the album that finally cracked my pop<br />
snobbery and made me realize that the Kinks weren’t the only great pop<br />
band in the psychedelic era, and that the expansionist/improvisatory approach<br />
to American roots music employed by Quicksilver and the Dead<br />
wasn’t the only way to bring this music into the present. I heard it, and<br />
I went out and bought it, and before I knew it, I was on my way to rethinking<br />
“progressive” rock. I won’t say that Creedence kept me from<br />
becoming a Yes fan (I’d like to think my innate good taste did that), but<br />
they plonked my feet back on the ground and turned my head around<br />
right when I needed it.<br />
Not just me, either: the platinum album they got for this proves that.<br />
— Ed Ward<br />
Ed Ward has been writing about music since 1965. He currently contributes<br />
to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times from Berlin.
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