Creedence Clearwater Revival - Creedence Clearwater Revival Album

I have several Analogue Productions releases and have yet to hear one I didn’t like. This CCR record is no exception. This remaster captures the hard rocking big blues sound of the band perfectly. The explosiveness of the music makes it sound like these tracks are being performed live. The sound is clean, pure and rich with analog warmth. Excellent midrange bringing out a beautiful guitar tone. Deep, defined bass and punchy drums round out the sound. Everything is balanced perfectly and the vocals have great presence and detail. The clarity is exceptional and the instruments seem to spread out filling the room with music from all directions. A very engaging listen and I can easily recommend this pressings to fans of this album.

Creedence Clearwater Revival built their reputation on the singing and songwriting of leader John Fogerty, whose soulful and gritty vocals and quick, concise pop sense gave the band a relentless string of Top 40 hits at the turn of 1970s. However, the El Cerrito, California quartet’s debut album begins with a different focus. “Porterville” was the one Fogerty standout, pointing towards the band’s future direction. The remainder of the album features tight ensemble playing on a number of extended jams and well-chosen covers. A bluesy read of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You” kickstarts things, while an eight-minute workout of Dale Hawkins’ “Susie Q” became the group’s first hit. Wilson Pickett’s “Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won’t Do)” plays up their funky R&B side. The production is simple and clear, immersing itself in the simple pleasures of excited guitar tones and a rhythm section that powered like an unencumbered locomotive.

The Matrix numbers on the images (F-2695-1, F-2696-1) match my copy in hand exactly (it even has the numbers crossed out as shown in the images). I'm new to Discogs and am learning by doing... why would the listed matrix numbers in this catalog entry be different? F 2715 1 …. etc.

What is different about your labels on this particular version?

There are ways to tell if you have a knock off or counterfeit copy of any of the discs in this series. I have also purchased other counterfeit titles that are not listed in this particular series. I purchased “Cosmo’s Factory” , “Pendulum “, and “Mardi Gras” from a seller on a auction site that were indeed counterfeit copies. The green color is wrong, the folding of the insert is not as near perfect as the authentic Japanese versions. The Japanese people take pride in folding the insert as close to perfect as possible. Most all of the corners line up perfectly with each layer. Only really big inserts are a little bit off with the corners lining up. On one of the fakes, the green doesn’t go all the way to the center. So the whole series probably has a counterfeit companion for each title in this series, it just hasn’t been posted yet. Also newer releases of other artist that have booklets instead of the folded insert, the booklet should be absolutely perfect. No pages should be off center. Make sure it’s square and hasn’t been cut to make the booklet appear square.

I’m not claiming to be expert on these limited edition CDs at all, but I’ve learned the hard way to recognize when something about a certian release is not right. I’m mostly relying on information I’ve gathered from my friend in Tokyo, and reputable dealers I buy from on what to look for. The counterfeit market is sadly flourishing and many people are not aware that they are spending a lot of money on something that is not authentic. Some sellers are truly greedy as they are charging exhobanet amounts of money for these CDs that they know are fakes. That takes a lot of guts to rip off people in this manner.

If it’s to cheap or seems like the price is too good for hard to find titles, it’s probably a fake. These C.C.R. disc are getting harder to find as collectors have purchased the limited edition authentic Japanese releases, so it has driven up the prices of these CDs when they do show up. This also drives up the counterfeit market as well! When in doubt, buy from a reputable Japanese seller. A friend I went to college with moved to a Tokyo for work in the 90’s and his wife is Japanese. She runs a shop that sells music CDs, Blu-Ray movies and Vinyl Lps. He told me that the Japanese Government has put very harsh penalties on people for selling counterfeit copies of various types of media. Generally if you buy the really hard to find releases from an authentic source, it’s generally going to cost more, but it’s more likely an authentic copy. This set C.C.R. releases has been the hardest set of CDs I’ve ever completed in my entire collection of Promo Box sets. I have over 80 complete sets in Disk Union or the manufacturer’s edition Promo Box. I got this set in incomplete form from my Friend in Japan for free and it was missing “Cosmo’s Factory”, “Pendulum”, and “Mardi Gras”. I happened across a seller that had the three I was missing and purchased these from him on another popular auction site from a New York City address. But l learned again another costly lesson that the items were shipped to NYC from Russia. It’s a common thing for counterfeit copies of these desirable items. They make these in Russia and other countries, then ship them to other Countries like the U.K. and the U.S. which makes it harder for myself and other serious collectors of these items to sell them as people think their counterfeit! When I received the missing copies I needed to complete my set, I noticed right away they were not in the proper packaging. I looked at his feedback and discovered this seller had a lot of negative comments about his items. They all turned out to be fakes. It was really a pain to try and get a refund, so I just put them in my box of about 25 fakes I’ve purchased over the years. Led Zeppelin, Yes, Jethro Tull , ELP and many others are popular with counterfeiters. Some sellers even go as far as to create a mini version that has never been officially released!

