You can trust Louder
Of all the spring lockdown’s most welcome distractions – from Tim Burgess’s Listening Parties to Arnie’s miniature donkeys – perhaps the most heartening was John Fogerty corralling his kids to cover his great American songbook on YouTube.
Now a full release, you could warm your hands off the atmosphere on Fogerty’s Factory, these retreads making the case for passion over prowess, with three semi-competent teens bringing what a grizzled sessioner could not.
To an extent, this factory runs on goodwill. In less cataclysmic times the exercise might be mawkish, and while a cover of Lean On Me is well-meant it feels a little like eating too much cake icing.
But from the hand claps and propulsive jangle of Centerfield to the bobbing bliss of Down On The Corner, the joy of Fogerty’s catalogue chimes with the times – and his 1969 apocalypse anthem Bad Moon Rising has never sounded so apt.
Henry Yates has been a freelance journalist since 2002 and written about music for titles including The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Classic Rock, Guitarist, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer. He is the author of Walter Trout's official biography, Rescued From Reality, a music pundit on Times Radio and BBC TV, and an interviewer who has spoken to Brian May, Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie Wood, Dave Grohl, Marilyn Manson, Kiefer Sutherland and many more.