Green River

The band cut the album at the newly built Wally Heider Studios, where in March they first recorded three instrumental test tracks, two of which, Broken Spoke Shuffle and Glory Be, appear on the 2008 remaster. Fogerty said that almost all the tracks the quartet did were played live in the studio, though he insisted the ideas were his. Cook said the band had enough latitude in writing and arranging its parts. Fogerty often names it his favorite CCR album, citing the whole Sun Records vibe.

Clifford has recalled that the band made a pact on the floor of the Fillmore to use no drugs or alcohol and to get high on the music. Fogerty said he disliked 45-minute acid-rock guitar solos and thought music should get to the point more quickly. Lodi, a song about a stranded musician, reached No. 52 as a B-side. Fogerty has said he never visited Lodi, California, before writing it and picked the town for its cool-sounding name. Commotion, the B-side of the title song, reached No. 30, and Fogerty said it was not meant as social commentary but as a report of what was in the air. Wrote a Song for Everyone deals with his failing marriage, according to the VH1 Legends episode on the band, and Cross-Tie Walker was called a quintessential Johnny Cash two-step by Uncut in 2012. The Night Time Is the Right Time is a Ray Charles cover, in the Creedence habit of including an R&B or early rock and roll song on each album.

It went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and No. 20 in the UK. Rolling Stone in 1969 said they were now creating the most vivid American rock since Music from Big Pink. AllMusic gave it five stars, Rolling Stone placed it at No. 95 in its 2003 list of 500 greatest albums, and it appears in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was certified Gold in December 1970 and triple Platinum in December 1990, and Analogue Productions reissued it on 180-gram vinyl in 2006.