Recently, Discogs removed a few disc that I personally purchased from Disk Union in 2005 as counterfeit copies like “The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet”. We we’re in Japan to visit with my friend and his wife and I purchased two Rolling Stones Box sets and an Elton John Set. I also purchased a Jimi Hendrix Box Set before we left and had them shipped to our home here in Texas. I still have the receipts and paperwork to support that these are authentic items. I doubt Disk Union would sell counterfeit copies and box sets. Discogs is now favoring the ones that most all collectors of these have considered conterfiet. The copies with the large black sticker that says “Vintage Vinyl Edition” as the authentic releases. I have two of these, they sound terrible and they say “It’s a violation of the law to import this item into Japan” on the back. Also one of “The Rolling Stones” copies has “Japon” on the top of the OBI. It’s just unbelievable that they are removing the ability to sell what is no doubt the authentic copy in favor of these mostly U.K. made copies. I don’t know if they voted on this or used bots to remove these titles, but I seriously don’t think that Disk Union would sell counterfeit copies of these CDs.

Don’t get me wrong as many people in different parts of the world sell authentic Japanese items, but these limited edition gems are not cheap and counterfeit items are out there. As an American, I’ve had very limited success selling them myself on auction sites. Always check a sellers feedback that sells these and any negative feedback from buyers should be a red flag! I’ve been collecting these Promo Boxed sets since 2004. I got really screwed on the Led Zeppelin “40th Anniversary” Box Set through Amazon. I noticed that they didn’t sound as good as they should have. I discovered on a great site that showed everything that could be wrong with the set I was looking at with the one I had purchased and the seller had closed his account. They can be ripped to Apple iTunes and if you subscribe to Apple match, it brings these up to a much better sounding album. I buy a lot of newer releases from:

www/CDJapan.com

They also offer proxy shipping on out of print disc as well. When possible they will find a specific title for you and verify that it’s authentic. I’ve used it a few times and it’s not terribly expensive, but it takes awhile to get the CD or other items they sell. You also pay a small fee once they find a copy for handling and shipping from the seller they aquire it from. It’s about $3.00 to $5.00 USD, but worth it if you’re missing one disc from a series. You can specially condition, if you must have the inserts and the extra items that originally came with the release like posters and OBIs. I’m picky about my collection of these and I always require as mint as possible and it must have the insert and OBI as well as my Japanese vinyl collection. I overlook copies that don’t have their OBIs and inserts.

The site to help you determine if you have the real copy or the fake copy of these gems is called:

www/minilps.net

It’s a great site and it’s getting better as they are upgraded the site which it is in need of. But it’s still tells you tips on how to avoid fakes and what Ebay sellers are reputable sellers. I’ve purchased a few on this site as well and some from U.S. sellers and have never bought a counterfeit copy!

If you collect Vinyl, CDs, or DVD-A and Blu-Ray releases, this is the place to find them. I collect all forms of music except cassettes and reel to reel, and I love my Japanese mini lp cds as much as my vinyl collection. The most valuable copy of one of these Japanese mini lp cds is a SACD boxed version of ”Supertramp - Breakfeast in America ( UIGY-9536 ) that I purched this from CDJapan for like $38.00USD. Now the cheapest I’ve seen an authentic copy from Japan that’s brand new, which mine is still sealed, is between $400 to $700 if you can even find a copy. So it’s not just a better sounding disc, but it’s a collector’s item as well.

Sorry for the long message. My goal is to inform others about how these CDs are often counterfeited, what to look for, and where to buy these items if you want to make sure your getting the authentic Japanese items. I learned the hard way about these incredible sounding CDs. Also the expensive was as well. It’s just my personal input on what to look for if you are considering collecting these great sounding Japanese CD box sets or individual copies. Most are HQCD, High Resolution disc that are 24bit/96kHz recordings or higher and generally they are made from the actual studio master tapes. If your equipment is capable of transcoding High Resolution CDs, these will sound far superior to the 16bit CDs most US CDs are recorded at and will actually in most cases improve the sound of those CDs as well! You’ll hate your iPod and the mp3 will sound terrible to most listeners.

Happy collecting and watch out for the fake copies, people are not making as much as they use to, so this kind of stuff is becoming more common than ever now. Especially in Russia, and the European Countries. Not all of these sellers are selling counterfeit copies, but be sure that your getting what your paying for!

Texasbear

Many variants - mine has "Includes SUZIE Q" on cover, STEREO above (F-2695) on left and FANT 8382 on right with matrix F 2695 7A +1 AQ and STEREO above (F-2696) on left, FANT 8382 on right with matrix F_2696 (the 6 above a crossed out 5) I (or 1) + I2 ..... Not sure where this fits in with other listed versions

Mine, like other CCR albums I have on the blue Fantasy label, does not even specify side a and side b.

I have a copy of the record with slightly different label text and it's a Fantasy record but has the LBS 83259 on both sleeve and record label.. It says besides the copyright text, made in Holland.