No. 265: Cosmo's Factory

Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Album: Cosmo's Factory
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Um. "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" is a classic Marvin Gaye song...
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: ... But CCR slaughter it. The famous songs from the record -- "Lookin' Out My Back Door," "Run Through the Jungle" and "Up Around The Bend" -- are awful, derivative small-town wannabe garbage or muddied protest music.
Best song: Please.
Worst song: Easily the biggest crime against an original version of a song is the cover of "Before You Accuse Me."
Is it awesome?: Nope.

In one episode of my delusions of grandeur mind, I'm on a book tour-type thing (whatever the equivalent of a book tour is for an ongoing Web project) and I'm doing an interview with Wendy Rieger on the local DC affiliate (let's just forget that she's an actual news anchor and would do a stupid story like this [after all, this is a ridiculous fantastical idea in the first place. A book tour for an ongoing Web site? Come on.]) after I've finished this whole project. Midway through the interview, she would ask me, of course, the zenith and nadir of this whole project.

Of course, I would give an eloquent, nuanced answer. I would explain that I am familiar with a lot of the albums and it's been a joy to re-experience the love of, say, "Dark Side of The Moon" or "Automatic For The People." But, for albums with which I was unfamiliar going in, I especially enjoyed "Stardust" and "Gris-Gris."

The nadir wouldn't be so nuanced. It's very simple: It's CCR's version of "Before You Accuse Me." That's easily the worst song I've heard.

"Cosmo's Factory?" Sewage.